TAO’s price is eyeing $285, but what should traders really do?

As 2026 begins, Bittensor (TAO) might be poised to open the door to a massive upside rally – One driven by a bullish breakout, a shift in market sentiment, and an ongoing market recovery. That’s not all though as several crypto analysts are now making bold predictions on X, turning the crypto into a major center of attention.

On 2 January, TAO’s price climbed by 9.55% in 24 hours, with the altcoin trading near the $242-level at press time. Alongside the price surge, market participation also rose notably, with trading volume jumping by 42% to $89.87 million.

This hike in volume, alongside the price, could be indicative of growing interest from both traders and investors.

Why is Bittensor (TAO) rallying today?

Given the upside move and strong market participation, you might be wondering what is driving TAO’s rally after remaining stagnant for weeks.

The key catalyst behind TAO’s upside appears to be the broader market recovery, plus the Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) filing by Grayscale Investments on 30 December 2025.

Grayscale filed an S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to convert its Bittensor Trust into an ETF (ticker: GTAO). With this filing, the asset management firm aims to launch the first U.S-listed exchange-traded product linked to TAO, similar to its earlier Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF strategies.

Another metric currently strengthening TAO’s upward momentum appears to be traders’ strong confidence in long-leveraged positions.

According to derivatives data from Coinglass, traders have been betting more heavily on long-leveraged positions than on short ones.

Data revealed that $221.7 and $250.2 are two key levels where traders are overleveraged, with $4.65 million worth of long-leveraged positions and $1.73 million worth of short-leveraged positions built at these levels. This indirectly means that short-term sentiment for TAO remains bullish.

Bittensor (TAO) price action and technical analysis

AMBCrypto’s technical analysis of the daily chart revealed that today’s rally opened the door to a massive upside move.

Based on the price action, during the period of market uncertainty, TAO successfully retested its key support level at $207 and consolidated there for nearly two weeks. However, thanks to the aforementioned rally, the altcoin finally broke out of this consolidation zone. In doing so, it ended its prolonged barrier.

If TAO closes a daily candle above the $235-level, there is a strong possibility of another 18% upside move, potentially pushing the price towards the next resistance at $285. However, this bullish thesis would remain valid only if TAO holds above the $235-level. Otherwise, it could be invalidated.

At press time, the Average Directional Index (ADX) had a reading of 31, above the key threshold of 25. This alluded to strong upside momentum on TAO’s charts. 

Apart from the price action and derivatives data, crypto experts also appear to be making bold predictions. On X, several forecasts have surfaced, with some suggesting that TAO’s price has the potential to soar between 40% and 50%, while others predict it could surge by more than 60% in the coming days.

Final Thoughts

• Bittensor (TAO) broke out of its prolonged consolidation, with another 18% rally possibly likely soon. 
• TAO’s bullish thesis would remain valid only if the price holds above the $235-level.