Markets Update: Bitcoin's Battle Against the Bear Market

The fiat value of bitcoin has seen a decline over the past 24-hours as the price per BTC dropped from US$1215 to a low of $1140 across major global exchanges. At press time, the price is on the rebound hovering around the $1170-1180 range, but the market is showing no signs of fending off sellers.

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Bitcoin Price Weekly View: Bear Markets Claw the Value of BTC

Bears have taken over the price of bitcoin as the cryptocurrency’s market value is trending downwards. Bitcoin daily trade volume has also dropped to under $300 million worth of BTC trades. There hasn’t been any significant headlines pointing to the reason behind bitcoin’s price drop. At present markets look undecided, and a breakout is possible in any direction.

Some technical indicators suggest the current bear market may be short lived as the 100 Simple Moving Average (SMA) is still above the 200 SMA trend line. Day traders and those who played ‘short’ positions are surely finding strategies in this current market setting. Even though the SMA shows a possible upside break, both the Relative Strength Indicator (RSI) and Stochastic readout shows the price may continue its downward slide.

Order books across many major exchanges show sellers are indeed in control of the market and a drop below the 4-digit range is still entirely possible. Additionally, bitcoin’s market share dominance among competing altcoins has also dropped since our price report last week, which is currently resting at 67 percent. Ethereum’s market capitalization commands most of the remaining market share, and ether’s trade volume is roughly around half of bitcoin’s daily volume.

Altcoin Markets Weekly View

The other altcoins in the cryptocurrency ecosystem also show price uncertainty. Ethereum’s ether token is priced at $47 after rising above $50 just 24-hours prior. Ethereum’s market capitalization is roughly $4.3 billion with a daily volume of $130 million worth of ether traded per day. Some suggest Ethereum’s recent price bump is attributed to the Raiden software being developed, which is basically the Ethereum version of the Lightning Network. Following Ethereum, Ripple’s (XRP) price has remained stable at three cents per XRP without any notable movements this week.

Litecoin has taken the number four position within the highest valued market caps in the top ten commanding roughly $500 million at press time. The price spike likely has to do with the upcoming Segwit implementation which could take place in just over two weeks. Dash has seemed to fend off sellers for the time being as the price has risen to $70 per token. The Dash rise is possibly due to the Kraken exchange listing the cryptocurrency within its markets.

The rest of the top ten cryptocurrencies are more or less the same as last week which includes Monero, Ethereum Classic, NEM, Augur, and Maidsafecoin. All of these digital assets are experiencing slight dips at the moment, minus NEM which is up 2.5 percent. Another notable token possibly entering the crypto-top ten in the near future is PIVX which currently rests in the eleventh position. The token is very similar to the Dash infrastructure but claims to have no instamine, an alleged issue that has haunted Dash developers since the (Darkcoin) blockchain was created.

The Verdict

Another week in the world of bitcoin has passed, and the cryptocurrency’s market value seems to be trying real hard to stay above the 4-digit price range. As of now, traders seem uncertain, but there hasn’t been any definitive reasoning behind the downturn and it may just be traders taking in profits. In the short term, some members of the Whale Club Telegram channel and Trading View traders claim the price may ‘short’ for the next 2-5 days.

Bear Scenario: If bitcoin’s price keeps going down the value could drop below the $1100 mark and further escalate below the 4-digit range. At press time order books and depth charts show there is a strong floor around the $1125 price point. RSI and Stochastic trend lines demonstrate the price per BTC may be overbought and more corrections may come in the short-term.

Bull Scenario: Charts also show ‘double bottom’ trendlines may bring the price back above $1200 in the near future. 100 and 200 SMA indicators show this might be the case as buyers could take control over the market quite easily. At the moment there are significant sell walls above the $1200 mark, and it will take some time to break through current resistance.

What do you think about Bitcoin’s price trends at the moment? Do you think global bitcoin markets will surpass $1,200 again? Or do you see the bear market continuing? Let us know in the comments below.

Disclaimer: Bitcoin price articles and markets updates are intended for informational purposes only and should not to be considered as trading advice. Neither Bitcoin.com nor the author is responsible for any losses or gains, as the ultimate decision to conduct a trade is made by the reader. Always remember that only those in possession of the private keys are in control of the “money”.

Images via Shutterstock, Bitcoin.com, Trading View.

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