Monday, Sept. 2 — Bitcoin (BTC) was fighting resistance close to $10,000 as fresh energy appeared to flow into markets.

Market visualization. Source: Coin360

Bitcoin attempts to crack $10,000 barrier

Data from Coin360 showed BTC/USD was up 2.25% on Monday — climbing through $9,800 to challenge a ceiling it failed to break the day before.

At publishing time, the pair traded at just below the $9,800 mark, having hit $9,840 before rejecting further gains in the short term.

Bitcoin 7-day price chart. Source: Coin360

The moves nonetheless countered the downward pressure that had characterized markets last week. A sudden drop took BTC as low as $9,350 before a modest recovery, which spelled angst among analysts.

Now, attention focused on the future, with trading sources suggesting that sub-$10,000 prices presented an ideal buying opportunity.

According to veteran trader Peter Brandt, a leap higher was also a feasible outcome of current behavior.

“Possibility that $BTC has entered fourth parabolic phase,” he tweeted on Sunday in response to findings from Global Macro Investor founder Raoul Pal.

Pal had spelled out the chances for fresh Bitcoin increases more emphatically while presenting a yearly BTC/USD chart.

“If you don't have any bitcoin $BTC #bitcoin then this looks like the last time to board the rocket ship…,” he told followers. Pal added:

“I LOVE wedge patterns like this. They have a high probability of success.”

Altcoins edge higher amid flat landscape

Altcoins failed to impress, continuing sideways action which has broadly characterized markets in times of Bitcoin stability.

Ether (ETH), the largest altcoin by market cap, gained just 0.7% on the day, rising just above $171.

Ether 7-day price chart. Source: Coin360

Other tokens in the top 10 fared slightly better, with both Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Bitcoin SV (BSV) achieving closer to 4% daily gains. By contrast, XRP lost 0.4% to remain under $0.26.

Bitcoin’s growth pushed the overall cryptocurrency market cap back over $250 billion, with BTC’s share accounting for 69.5% of the total.