Bitcoin’s bulls and bears have been locked in a fierce battle over the past few days, with buyers attempting to push BTC firmly into the five-figure price region, while sellers have been attempting to push the cryptocurrency below the key psychological price region of $10,000.

This price action has made it significantly unclear as to which direction BTC will trend in the near-term, but one striking statistic about the crypto’s fundamental strength may signal that bulls currently have an edge over bears.

Bitcoin Struggles to Hold Above $10,000 as Sellers Put Up Strong Fight

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading up nominally at its current price of $10,040, which is up slightly from its daily lows of $9,900 that were set yesterday but is still trading below its 24-hour highs of over $10,100.

This price action is emblematic of the new trading range that Bitcoin has found itself caught within, and the lack of any major momentum in one direction or another has led to a division amongst analysts, with some targeting BTC’s 2019 highs of $13,800, while others believe it will revisit $8,800.

Importantly, Bitcoin has been holding above a key trend line for the past several days that could allow it to climb significantly higher in the near-future.

Chonis Trading, a popular cryptocurrency analyst on Twitter, spoke about this trend line in a recent tweet, concisely noting that Bitcoin is “holdin the line.”

BTC Incurs Strengthening Fundamentals Since 2018

Although it is unclear as to which direction the cryptocurrency is heading next, it is clear that Bitcoin is more fundamentally strong today than it was this time last year.

In a recent tweet, cryptocurrency analyst Ceteris Paribus consolidated some data from TokenAnalyst that shows that real Bitcoin trading volume has increased 120% since August of 2018, while transactions have risen 53%.

“Monthly $BTC On-Chain Metrics over the past year. Aug 2018: Active Senders: 12.9M. Transactions: 6.7M. Real Volume: $127B. Fees: $4.7M. Jul 2019: Active Senders: 14.6M (+13%). Transactions: 10.3M (+53%). Real Volume: $279B (+120%). Fees: $21.0M (+350%),” they explained in a recent tweet.

Monthly $BTC On-Chain Metrics over the past year. Aug 2018

Active Senders: 12.9M

Transactions: 6.7M

Real Volume: $127B

Fees: $4.7M Jul 2019

Active Senders: 14.6M (+13%)

Transactions: 10.3M (+53%)

Real Volume: $279B (+120%)

Fees: $21.0M (+350%) pic.twitter.com/0tMca6A33a — Ceteris Paribus (@ceterispar1bus) August 1, 2019

When considering the fact the crypto’s fundamentals have improved significantly over the past 12 months, it does seem reasonable to assume that BTC’s price will ultimately benefit from these strong fundamentals.

Despite this, how Bitcoin responds to the aforementioned trading range will likely signal what the near-term trend will be.

Featured image from Shutterstock.