Following yesterday’s relief rally that sent most major cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, up 10% or more, the markets have held relatively stable, with most altcoins drifting slightly downwards from their daily highs.

Bitcoin Could be Nearing a Larger Rally

At the time of writing, Bitcoin (BTC) is trading down marginally at its current price of $4,245, holding steady after yesterday’s price pump that sent its price up more than 10%. Bitcoin is presently trading up nearly 20% from its recently set 2018 lows of $3,600.

Although Bitcoin’s recent price action seems to have validated $3,600 as at least a temporary bottom, it may be in the midst of a multi-quarter bottoming formation, according to one technical analyst.

Rob Sluymer, a technical strategist at Fundstrat Global Advisors, explained that Bitcoin’s current price action has been seen previously, especially with regards to BTC’s relative strength index (RSI).

“In contrast to bounces that have developed through 2018, weekly RSI [relative strength index] is now at levels not seen since BTC’s last bear market low in early 2015 and BTC is showing very early evidence of responding to its long-term uptrend after three major downside moves through 2018. Our expectation is that BTC is in the very early stages of establishing a multi-quarter bottoming process that is likely to extend well into mid-2019,” Sluymer said, adding that it is still too early to confidently claim that a bottom is in.

Despite the recent relief rally having the potential of signaling a larger trend within Bitcoin’s price, other analysts disagree with Sluymer’s assessment and still believe that there is more room to fall.

Jani Ziedins, an analyst at CrackedMarket, said that he expects the current bounce to extend over the next one or two weeks before the markets continue their downwards descent.

“Most likely this relief rally will carry us back above $5k over the next week or two. But this is nothing more than a dead-cat bounce and bitcoin is still not investible for the long term,” he said.

Altcoins Drift Slightly Lower

Although Bitcoin has been able to hold stable at its current price levels, most major altcoins drifted slightly lower throughout the day.

At the time of writing, XRP is trading down 3.2% at its current price of $0.378, down slightly from its daily highs of $0.393, but up significantly from its recently set lows of $0.32.

Ethereum (ETH) has fallen 4% from its daily highs of $126 to its current price of $117. ETH is currently sitting up over 17% from its recently set 2018 lows of just under $100.

One of the best performing altcoins over the past couple of days has been Stellar (XLM), which is currently trading up marginally at its current price of $0.162. Yesterday, XLM was also one of the best performers, at one point trading up as much as 15%.

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