Bitcoin (BTC) held on to $7,000 support on Dec. 20 as a major sentiment indicator revealed investors were still highly panicked by current price action.

Cryptocurrency market daily overview. Source: Coin360

Bitcoin surpasses 2018’s “extreme fear”

Data from Coin360 and Cointelegraph Markets showed BTC/USD repeatedly test the $7,000 barrier on Friday, each time bouncing off to linger around $7,100.

At press time, Bitcoin had stayed out of the $6,000 range consistently since it broke away from lower levels late on Wednesday.

Bitcoin 1-day price chart. Source: Coin360

Now, traders were noticeably split over the cryptocurrency’s short-term prospects — some predicted a return to lower levels seen earlier in the week, while others forecast bullish behavior.

Leading the bulls was the well-known but abstemious Twitter account Parabolic Trav. In a comparatively rare tweet on Friday, the social media stalwart suggested Bitcoin was ready to repeat its bull run from earlier in 2019.

“I’m ready for parabola 2 of this bull run. You?” he wrote.

Elsewhere, however, sentiment appeared broadly bearish. Bitcoin’s Fear & Greed Index, a tool measuring investor “emotions and sentiment” as a score out of 100, remained at 23 — classified as “extreme fear.”

For comparison, at around Bitcoin’s 2018 lows of $3,100, the Index reading was actually higher than at present — 24 in December.

Traditionally, Fear & Greed has predicted price upticks, which have followed many of the dips to “extreme fear” on its indicator.

For comparison, BTC/USD diving to $6,400 this week triggered a rating of 15.

Altcoins calm after a week of carnage

Altcoins once again copied Bitcoin as markets steadied, stemming significant losses seen over previous days.

In the top twenty cryptocurrencies by market cap, most made modest gains of 1% or less. Others performed better, with Bitcoin SV (BSV) and VeChain (VET) both gaining around 6%.

Ether (ETH), the largest altcoin, stayed static at around $128 over the past 24 hours.

Ether 7-day price chart. Source: Coin360

The overall cryptocurrency market cap was $191.1 billion, with Bitcoin’s share a touch lower at 68.2%.