Bitcoin (BTC) continued trading sideways on Dec. 27 after spending the Christmas period broadly free of volatility.

Cryptocurrency market daily overview. Source: Coin360

BTC “relaxes” this Christmas

Data from Coin360 showed BTC/USD hovering practically in the middle of its monthly range between $6,500 and $7,770.

At press time, the pair hovered at $7,180, having barely moved over the past 24 hours. The picture had remained static since a curious uptick to $7,660 fizzled earlier in the week.

Bitcoin 7-day price chart. Source: Coin360

As 2019 draws to a close, traders appeared calm — serious movements, they suggested, would be confined to later Q1 next year.

For regular Cointelegraph contributor Michaël van de Poppe, that time would come in either January or February, when Bitcoin should put in a new low in USD terms.

“January - February 2020 bottom formation,” he summarized in a tweet on Christmas Day. In a further post, he described overall market conditions as “relatively calm,” writing:

“Two years ago it moved from $12,100 to $15,500 between 24-26 December. That's a hectic Christmas. This is relaxing.”

For van de Poppe, the December 2017 all-time high for BTC/USD also formed the start of an investor sentiment cycle which is only now concluding.

If the high marked “mania” among investors, then two years later, they had battled “despair” as Bitcoin dropped significantly, and were now returning to the “mean” from before the 2017 run-up.

The basis for the hypothesis, he stated, was various sources claiming they wished to trade equity markets, which signaled a lack of interest in cryptocurrencies.

Ethereum Classic bucks slow altcoin trend

Altcoins predictably stayed motionless on Friday as Bitcoin set the tone for uninspiring trading conditions.

Ether (ETH), the largest altcoin by market cap, hardly gained or lost on the day, continuing at $125.

Similar behavior characterized other major altcoins, with the exception of Ethereum Classic (ETC), which gained 9.5% on fresh news about its upcoming hard fork.

Ethereum Classic 7-day price chart. Source: Coin360

The overall cryptocurrency market cap was $191.2 billion, with Bitcoin’s share at 68.7%.