Bitcoin (BTC) price was returning to bullish form on Aug. 19 as markets look to break out from last week’s sideways trading.

Market visualization. Source: Coin360

Bitcoin price builds on $10K support

Data from Coin360 revealed Bitcoin challenging $11,000 in morning trading as Monday delivered almost 5% gains.

Markets appeared to be reacting to news cryptocurrency exchange Binance was planning to release its own version of Facebook’s Libra digital currency, in what is also a direct response to China’s central bank.

At press time, BTC/USD was circling $10,650, capping daily gains of 4.9%, while weekly progress still totalled 5.5% losses.

Bitcoin 7-day price chart. Source: Coin360

While there was no great cause for celebration, analysts were eyeing potential further progress towards $11,000, within a greater context of upper resistance circling $12,000.

Mati Greenspan, a senior market analyst at United Kingdom-based trading platform eToro, identified a bullish wedge for the pair, while noting further upward progress was not guaranteed.

Regular analyst Josh Rager meanwhile delivered an explanation of Bitcoin’s longer-term performance, arguing investors had finished buying up cheaper coins after cashing out profits at BTC/USD’s 2019 highs around $13,800.

“In my opinion, this seems just like one large re-accumulation happening after large players took profits near $14k,” he summarized on Saturday. “This seems just like one large re-accumulation happening after large players took profits near $14k.”

He added he considered it unlikely the Bitcoin price would drop below the high $8000 range.

Altcoins rise from the dead (at last)

Altcoin investors also had something to talk about this week as Bitcoin’s gains contributed to a recovery from previous lows.

As Cointelegraph reported, markets saw a considerable decline last week, with some altcoins dropping to lows against Bitcoin not seen for years.

Ether (ETH), the largest altcoin asset by market cap, gained 8.3% to hit $200 once again, some way to previous levels of $225 seen before its latest decline.

Ether 7-day price chart. Source: Coin360

Other tokens in the top ten followed suit, with Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Litecoin (LTC) and XRP producing gains of between 6% and 8% on the day.

The uptick had a telling effect on the overall cryptocurrency market cap, which on Monday stood at just under $280 billion, Bitcoin’s share challenging 69%.