(Kitco News) - It was another day of underwhelming activity in the crypto market as prices traded flat in the absence of any major developments, which is typical for crypto winters.
Data from TradingView shows that several attempts by bears to hammer the price of Bitcoin (BTC) below $20,000 were soundly defended by bulls, who quickly bid its price back up the $20,200 range.
BTC/USD 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView
This behavior largely aligns with the analysis provided by Senior Kitco Market Analyst Jim Wyckoff, who noted in his morning Bitcoin brief that “Bulls this week have stabilized prices and they remain in a pause, or sideways, mode.”
While they have managed to maintain the Bitcoin price above $20,000, Wyckoff warned that “Bulls need to show more power to break the price downtrend that is still in place on the daily chart. Bears still have the slight overall near-term technical advantage.”
BTC falls back below its 200-week moving average
This week's pullback in price has once again dropped the trading price of BTC below its 200-week moving average (200WMA), a metric that has consistently provided insight into what stage of the market cycle the top crypto is in.
According to Arcane Research, Bitcoin trading below its 200WMA “is not a common observation and buying below this well-known technical indicator has historically been a profitable strategy.”
BTC price vs. 200-week moving average. Source: Lookintobitcoin.com
Much to the chagrin of crypto proponents, BTC has traded below the 200WMA for nearly two months, which is a first for the leading cryptocurrency.
“We haven’t seen this before, and it can look like the important indicator has been flipped to resistance. This is undoubtedly a bearish technical signal,” Arcane Research said.
As for where the price could head next based on the current state of the market, the research and analysis firm warned about the possibility of a decline as low as $11,000 in the worst-case scenario, while noting that for now, the 2017 high is offering support.
“The next major support levels on a weekly scale could be around $16,000 or even down between $11,000-$12,000. However, on the bright side, bitcoin is still trading above its 2017 peak, and it looks like the 2017 top is now acting as a solid support level.”
A boring day in the altcoin market
The activity in the altcoin market largely mirrored the performance of Bitcoin, with most tokens trading flat on the day after weathering an early decline.
Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360
The Ethereum (ETH) staking platform Lido DAO (LDO) led the alts for the second day in a row, gaining 11.3% as the Ethereum Merge date draws ever closer. Other notable performances include a 9.75% increase for MXC (MXC) and a 9.54% gain for Curve DAO Token (CRV).
The overall cryptocurrency market cap now stands at $985 billion, and Bitcoin’s dominance rate is 39.3%.
