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(Kitco News) - The cryptocurrency market remained in a holding pattern on Monday as concerns related to the broader economy and the threat of a U.S. default on its debt continue to hamper activity in all financial markets as traders sit on the sidelines amid the uncertainty.
It was a mixed day for stocks following a weekend of deadlocked negotiations as asset managers and Wall Street banks have begun to prepare for the fallout that would accompany a debt default. At the close of markets, the S&P and Nasdaq were in the green, up 0.02% and 0.50%, while the Dow finished in the red, down 0.42%.
Data provided by TradingView shows that Bitcoin (BTC) once again finds itself hovering near support at $26,900 after swinging from a daily low of $26,600 to a daily high of $27,135 in trading on Monday.
BTC/USD Chart by TradingView
According to Kitco senior technical analyst Jim Wyckoff, June Bitcoin futures prices were trading steadily in the early hours on Monday, and "Prices are still in a downtrend on the daily chart."
"Bears have the slight overall near-term technical advantage," Wyckoff warned, which "means the path of least resistance for prices remains sideways to lower."
For analysts at Eight Global, the price action seen since the middle of April has amounted to an ABC pattern which "could technically be complete for BTC" at this point.
BTC/USD 1-day chart. Source: Eight Global
Eight Global noted that while the C-wave went lower than the initial A-wave, the two are approximately the same length from a price drop perspective, and at this point, it's worth considering "that the bottom of the C-wave may be in."
"Price seems to have entered consolidation just as expected, just a bit higher," Eight Global said. "If there is going to be another drop lower, it should happen in the first half of this week. If price breaks above $27,700 or even flips the descending trendline, that could be early signs that consolidation is coming to an end, and Bitcoin price is ready for continuation upwards."
As for what levels to watch out for to signal a continuation upward, the analysts pointed to a BTC price of $29,000 and an "RSI breaking above 50" as a "higher conviction" signal that prices are once again on the uptrend.
"If on the other hand we get a daily candle close below $26.7k, another leg gets more likely, and my target for that would still be $24 - 25.3k," the analyst wrote. "I have secured most of my short exposure with stop losses at either break even and, for BTC, $27.8k and $29.1k."
Regardless of which scenario plays out, Eight Global said that both will lead to a bullish outcome in the medium term "as long as Bitcoin price does not drop and stay under $22,000 in a sustained manner."
BTC/USD 1-day chart. Source: Eight Global
Mixed day for the altcoin market
The altcoin market traded mixed, similar to the stock market, with about half of the tokens in the top 200 seeing green while the rest recorded slight losses.
Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360
STEPN (GMT) recorded the biggest gain on the day, increasing by 11.75% to trade at $0.304, while Alchemy Pay (ACH) gained 8.1% and Conflux (CFX) increased by 7.6%.
The overall cryptocurrency market cap now stands at $1.12 trillion, and Bitcoin’s dominance rate is 46.3%.
