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(Kitco News) - The cryptocurrency market opened the week in the red as Bitcoin (BTC) continues to struggle below $30,000 while multiple tokens in the top 200 saw declines after Curve Finance (CRV), a top decentralized exchange (DEX) for stablecoins, was hit with a $70 million hack, which negatively affected protocols like AAVE that are integrated with the DEX.
Stocks also struggled to gain momentum on Monday ahead of earnings reports from Amazon and Apple and the July jobs report, which will be released later this week. At the close of markets, the S&P, Dow, and Nasdaq all managed to climb into the green, finishing up 0.15%, 0.28%, and 0.21%, respectively.
Data provided by TradingView shows that Bitcoin bulls made several attempts to push its price higher only to be rejected by bears at $29,600, resulting in a return to support at $29,200, with bears now looking to force the price lower.
BTC/USD Chart by TradingView
“Prices are still in a fledgling downtrend on the daily bar chart, albeit at higher price levels,” Kitco senior technical analyst Jim Wyckoff said. “Bulls and bears are on a level overall near-term technical playing field at present. That suggests more choppy and sideways trading in the near term.”
According to Gunter Lackmann, an analyst at MN Trading, Bitcoin price dropped and closed under the long-standing consolidation rage last week when it fell below $29,452 and continues to struggle to regain the range, which points to two possible scenarios moving forward.
BTC/USD 1-day chart. Source: MN Trading
“If price closes back above that level and continues upwards toward the range highs,” then it's a sign that the market has experienced a “liquidity grab,” he said. “The longer the price keeps rejecting at the $29,452 level, the higher the potential of a further, deeper pullback.”
“Consolidation under resistance can be bullish in strong uptrends, but over the last 40 [days], especially the last 16 or so days, strength in BTC has come to a halt, and rejection at a resistance that has newly formed after losing a key level, is not bullish,” Lackmann warned. “If you are already exposed to longs, in the case of a hard rejection here, anything below 27.5k could be considered for (addon) longing (with a plan), [and] anything higher than 28.3k would still be considered premium pricing.”
BTC/USD 1-day chart. Source: MN Trading
“The way to avoid a deeper pullback from here is to break back above $29,452 and see acceleration towards the previous range high, similar to the liquidity grab on June 14 - 15 before continuation to the upside,” he said. “Until then, caution is warranted.”
Curve hack leads to pullbacks in the altcoin market
The Curve hack took a toll on the altcoin market, with the majority of tokens in the top 200 seeing red on Monday as traders moved to decrease their exposure until the effects of the hack have passed.
Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360
Everscale (EVER) was the top gainer with a price increase of 18.97%, followed by a gain of 14% for Bitcoin Gold (BTG) and 8.5% for Helium (HNT). Curve (CRV) was the biggest loser with a decline of 11.26%, followed by a decrease of 9.83% for Frax Share (FXS), another stablecoin-focused project, and an 8.82% loss for AAVE.
The overall cryptocurrency market cap now stands at $1.18 trillion, and Bitcoin’s dominance rate is 48.2%.
