(Kitco News) – Tuesday was a good day for crypto traders to just turn off their computer screens and enjoy some sunlight as tokens saw declines across the board, with Bitcoin (BTC) falling below support at $65,000 while numerous altcoins recorded double-digit losses.
In the futures market, “Liquidations surged to $460 million, driven by profit-taking and the strengthening US dollar,” said analysts at Secure Digital Markets. “Bitcoin remains under its 50-day moving average, exerting pressure on the medium-term trend.”
They noted that “the market is displaying a notable spot premium, suggesting reduced speculative activity among market participants. Earlier, the order book showed a buildup of bids around 65,000, which has now shifted lower to approximately 64,000.”
In the stock market, “The S&P 500 edged higher on Tuesday as investors evaluated consumer health in light of weak retail sales data,” the analysts said. “Stock prices are rising without rate cuts, supported by continued corporate profit growth and economic expansion.”
Tuesday also saw Nvidia (NVDA) surpass Microsoft (MSFT) to become the most valuable public company. At the closing bell, the S&P and Dow finished higher, up 0.25% and 0.15%, while the Nasdaq was flat.
Data provided by TradingView shows that Bitcoin started the day at $66,665, but saw its price stairstep its way lower hour by hour, bouncing off support at $64,000 in the afternoon – with bears now looking to break the back of support at that level.
BTC/USD Chart by TradingView
While the inexperienced and unprepared are panic-selling their tokens at a loss, market analyst CrediBULL Crypto called for patience, tweeting, “Spot premium back with a vengeance, funding literally flipping negative for the first time in months, and $BTC still chilling above the ‘best’ area to long at 62-63k.”
“No doubt in my mind we are forming a bottom here above 60k, just need to be a little patient,” he added.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin trades at $65,045, a decrease of 2.16% on the 24-hour chart.
Signs of hope
X user Max, founder and CEO of Because Bitcoin, helped provide additional insights into the current sell-off, noting that what the market is seeing has happened during previous cycles.
“Bitcoin [and] altcoins continue to do what they have done every previous cycle - let's take a look,” he tweeted. “The top chart is $BTC, the bottom chart is $OTHERS.D.”
“Think of $OTHERS.D as a gauge for how altcoins are performing,” he said. “If it's moving up, alts are a better hold than $BTC. If it's moving down, $BTC is a better hold than alts.”
“As you can see inside of our red shaded areas - as $BTC is charging towards its previous cycle ATH, we typically see alts underperforming dramatically,” Max noted. “In each of the previous two cycles, $OTHERS.D has dropped AGGRESSIVELY during this phase of the cycle; just like what's happening right now. Also notice the light blue dots... same market structure each time.”
He said that from a higher time frame perspective, the “market structure still looks solid here.”
“I think what you're seeing right now is a tremendous discount before alt-season,” Max said. “Take it slow, but this type of PA [and] fear for altcoins is familiar. People will tell you that it's different, but here is the data. It is not currently different. I remain extremely long until presented with new evidence.”
Market analyst Rekt Capital said the “Current price action is comparable to previous 60-day Post-Halving periods,” and highlighted the “constant downtrend” Bitcoin has been all of June, saying a break in this downtrend line “will initiate a price reversal.”
And veteran trader Peter Brandt pointed out that the current formation on Bitcoin’s chart is starting to resemble the daily chart fractal for gold’s performance in 2008-2009 and 2020-2024, suggesting the appearance of an inverse head and shoulder pattern points to a positive future for the top crypto.
1/
Will the current Bitcoin chart become a daily chart fractal of ....
Gold 2008-2009
Gold 2020-2024 pic.twitter.com/8kanoBzBk4— Peter Brandt (@PeterLBrandt) June 18, 2024
No escape for altcoins
Tuesday was a bloodbath in the altcoin market, with only a half dozen tokens in the top 200 managing to record gains on the day.
Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360
Convex Finance (CVX) and aelf (ELF) were the primary exceptions to the downturn, recording gains of 14.6% and 14.1%, respectively, while FTX Token climbed 7%. 80 tokens in the top 200 saw double-digit losses, led by Conflux (CFX), Core (CORE), and cat in a dogs world (MEW), which fell 19.7%, 19.4%, and 19.2%, respectively.
The overall cryptocurrency market cap now stands at $2.32 trillion, and Bitcoin’s dominance rate is 54.6%.
