It looks like the old days of violent rollercoaster-like price action are back. Having hovered below $9k after defending some key support levels in the wake of a previously failed attempt, the bitcoin price mounted a surprise attack on $9k again. While it managed to break above it, it got swiftly and quite violently rejected. Within minutes of the rally, it was trading at $8.6k again.
Following the sudden retracement, the price of bitcoin dived further, hitting the $8.1k mark at one point. It has since rebounded from those unlikely depths, trading at $8,260 at press time.
The highest point of the rally was the $9,084 mark. The bitcoin price had not seen such high levels since May 10, 2018. The ensuing selling frenzy proved it however that it was simply not ready to hold on to such gains even now.
The mentioned selloff had its impact felt across the entire crypto sector. Other high-ranked cryptocurrencies, such as Tron (TRX), EOS and Litecoin (LTC) dipped into the red as well, by more than three percent. This happened despite the fact that they hadn’t really followed BTC’s lead upward before the drop.
Where does the bitcoin price go from here? Will it actually dip below $8k or will it mount another attempt on the formidable $9k resistance?
In technical terms, the drop from over $9k drove the price squarely through two major support levels: $8.8k and $8.4k. Only the proximity of the $8k psychological support managed to put a floor under the rout. That poses the question: has this drop managed to alter the long-term bullish picture?
With BTC still trading above its main SMAs, the answer is: probably not. The pullback has all the makings of a healthy correction, albeit in a rather brutal form.
Thus, the short-term (15-minute) outlook is now strongly bearish. The 1-hour picture however is bullish. The one-week outlook is strongly bullish as this point too.
With that in mind, depending on whether the price is able to rebound above at least $8.4k shortly, the likely course of its evolution is upward. With such a steep drop in the rearview mirror, the next assault on $9k will likely have a very different outcome.
What do the fundamentals say about all this?
The above dissected major price drop was not triggered by any negative news. In fact, the overall news-flow on bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general has been quite positive lately.
Therefore, the drop was likely triggered by bag-holders looking to cash in their profits.
Craig Wright’s recent move to claim copyright on BTC and the bitcoin whitepaper made some waves in the Bitcoin SV community, but it was a short-lived stunt. News broke yesterday regarding yet another copyright registration. The person who filed the claim is an Azusa, CA resident and Chinese citizen. Wei Liu has reportedly made the move to prove that anyone could file a copyright claim on bitcoin, the same way Craig Wright did it.
The CEO of crypto market research firm Coinsummer, Liu has set out to prove that copyright is completely meaningless in the context of bitcoin.
Craig Wright was quick to comment on Liu’s registration. He said he was ready to show his credentials and have Liu wearing the “orange suit” as a result.
In other news: on Friday, the SEC will convene in Washington DC to discuss DLT technology and regulatory angles on digital assets. Around a dozen experts with financial, technical and legal backgrounds will speak at the convention.
The event comes amid rising concern among industry member about “an increasingly restrictive regulatory climate in the US”.
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