The past 24 hours saw little movement in BTC/USD, with the trading corridor seeing prices fluctuate by a modest maximum of 1% in either direction.
Bitcoin fell sharply at the start of the week as a dip in safe havens appeared to spark a copycat move for the largest cryptocurrency. From highs above $12,400, a three-day fall saw $11,500 come into play as buyer support.
After a modest bounce, BTC/USD was on track to perform as forecast by analysts — a period of consolidation, possibly with new lows, before the resumption of a broader bullish uptrend.
BTC price: ranging pattern follows $900 drop
For popular trader Josh Rager, more pronounced losses in altcoins on the day set the backdrop for cautious optimism on BTC.
“Ruining the alt party for most, but want to see price close above last week’s open ($11,692),” he tweeted on Wednesday.
“Meme trend line is holding and (to be honest), if we can stay above $11,500 I’m hopeful,” he added. “But I believe we wick down to $11,400 before the next move up.”
Previously, fellow trader Michaël van de Poppe delivered a harsher verdict on possible incoming lows, arguing that $10,500 support may be tested again this month before September sees green.
Meanwhile, in a curious move on the cryptocurrency markets, altcoin yearn.finance (YFI) became the first token ever to eclipse the price of Bitcoin.
At $12,856 as of press time, YFI has put in highly unusual performance in a matter of days, rising from $4,500 on August 15.
Exchange balances keep falling despite $12,400 highs
Among Bitcoin “hodlers,” however, the mood remains conspicuously one of investing, not sudden selling or profit-taking.
That was according to fresh data from on-chain monitoring resource Glassnode, which on Thursday uploaded evidence of declining balances on cryptocurrency exchanges.
This, it argued, suggests that investors are not waiting to sell at short notice based on price highs, and are more interested in sitting on coins for longer periods.
This comes despite the $12,400 highs, which represented Bitcoin’s highest price in over a year.
“Currently 2.6M BTC are being held on exchanges,” Glassnode wrote in accompanying comments.
“Significantly lower than the last time $BTC hit a local top a year ago (2.8M), and lower than before the sell-off in March (2.9M).”
The retracement meanwhile took sentiment indicator the Crypto Fear & Greed Index down by a noticeable amount, away from its “extreme greed” setting towards more neutral territory.
On Thursday, the Index, which gauges whether Bitcoin is overbought and due for a correction or the opposite, stood at 75/100. On Wednesday, it was at 80/100.
