Bitcoin’s $1,000 Recovery Ahead of Christmas Has Some Traders Optimistic
After briefly falling below $7,000, bitcoin has been slowly recovering. Can this be the start of a trend reversal? | Image: shutterstock.com
- Bitcoin has been on a gradual ascent over the past three days.
- On Monday, bitcoin’s price peaked near $7,700, the highest in over three weeks.
- With just eight days remaining for the year, bitcoin’s 2019 returns have amounted to 100%.
Bitcoin’s volatility has been dwindling in recent days, but price action is heading north following a brief consolidation near $7,000 – leading some traders to speculate that an imminent move higher is possible.
BTC/USD Update
The bitcoin price notched an intraday high of $7,692.98 on Bitstamp. At the time of writing, the largest cryptocurrency was down 1% at $7,438. On a 24-hour basis, bitcoin has gained nearly 3%, according to CoinMarketCap.
Since bottoming near $6,400 last week, bitcoin’s price has recovered more than $1,000. At current values, the king of cryptocurrencies is worth $136 billion.
Bitcoin’s slow grind higher has been accompanied by a meaningful uptick in trade volumes. In the last 24 hours, nearly $1.1 billion worth of BTC traded hands on verified spot exchanges, according to Bitwise data . Trading activity is still dominated by Binance, which accounts for more than half of all verified spot transactions. Coinbase and Kraken round out the top three.
Bitcoin’s recovery in the last few days has had a gravitational pull on altcoins and tokens. The combined value of all cryptocurrencies peaked at $199.9 billion Monday. Market values bottomed near $175 billion last week.
Bullish Momentum Building?
With the latest recovery attempt, bitcoin’s price is approaching the 50-day moving average. Under normal circumstances, a clean move above this level is viewed as bullish.
The daily chart shows how bitcoin has been in a bear market since late October when the so-called “death cross” first formed. The bearish setup occurs when the 50-day moving average crosses below the 200-day moving average.
Zooming out to the weekly chart, bitcoin’s momentum is showing bullish signs, according to cryptocurrency trader Bitcoin Jack. In a Monday Twitter post, Bitcoin Jack said :
Weekly momentum has flipped neutral/bullish
He added:
It means that any significant push of momentum down or up will tilt the tables and right now it’s balanced
https://twitter.com/BTC_JackSparrow/status/1209019606058360832
John Isige, an analyst at FXStreet , believes bitcoin only has one more hurdle before re-testing the $8,000 range. The barrier forms at $7,680, which is just below the daily high.
With less than eight days remaining in the trading year, bitcoin is on track for gains of 100% since Jan. 1. The king of cryptocurrencies looked poised to retest all-time highs this summer after it approached $14,000 for the first time since early 2018. The rally failed to hold, and bitcoin eventually crashed 53% all the way down to last week’s low.
