Following Wednesday’s volatility, the cryptocurrency markets have recovered slightly, with Bitcoin and most major altcoins currently trading up. Ethereum, which was one of yesterday’s worst performing altcoins due to the Constantinople delay, has recovered some of its recent losses, although it has so far been unable to post a strong recovery.
Although the markets are trading up today, analysts expect there to be further volatility in the coming days or weeks.
Analyst: Bitcoin Likely to Drop Further Before Finding Bottom
At the time of writing, Bitcoin (BTC) is currently trading up less than 1% at its current price of $3,650.
Although Bitcoin has found support in the low-$3,000 region, one analyst believes that its inability to bounce decisively out of the $3,000 region signals that it has not yet found a bottom, and that further losses could be imminent.
While speaking to MarketWatch, Jani Ziedens of the Cracked Market blog explained that he believes the markets have not yet found a long-term bottom.
“Bitcoin continues to struggle and is in the mid-$3k’s. If prices were oversold, we would have bounced by now. This lethargic base tells us that demand is still incredibly weak and this selloff still hasn’t found a bottom,” he noted.
As we have been discussing in previous market updates, analysts believe that it is highly likely that Bitcoin is caught in a wide trading range between $3,000 and $5,000 with strong support existing at the former price. In order for bears to push Bitcoin below $3,000, it will take a strong and sudden influx of selling pressure.
Another popular cryptocurrency analyst, DonAlt, shared Ziedens bearish sentiment, noting in a recent tweet that he is not currently trading Bitcoin within its current trading range, which his chart notes is between approximately $3,300 to $4,400.
“$BTC not so daily update: Chilling in the lower part of the current trading range after having put in a few consecutive lower highs. As long as we stay below the POC I'll most likely stay hedged. I'm personally not interested in trading this trading range,” he said.
Altcoins Trading Up Marginally
Bitcoin’s stability today has allowed most major altcoins to see some slight gains.
Ethereum (ETH), which dropped significantly yesterday after its highly-anticipated Constantinople hard fork was delayed, has recovered slightly from its recent lows of $120, and is currently trading up 1.7% at its current price of $123.3.
In a recent email, Mati Greenspan, the senior market analyst at eToro, discussed the Constantinople delay, saying in part:
“After all the excitement, the crypto community was disappointed to hear last night that the long-awaited Constantinople upgrade has been delayed once again… we're seeing a bit of a recovery this morning but that was really scary. I mean, it's good that they caught the bug before going live but the fact that it came within 30 hours of the upgrade is a bit nerve wracking [sic].”
XRP is currently trading up marginally at its current price of $0.328.
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is also trading up slightly today at its current price of $128.75.