Bitcoin ‘treading water’ as ‘subdued’ market struggled to rally back to highs | Personal finance | Finance
Bitcoin ‘not seen as a currency for transactions’ says expert
At 9.30pm on Wednesday, Bitcoin was trading at £19,382.62 or $23,681.39. While a slight decline during the week, the latest figures are still down £12,730.25, or 39.64 per cent, from their peak six months ago.
Dr Martin Hiesboeck, head of blockchain and crypto research at Uphold, told Express.co.uk that Bitcoin continues to “tread water, flirting again with the 24k level”.
He said: “The market is muted, but every move down is immediately met with large orders mainly from large (presumably institutional) wallet addresses.
“Many investors are concerned that the macroeconomic outlook will not improve anytime soon, so they are selling every price increase.
“At the same time, institutions and savvy investors seem to believe that Bitcoin has formed a bottom and continues to accumulate.”
Bitcoin ‘treading water’ in a ‘muted’ cryptocurrency market says an expert (Image: GETTY)
At 9.30pm on Wednesday, Bitcoin was trading at £19,382.62 (Image: COINDESK)
Addressing the cryptocurrency’s mediocre performance in recent months, Dr. Hiesboeck added: “With the small amount of Bitcoin on exchanges, such moves often drive excessive price action at least on a daily basis.
“We observed fewer miner-related transactions this week and a general wait-and-see sentiment seems to prevail.
“Bitcoin is having a hard time going anywhere right now, but looking at it from a long-term perspective, this appears to be an accumulation point, and whether Bitcoin falls further does not matter to the millions who believe in it.
“The fact that it hasn’t fallen significantly in recent weeks as we digested some really bad news is a turning point.”
On June 18, Bitcoin crashed, falling to £15,499.41 (Image: COINDESK)
Dr. Martin Hiesboeck said “the market is muted.” Every move down is met with large orders’ (Image: GETTY)
Other experts have noted Bitcoin’s struggle to recover from a market crash in May.
Crypto expert Wendy O told NextAdvisor: “We’re in a full-fledged bear market, not a bear cycle. Just because we’re seeing positive price action doesn’t mean we’re out of the clear.
“We’re currently trading (Ethereum) at $1,500, and for me to be super bullish on Ethereum, I need to see us break above $2,248. That’s a 50 percent price pump there.”
Joe DiPasquale, CEO of crypto-asset manager BitBull Capital, told inews: “While Bitcoin saw positive momentum this week, it remains range-bound when taking a broader view, still struggling to cross the $22,000 resistance.
“For now, we remain interested in the bottom of this range in terms of Bitcoin’s price, and are watching for accumulation below this range-bound movement.”
‘Bitcoin is having a hard time going anywhere’, but no new problems are a ‘tipping point’ (Image: GETTY)
As of 3pm on Monday, Bitcoin was trading at £19,937.45, down a staggering 43.48 per cent from the same point last year.
On 8 August 2021, Bitcoin rose to £35,275.77, before reaching an all-time high of £55,291.19 on 8 November.
Monday’s figure also represents a fall of £12,641.01, or 38.8 per cent in six months.
However, the figures are up £19,934.31, or 10.1 per cent, in the last month.
Wendy O said “just because we’re seeing positive price action doesn’t mean we’re out of the clear” (Image: GETTY)
In May, a stablecoin Terra, which was supposed to have a fixed value of $1, collapsed to less than half of its stable value, causing the cryptocurrency market to crash.
Bitcoin and ethereum, the two biggest cryptocurrencies, fell 5 percent and 12 percent respectively, extending losses that saw both fall more than 20 percent in the previous week.
The sale took the combined market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies to $1.2 trillion, less than half of where it was last November, based on data from CoinMarketCap.
On June 18, Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency market as a whole crashed, Bitcoin falling to £15,499.41.
