Having dropped to below CME Futures’ latest weekly close, Bitcoin rose back to challenge $7,600, but analysts think progress will stall.
Bitcoin (BTC) trudged closer to $7,600 on Jan. 6 after an overnight dip failed to trigger a sustained sell-off.
Cryptocurrency market daily overview. Source: Coin360
BTC range suggests few surprises
Data from Coin360 and Cointelegraph Markets put the largest cryptocurrency back over the $7,500 mark on Monday, with 24-hour highs hitting $7,550.
Previously, BTC/USD had lost support at $7,450 and fallen to lows of $7,330, but support at those levels appeared stronger and allowed markets to bounce upwards. The effect was Bitcoin filling another “gap” in futures markets, this time at $7,385.
At press time, the pair traded at around $7,530, challenging what Cointelegraph analysts believe will be a major area of resistance.
Bitcoin 7-day price chart. Source: Coin360
As Keith Wareing noted in his latest analysis on Sunday, Bitcoin would need to leave $7,600 behind in order to remove the likelihood of returning to lower levels.
“Should the price bounce back after the CME gap fills, it could mean that the bottom is behind us. I’m personally doubtful whether this is the case. However, the key resistance to break would be $7,600,” he wrote.
Current performance is nonetheless towards the upper end of expectations. Prior to the weekend, fellow Cointelegraph contributor Michaël van de Poppe said that Bitcoin was still rangebound in the $7,000 zone, with $7,800 a point of upside interest.
Avoiding another trip into the $6,000 range, however, was much more critical for him.
“Main point of interest; holding range-low at $7,100 as support,” he summarized on Jan. 3.
Zooming out, Wareing’s idea that 2020 will nonetheless produce a bull market is already popular. As Cointelegraph reported, various industry figures have gone on record to state that current behavior will give way to fresh gains. Most recently, it was Antoni Trenchev, CEO of lending platform Nexo, who told Bloomberg BTC/USD could “easily” reach $50,000 this year.
Dogecoin leads altcoin resurgence
The start of the week produced a rare spate of profits for altcoin investors, with many major coins outdoing Bitcoin over the past 24 hours.
The best performance belonged to Dogecoin (DOGE), which jumped 17.8% as part of a move that one well-known social media trader suggested could mean the start of a protracted “alt season.”
Others also fared well, with Monero (XMR) rising 8.6% and Dash (DASH) 11.5%. Ether (ETH), the largest altcoin by market cap, rose by a more modest 3% to hit $141.
Ether 7-day price chart. Source: Coin360
The overall cryptocurrency market cap was $202.3 billion, with Bitcoin’s share at 67.9%.
