Bitcoin faces “month of destruction” as September is historically weak for crypto

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(Kitco News) – A subdued week in the crypto market ended flat as token prices saw relatively little movement over the past 24 hours, with Bitcoin (BTC) continuing to struggle below $26,000 in the absence of any notable developments.

Stocks climbed higher into the market close, which pulled them out of negative territory and led to a positive finish for the week after officials at the Federal Reserve hinted the central bank could hold off on hiking interest rates at its meeting in September.

At the closing bell, the S&P, Dow, and Nasdaq were all in the green, up 0.14%, 0.22%, and 0.09%, respectively.

Data provided by TradingView shows that Bitcoin bulls were unable to hold support at $26,000, which resulted in the top crypto sliding to the next lower support level at $25,800, where bulls now look to gather reinforcements and defend against a possible move lower.

BTC/USD Chart by TradingView

“September Bitcoin futures prices [were] once again slightly down in early U.S. trading Friday,” said Kitco senior technical analyst Jim Wyckoff, who noted that otherwise, there is “Not much new late this week.”

Bitcoin futures 1-day chart. Source: Kitco

“Bulls are working to stabilize prices but the bears still have the overall near-term technical advantage,” Wyckoff said. “A price downtrend line remains in place on the daily chart to suggest more sideways-to-lower price action in the near term.”

According to MN Trading founder Michaël van de Poppe, “Bitcoin is currently holding onto a significant level of support around $25,500,” but is potentially facing a “month of destruction” as the top crypto has historically struggled in September.

“Bitcoin faces a crucial support level it should be holding onto, as it’s currently resting on the 200-Week MA,” he said. “If we dive into the historical and cyclical aspect of the markets, we can conclude a few things: August and September are terrible for Bitcoin pre-halving year; August 2015 witnessed a substantial correction towards the 200-EMA (never closed beneath); and August 2019 witnessed a substantial correction, which was followed by a smaller one in November 2019.”

BTC/USD 1-week chart. Source: Twitter

“Technically speaking, we can solely focus on the price action in 2019, but that doesn’t grant a clear case,” he said. We can also correlate it with the 2015 cycle, which saw institutions enter the market for the first time, he added.

“We can correlate the current market with that cycle,” he said. “In that regard, this is the final correction. Survive September and we’ll be doing well.”

Don’t get chopped out in this range of #Bitcoin.

It can last for some more weeks. Ultimately ending up by a fake-out and then the real move.

If we break above $26,800. I’ll be a massive buyer.
If we drop to $24,500-25,000, I’ll be a massive buyer.

— Michaël van de Poppe (@CryptoMichNL) September 8, 2023

A flat finish to the week for altcoins

It was another mixed day for the altcoin market, with more tokens trading in the red to close out the week while the gainers saw larger percentage moves.

Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360

tomiNet (TOMI) led the gainers with an increase of 13.62%, followed by a 9.8% gain for FLOKI (FLOKI). Worldcoin (WLD), Flux (FLUX) and Joe (JOE) all suffered declines of roughly 7.2%.

The overall cryptocurrency market cap now stands at $1.04 trillion, and Bitcoin’s dominance rate is 48.3%.