(Kitco News) – Little has changed for the cryptocurrency market since the pullback experienced on Friday as Bitcoin’s (BTC) price has essentially flatlined near support at $22,500 as cryptocurrency traders await some spark to reinvigorate the market amid concerns surrounding the health of Silvergate Bank.
The traditional market got off to a hot start in early trading on Monday, but the momentum began to fade as the day progressed, with the major indices trending down as the markets headed toward the close. When the dust settled, the S&P and Dow managed to finish in the green, up 0.07% and 0.12%, respectively, while the Nasdaq recorded a loss of 0.11%.
Data from TradingView shows that Bitcoin price traded in a range between $22,400 and $22,700 throughout the day, with neither the bulls nor the bears gaining the upper hand, resulting in a stalemate of sorts with both sides awaiting some catalyst that can cause a notable price movement in the top crypto.
BTC/USD 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView
According to Kitco senior technical analyst Jim Wyckoff, March Bitcoin futures traded firmer during the early U.S. trading hours on Monday, and “Bulls have lost their overall near-term technical advantage as a price uptrend on the daily chart has been negated.”
“Prices are now in a fledgling downtrend and bears have some momentum,” Wyckoff said.
Stop-losses below $21,370
Additional Bitcoin analysis was provided in the most recent Trade Letter from Eight Global, which noted that “BTC price has lost the bottom support of our tentative channel and has since struggled to push back in.”
BTC/USD 1-day chart. Source: Eight Global
“The 8EMA is cutting through the 34EMA from above, and they are currently both in sync with the channel bottom, which may add to the resistance here,” Eight Global wrote. “Until we get a clear break back into the channel, $22,600 – $23,000 is an area to look for shorts, targeting $21,500 – $21,800, and moving SLs [stop losses] to b/e [break even] once the price started moving in favor of the position.”
Currently, Bitcoin is making a higher low and higher high structure, and as long as it can hold above the previous low of $21,370, the bullish chart pattern will continue, the analysts wrote.
“Until proven otherwise, HTF [high time frame] longs could be kept open with first targets of around $26,500, and if the pattern continues, eventually $28,000 – $30,000.”
BTC/USD 1-day chart. Source: Eight Global
Should the low of $21,370 be breached, “we could be looking at the A wave of an ABC type correction,” Eight Global warned. “The $20,800 area then would be a likely support for the A wave, and if the subsequent bounce or MTF [mid time frame] uptrend (B wave) then tops out at around $23,300 – $24,300 (or lower), the likelihood of getting a deeper correction (C wave) into the $18,300 – $19,700 region increases.”
BTC/USD 1-day chart. Source: Eight Global
For this reason, Eight Global recommends placing stop-loss orders for long positions below $21,370 as a preventative measure and moving them up toward $23,000 in the event that Bitcoin’s price climbs higher.
“No matter if you are favoring longs or short positions here, setting your SL to b/e once the price reasonably moves in your favor is the best way to protect your capital in a week where we will likely see prices chopping around quite a bit,” Eight Global concluded.
Altcoins stagnate
On the whole, it was a negative day for the altcoin market as the majority of tokens traded in the red while only a handful of projects recorded slight gains.
Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360
Onyxcoin (XCN) led the gainers with an increase of 9.81%, followed by a 7.92% gain for Bitgert (BRISE) and a 7.18% increase for Everscale (EVER).
The overall cryptocurrency market cap now stands at $1.023 trillion, and Bitcoin’s dominance rate is 42.3%.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.
