Bitcoin – The Storm that Came from the Calm

Bitcoin tumbled 8.31% on Wednesday, following a 0.19% rise on Tuesday, to end the day at $5,922.4, the day’s loss the largest since an 8.81% slide on 5^th September.

Another range bound start to the day saw Bitcoin strike a late morning intraday high $6,485.8, falling shy of $6,500 levels and the day’s first major resistance level at $6,507.77. It what was Bitcoin’s last range bound move of the day and possible of the week, the deadlock between the bulls and the bears broken, with that much promised storm being delivered as Bitcoin slid through the day’s major support levels to a late afternoon intraday low and new swing lo $5,678.

Unsurprisingly, the sell-off gathered momentum through the early afternoon, with stop-loss limits getting hit across the majors, the new swing lo reaffirming the bearish trend formed back at early May’s swing hi $9,999.

There was no single news event that contributed to the late morning sell-off that, not only left Bitcoin down in the dumps, but saw the rest of the majors suffer heavier losses, the cryptomarket’s total market cap sliding to $187.74bn, having been hovering at around the $210bn mark in recent days.

Perhaps of greater significance is the fact that Bitcoin’s dominance failed to surge, currently sitting at 52.9%, reflecting the depth of the sell-off that, timing wise, could be attributed to uncertainty surrounding today’s Bitcoin Cash hard fork that could deliver a blow to Bitcoin Cash and the broader market should there be no consensus.

While Bitcoin made an attempted return to $6,000 levels, with a post sell-off $5,911.4, uncertainty over the cause of the sell-off and the Bitcoin Cash fork itself later today will have given the crypto speculators reason to pause, with another sell-off on the cards should things not go Bitcoin ABC and Bitmain’s way later in the day.

Bitcoin was certainly not the worst performer on the day, with Monero’s XMR sliding by 13.58% and Bitcoin Cash by 13.03%, with only a handful of other crypto majors managing to avoid double digit losses on the day.

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At the time of writing, Bitcoin was down 3.13% to $5,737.1, with moves through the early hours seeing Bitcoin fall from a start of a day morning high $5,940 to a morning low $5,712 before steadying, the day’s major support and resistance levels left untested early on.

Elsewhere, things were no better, with Bitcoin Cash, the likely instigator of this week’s sell-off, down 6.43% at the time of writing, as sentiment towards today’s BCH hard fork continued to hammer the majors.

For the day ahead, we can expect Bitcoin Cash and the outcome of the hard fork to ultimately influence Bitcoin and the broader market, with those having wished for the return of volatility to the markets likely to be regretting it.

A move back through the morning high $5,940 to $6,000 levels would provide the markets with some hope of a second half of a day rebound, though we can expect Bitcoin Cash SV and Bitcoin Cash ABC futures price and hash rate chatter to grip the cryptomarket ahead of today’s main event.