The Crypto Mid-Day Review – May 19th, 2021

It’s been a particularly bearish first half of the day for Bitcoin and the broader crypto market. The crypto market has been hit by significant volatility of late. In recent weeks, Elon Musk had been a market influencer. Overnight, however, it was the PBoC that brought regulatory risk back to the forefront of the crypto market.

The PBoC called for financial and payment institutions to refuse cryptos as payment or for such institutions to offer service and products related to the space.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin, BTC to USD, was down by 8.48% to $39,260.0. Early this morning, Bitcoin rose to a current day high $43,600.0 before hitting reverse.

Falling short of the first major resistance level at $45,028, Bitcoin tumbled to a mid-morning current day low $38,651.0.

The extended sell-off saw Bitcoin fall through the 38.2% FIB of $41,592 and the first major support level at $41,544.

More significantly, however, Bitcoin fell through the second major support level at $40,188 to return to sub-$40,000 levels.

Bitcoin had last seen sub-$40,000 on 8^th February, where Bitcoin had been well into an extended bull run that kicked off from a 13^th March 2020 swing low $4,000.0.

The near-term bullish trend remains intact in spite of the latest slide back to sub-$40,000 levels. For the bears, Bitcoin would need to slide through the 62% FIB of $27,237 to form a near-term bearish trend.

The Rest of the Pack

Across the rest of the majors, it has been a mixed day first half of the day on Wednesday.

Polkadot bucked the trend through the morning. Recovering from an early pullback, Polkadot was up by 4.63% at the time of writing.

It’s been a particularly bearish morning elsewhere, however.

At the time of writing, Binance Coin and Cardano’s ADA were down by 17.43% and by 16.40% to lead the way down.

Things were not much better elsewhere.

Ethereum (-15.64%), Litecoin (-11.90%), and Ripple’s XRP (-12.62%) were also deep in the red alongside Chainlink (-15.81%) and Crypto.com Coin (-10.74%).

Relative to the broader market, Bitcoin Cash SV was down by a more modest 6.90%.

Through the course of the morning, the crypto total market tumbled from an early morning high $2,036bn to a low $1,742bn. At the time of writing, the total market cap stood at $1,763bn.

Bitcoin’s dominance fell to an early low 39.85% before rising to a high 41.77%. At the time of writing, Bitcoin’s dominance stood at 41.44%.

For the Bitcoin Afternoon Ahead

Bitcoin would need to move back through the first and second major support levels and the 38.2% FIB of $41,592 to restore confidence.

Following today’s news from China, Bitcoin will need plenty of support, however, to eye resistance levels.

A move through the day’s pivot at $43,672 would be needed to bring the first major resistance level at $45,028 into play.

Failure to move back through the major support levels and 38.2% FIB would bring the third major support level at $36,704 back into play.

Barring another extended sell-off throughout the day, Bitcoin should steer clear of sub-$30,000 levels, however.