Bitcoin’s value is skyrocketing today on August 29 reaching an all-time high of $4,650 per BTC across global exchanges. Bulls don’t seem to be letting up as the price continues to climb after short periods of pullbacks as $5K per BTC could be just around the bend.
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Bitcoin Surpasses Another All-Time High
After a solid week of bouncing around the $4,250-4,350 range, bitcoin markets kicked into high gear on Monday after the weekend, reaching a new all time high. At press time the price per bitcoin is hovering around the $4580-4630 territory and sell walls look extremely flat on many popular exchanges. Bitcoin trade volume has been strong commanding $2.2B worth of trades over the past 24-hours, and bitcoin dominance is averaging around 46 percent. The highest trade volumes for bitcoin right now are currently stemming from Japan, China, the U.S., South Korea, and India. Interestingly, Asian markets from exchanges like Bitflyer, Bithumb, and Huobi are currently trading roughly $50 less than western exchange spot prices.
Technical Analysis
Technical indicators show the bitcoin markets are primed with buyers at the moment, and continue to move many legs up. Looking at the hourly chart both the 100 short term and the 200 long term Simple Moving Averages (SMA), have been crossed for quite some time. At the moment the 100 SMA trendline is just a hair higher than the 200 SMA. There’s a touch of resistance in the $4650-4700 positions, but opposition doesn’t look too significant at the time of writing. Both the Stochastic and Relative Strength Index (RSI) oscillators have headed north, for the time being, showing continued signs of bullish momentum. Signals indicate that the probability of bitcoin reaching $5K is definitely in the cards.
Overall Cryptocurrency Markets Are Rising Fast
Cryptocurrency markets, in general, are doing extremely well following bitcoin’s momentous rise. The entire cryptocurrency capitalization is commanding $163B at the moment with over $5.9B in daily trade volume. Presently Ethereum markets are doing very well and are up 5 percent as one ether is $360. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) hovered around the $625 territory all last week, but is now at a low of $575 per BCH. Ripple (XRP) is up 10 percent climbing from $0.18 to $0.22 per XRP over the course of the weekend.
The cryptocurrency Litecoin has reached a new all time high capturing $62 per LTC with a $3.2B market cap. The rest of the top ten are also following bitcoin’s lead with Dash ($350), NEM ($0.28), IOTA ($0.84), Monero ($132), and NEO ($33). The cryptocurrency Ethereum Classic which held a position in the top ten for many months has now been pushed out of the top ten line up. Currently, Ethereum Classic (ETC) is trying to keep the 11th market cap position as one ETC is $15 at press time.
The Verdict
Overall bitcoin proponents are thrilled with the spike in price, and a majority of bitcoiners are celebrating the rise in value. Additionally, people are pleased with last week’s activation of Segregated Witness (Segwit) and have been testing Segwit-based transactions and blocks bigger than 1MB. Bitcoin ‘community’ infighting hasn’t really settled, and arguments about Segwit2x continue over forums and social media. The next three months is sure to be interesting, and the price could be affected by negative sentiment and headlines.
Bear Scenario: At the moment there are a lot of buyers, so a significant pullback doesn’t seem to be in the cards right now. The solid foundations in the $4200-4300 territory should hold unless panic selling ensues. If there is a strong negative market reaction, then lows into the $3800-4000 range are also not out of the question. At the moment bear positions seem to have stepped away and many traders are betting ‘long.’
Bull Scenario: As explained above sell walls across many popular exchanges worldwide are fairly flat. This means moving past resistance may not take long at all and higher ATHs can be reached in the short term. Currently envisioning bitcoin prices at $5K seem highly probable and technical indicators show a similar prediction. There’s some resistance in the $4650-4700 range at the moment, but it’s looking pretty thin.
Where do you see the price of bitcoin going from here? Let us know in the comments below.
Disclaimer: Bitcoin price articles and markets updates are intended for informational purposes only and should not to be considered as trading advice. Neither Bitcoin.com nor the author is responsible for any losses or gains, as the ultimate decision to conduct a trade is made by the reader. Always remember that only those in possession of the private keys are in control of the “money.”
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