Bitcoin has not made any gains in the past month. A brief surge to $50,000 proved short-lived, even though one bank predicted that the bitcoin price would soon double.
Bitcoin prices hit $52,000 per bitcoin in the early part of last week, before falling to below $45,000 as , a viral plan to stabilize the price. The combined crypto and bitcoin market , which currently hovers around $2.1 trillion, was wiped out by the crash.
Data has shown that bitcoin exchange reserves, which is the amount of bitcoin stored on Coinbase and Binance have fallen to lower levels than they were in November 2013. This was when the bitcoin market began its massive run, reaching an all-time high of almost $65,000 in April.
According to data from CryptoQuant, bitcoin exchange reserves fell to new levels this week. This means that there is less bitcoin available for sale on the market. Investors who move their bitcoin holdings from exchanges to storage can cause low bitcoin exchange reserves.
“The crypto markets have shifted to a range-bound climate since the crash last Wednesday, between $43,000- $47,000 with neither bulls nor bears having a firm grasp,” Marcus Sotiriou (a trader at GlobalBlock in the U.K.) wrote in a note. He pointed out data that showed large Bitcoin holders, also known as whales have increased their holdings by “roughly 44,000 bitcoin in this past week and 103 600 bitcoin in three weeks”-describing the data as “bullish.”
Microstrategy, a business intelligence software company, announced Monday that it had purchased another 5,000 bitcoin.
Sotiriou wrote that this could lead to a flood of announcements from institutional buyers of bitcoin in the coming weeks and months. He also noted that the remaining buyers of 98,000 bitcoin are unknown.
Technical analysis suggests that bitcoin’s price is poised to make a “golden cross”, where the 50-day moving mean surpasses the 200-day moving mean. Although this is not necessarily a bullish sign, it may be a lagging indicator. However, some believe a golden cross could provide support for a new surge higher.
Alex Kuptsikevch (senior financial analyst at FxPro) wrote in emailed comments that while the cryptocurrency market doesn’t seem over-sold for buyers to buy short- or medium-term, it does show signs buyer interest.
“Bitcoin has been steadily gaining support this month on a downside of a 200-day moving average that now crosses near $44,300. The rise from this curve in early August triggered a 40% increase over the next five week’s.