Bitcoin prices are trading higher midafternoon Wednesday, with the digital currency attempting to buck a recent downbeat trend.
After opening the week with two consecutive losses, the price of the world’s largest digital currency, bitcoin BTCUSD, +2.11% was trading at $6,527.66, up 2.1% since Tuesday at 5 p.m. Eastern Time of the Kraken exchange.
As digital currency owners tout the resilience of bitcoin’s support at $6,000, one analyst believes the tenuous psychological level could soon disintegrate, noting the evidence isn’t in the support, but the weakness of every subsequent rally. “While we held $6k support firmly for nearly six months, every bounce has been getting lower,” wrote Jani Ziedins of CrackedMarket in a Wednesday post. Market technicians tend to view assets as remaining in bearish, or neutral, trend if prices fail to post higher highs.
“First, we bounced to $17k. Then it was $12k. $10k came next. After that $8.5k. Earlier this month it was $7.5k and this weekend we stalled $6.8k. At this point, it is only a matter of time before we tumble under $6k support,” he said.
Bitcoin is down 53% year-to-date and 67% from its all-time high achieved last December.
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XRP volatility returns, surges 20%
The coin that runs on the Ripple protocol, XRP XRPUSD, +17.92% has added to its recent bout of tumultuous trade, rising about 16.7% Wednesday to 53 cents, following a Tuesday decline of more than 10%.
After a subdued start to the Wednesday’s action, other altcoins, or coins other than bitcoin, have joined the party. Ether ETHUSD, +3.04% which has slipped one place to third on the list of largest digital currencies was up 2.6% at $219.43 and Litecoin LTCUSD, +2.31% was trading at $58.82, up 1.6%.
Bitcoin Cash BCHUSD, +19.54% has been the big benefactor, rising 19.3% to $518.90.
In futures trading, the Cboe Global Markets Group Inc.’s October contract XBTV8, +2.20% was trading up 2.2% at $6,510 and the CME Group Inc. September contract BTCU8, +2.60% had gained 2.4% to $6,510.
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