Bitcoin chalked out minor price gains on Sunday, ending its longest run of daily losses for half a year.
The leading cryptocurrency by market value jumped 1.2%, having suffered losses in each of the preceding five days, according to CoinDesk’s Bitcoin Price Index. Prices last took a beating for five consecutive days in early December 2019.
Both five-day drops saw prices decline by around $900 over those periods.
Sunday’s rise has kept the multi-week-long trading range of $9,000 to $10,000 intact after prices briefly dropped below $8,850 on Saturday. Had the cryptocurrency established a secure foothold below $9,000, the resulting range breakdown could have invited stronger chart-driven selling and further losses.
However, the cryptocurrency still ended the week (June 22–28) on a negative note. Prices dropped nearly 1.8% despite news that fintech giant PayPal is said to be planning to roll out direct cryptocurrency sales on its platform, as well as its sister money-sharing app Venmo.
Also read: PayPal, Venmo to Roll Out Crypto Buying and Selling: Sources
The bitcoin market initially responded positively to the news, reported by CoinDesk on June 22, but failed to keep the bullish momentum going.
“After the news broke, bitcoin hit a very respectable $9,699, dropping off towards the end of the week as markets got spooked about the spike in coronavirus cases in some parts of the world,” Simon Peters, market analyst at multi-asset brokerage eToro.
Also, some analysts are skeptical PayPal’s plan, if confirmed, would prompt a big rally. “The tech giant’s plan may bring a $1.15 billion boost to bitcoin’s market cap. That figure alone is impressive, but considering bitcoin’s market cap is already $168 billion, the $1.15 billion, maximum, potential increase would only result in only ~$9,300 per coin,” said Messari research analyst Ryan Watkins, according to Forbes.
The cryptocurrency needs to beat resistance at $10,040 to confirm a major bullish breakout.
Bitcoin is stuck in a 2.5-year-long descending triangle breakdown on the weekly chart. A move above $10,040, which is the upper end of the triangle, would open the doors to a re-test of the high of $13,880 reached in June 2019.
On the downside, $8,800 could offer stiff support in the short term. Currently there are 1.27 million addresses holding 837,730 bitcoin that were purchased in the range of $8,805 to $9,076, according to IntoTheBlock’s In/Out of the Money Around Price Addresses indicator.
“This is expected to act as support as holders in this range will attempt to remain profitable on their positions and push prices above this level,” the blockchain analysis firm IntoTheBlock noted in a weekly analysis.
Disclosure: The author holds no cryptocurrency assets at the time of writing.