Bitcoin was trading in a tight range over the past range, but the last few hours were marked with notable volatility. The price tumbled to $8,893 on Binance, but it bounced back to $9,240, charting gains of about $350.
This happened as futures for legacy market indices and stocks are also trading in the green with slight increases of about 1%.
Except for a couple of moves, Bitcoin’s price has been particularly stagnant over the past five days. The range has been relatively tight as the cryptocurrency makes $200-300 moves here and there.
A few hours ago, Bitcoin’s price started dropping, and it reached a low of around $8,893 on Binance. The bears were for not, however, as almost immediately after that, the price jumped to reach $9,240, gaining $350 on the way up. It has since consolidated at around $9,200.
As CryptoPotato reported recently, this represents the top of the current trading range. As such, a breakout above or beneath will likely point to the next short-term direction of the asset. The first level of significant resistance lies where BTC is currently trading – at around $9,200. Following is $9,400, which contains the 50-days moving average.
From below, the first level of support to consider lies around $9,050 and $9,000. If the bears are successful in pushing the price below it, their next target is likely to be $8,830 and $8,600 below that.
The altcoin market is also in the green for the past 24 hours of trading, as most of the cryptocurrencies are charting mild gains in the range between 2% and 5%.
Ripple’s XRP even managed to break above $0.18 after trading below it for a few days. Ethereum (ETH) is also up by just shy of 3%, and it’s currently trading at around $232.
If one thing’s clear, it’s that the cryptocurrency market continues to be largely correlated with Wall Street.
At the time of this writing, the futures for legacy markets are also in the green. The three prominent indices are all well above 1% in gains as the S&P 500 is up 1.26%, Nasdaq 100 is up 1.27%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) is up 413 basis points or 1.67%.
Bitcoin being correlated to stocks is not necessarily a good thing. There’s been a growing narrative in the community that BTC can act as a safe-haven in times of financial crisis and substantial economic turmoil. So far, however, the cryptocurrency hasn’t been able to detach itself from legacy markets, and it’s moving more or less in the same way.
However, this doesn’t deprive Bitcoin of its inherent qualities as an inflation hedge. According to Grayscale, institutional investors are opting into Bitcoin mostly to hedge against inflation amid massive money printing.
