Bitcoin (BTC) price has been in a positive trend despite a bull-bear tussle for dominance earlier in the day. During the tussle, BTC's price swayed between an intra-day high and low of $60,680.33 and $57,860.24, respectively.
At press time, BTC was changing hands at $59,097, a 0.63% surge from the support level.
Accompanying the bull rally, BTC's market capitalization and 24-hour trading volume surged by 0.60% and 25.60%, respectively, to $1,166,540,073,960 and $35,093,834,919.
According to Lookonchain, an on-chain analytics platform, the decline to $60,000 is partly due to the suspension of institutional stablecoin buying. In their post of August 12 on X, they observed that institutions had appeared to cease buying for the time being, which led to a 4.5% decline in the price of BTC.
The post pointed out that institutions stopped acquiring USDT from the Tether Treasury and sending it to exchanges, which indicates that there is less buying pressure.
This slowdown in institutional inflows is significant because stablecoins such as USDT are used for converting fiat into crypto assets, especially by institutions. A decrease in such activity may mean that investors are losing interest in BTC which may lead to more fluctuations in its price.
Many crypto analysts have shared their opinions on the possible future of Bitcoin’s price. According to Trader Tardigrade, BTC is now trading within the framework of a descending broadening triangle pattern comparable to the one seen in 2019-2020.
He noted that, if Bitcoin is to break out from this pattern, it could surge dramatically, following a similar trajectory to the 580% it saw in 2020, which saw it jump from $10 000 to nearly $70,000. For Tardigrade, it is $69,000, which serves as the critical resistance level that, if broken, may indicate the start of a new bullish trend.
On the other hand, analyst Mikybull Crypto indicated that Bitcoin could crash before it starts its next major rally. He also pointed out that dominance of Bitcoin in the last few weeks could be followed by a sharp pull back as has been the case in the past. Nevertheless, Mikybull also added that in the next bullish wave, Bitcoin could retest $95,000 and $142,000 after this possible crash, with a chance of hitting new highs by 2025.
Similarly, popular analyst Michael van de Poppe pointed to the $60,000 resistance level as critical. He pointed out that if Bitcoin is able to reclaim this level, it could open the door for a new record high that could be seen in September or October. This view is in line with other analysts who are waiting for a sustained move above $60,600 before the next leg up in the price of Bitcoin.
As per Kaiko Research, the growing dominance of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) has caused liquidity to be more centralized during weekdays, hence making the weekends prone to a lot of volatility.
This was the case during the Aug. 5 sell-off where Bitcoin price swings were amplified by the lack of liquidity in different exchanges.
With Bitcoin price still fluctuating around the $60,000 mark, the market is still rather tense. Traders are waiting for a breakdown or a bullish trend depending on the macroeconomic environment, institutions in the next few days. The result will more or less provide a direction of the way Bitcoin is going to trade as it gets close to crucial levels such as $69,000 on the upside or $50,000 in case of a pullback.