Bitcoin
What’s Next for Bitcoin (BTC) Prices? Traders Target $50,000 as Billions in Selling Pressure Loom
Bitcoin (BTC) Traders expect prices to fall as low as $50,000, a level not seen since mid-February, in the coming weeks as the largest cryptocurrency by market cap could face billions of dollars in selling pressure.
BTC prices have fallen by more than 10% in the past seven days, CoinGecko data shows, falling below a critical technical indicator on Thursday and erasing all gains since late February.
Trading firms like QCP Capital have attributed the bearish sentiment for wallet activity from a German government entity and the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange Mt. Gox, and some market analysts say there is more pain ahead.
“Bitcoin’s selling pressure is unlikely to ease in the coming days,” Rachel Lin, founder of on-chain cryptocurrency exchange SynFutures, said in an interview. “The German government still has over $2.3 billion in Bitcoin, Mt. Gox has over $8 billion and the U.S. government has over $12 billion.”
“The market expects most Mt. Gox users to dump their tokens, but we could see a recovery if the sell-off is smaller than anticipated. On the other hand, if there is enough selling to push the price lower, we could be looking at the $50,000 level soon,” she said.
Alex Kuptsikevich, senior market analyst at FxPro, echoed the sentiment in an email to CoinDesk: “Bitcoin has fallen below the 200-day moving average and has so far failed to recover above it, trying to stay within established patterns.
“From the current position, a further decline to $51,000 (the February consolidation area) is more likely than the same amount of growth to $65,000,” Kuptsikevich added. Moving averages are a measure of an asset’s closing prices over a period of time that can help identify a trading opportunity.
Additionally, a wallet connected to Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) has moved millions of dollars worth of bitcoin to cryptocurrency exchanges since mid-June. Traders say these movements imply an intent to sell the assets that were seized in 2013 from a piracy marketplace.
Meanwhile, BTC prices appeared to briefly recover mid-morning in Europe, rising to nearly $55,000 from a low of $53,600 in the early Asian hours. The sudden drop caused over $550 million in crypto longs, or bets on higher prices, to be put on the market. to be liquidated in the last 24 hours.