Bitcoin Prices Struggle Below Key $50,000 Price Level

Bitcoin prices have been trading south of $50,000, a level that several analysts have described as crucial, for much of today.

The world’s most prominent digital currency was valued close to $49,800 early this morning, before briefly climbing above $50,350 hours later, CoinDesk data shows.

However, it subsequently dropped below $50,000, and it has been trading south of that price since then, additional CoinDesk figures reveal.

This afternoon, the cryptocurrency fell to as little as $47,537.66, its lowest since Monday.

[Ed note: Investing in cryptocoins or tokens is highly speculative and the market is largely unregulated. Anyone considering it should be prepared to lose their entire investment.]

Several analysts offered their perspective on what these latest price movements mean.

Marc Bernegger, a board member of Crypto Finance Group, spoke to the difficulty that bitcoin has had staying above $50,000 lately.

“$50,000 is definitely an important psychological price level for bitcoin but as we see right now there is no strong support from market participants at this level.”

Armando Aguilar, vice president of Digital Assets Strategy for Fundstrat Global Advisors, also weighed in.

Bitcoin “has been struggling to stay above $50k recently,” he emphasized, a development that could potentially “create additional market overreaction and bring additional selloffs.”

In addition to speaking to this possibility of further declines, Aguilar also provided some bullish technical analysis.

“The hourly Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) seems to be losing steam in the bearish zone, pointing to a potential price upward momentum,” he said.

“Buy signals occur when the MACD moves above zero, and potential sell signals when it crosses below zero.”

Should bitcoin prices push higher, Aguilar outlined several resistance levels it could encounter.

“The next upside resistance level is near $50,500 area, followed by $52,000 and $53,750.”

Galina Likhitskaya, VP of Operation & Product for blockchain firm HashEx, commented on the situation, pointing out some key market factors that investors should know.

“The price of Bitcoin has traded in the negative for the better part of Thursday, a move that is in sharp contrast to the positive fundamentals the Bitcoin market is currently recording,” she said.

“Taking a look beyond the price, we would discover that the institutional investors that consider Bitcoin as their safe-haven assets are still buying, as in the case of MicroStrategy who just scooped additional 1,434 units of the cryptocurrency.”

Likhitskaya was referring to the latest bitcoin purchase made by software firm MicroStrategy, which currently owns more than 120,000 units of the cryptocurrency, according to CoinDesk.

“Additionally, we can attribute the recent selloffs to the new buyers taking profits as the majority (about 97%) of the BTC in current circulation remains unsold per data from Glassnode,” she noted.

“This is an indication that the ongoing price crash is superficial and does not in any way showcase weakness on the part of the premier cryptocurrency.”

Dylan LeClair, head of market research for Bitcoin Magazine, offered a similar take.

“Bitcoin looks to be in a consolidation period for the time being, with excessive leverage having been wiped out of the market last weekend and many funds looking to be conservative with their positioning heading into year’s end,” he stated.

“The current price of $48,000 is much more of an organic price driven by spot demand than when price was in the high 50s or 60s,” said LeClair.

“Bullish catalysts over the short term look minimal, but over the medium/long term the reality remains the same – i.e., central banks are conducting the biggest monetary experiment the world has ever seen, and Bitcoin is an alternate safe haven to protect your wealth against it.”

Disclosure: I own some bitcoin, bitcoin cash, litecoin, ether, EOS and sol.