We’re at the middle of the week and Bitcoin is back where it was seven days ago after the price failed to set on a new course, despite a significantly higher trading interest when compared to the previous quarter. After a brief price test at the start of the week, the cryptocurrency has recovered back to $3,900, although current market indicators suggest that a bearish wave may be forming.
One interesting trend that was observed this week was that other alternative cryptocurrencies (altcoins) were performing better while Bitcoin was suffering losses. As reported by Market Watch, market stats suggest that the “crypto winter” is now coming to a close while a new season has just been opened that analysts are calling “alt season”.
“Alt season” is the term now being used to describe the current market where altcoins are outperforming the biggest cryptocurrency – Bitcoin. As indicated by the online portal, the global cryptocurrency volume is steadily holding a level of $30 billion at a time when Bitcoin’s volume is less than a third of that number. This leads some experts to conclude that the time of altcoins has arrived.
The Bears Are Coming
Bitcoin remained stable for the most part of last week, not going through any sharp price movements. The lowest point the cryptocurrency reached was yesterday, when Bitcoin hit $3,865.90, while the highest price point was observed on Saturday when Bitcoin touched a value of $3,987.24.Throughout the week, the 24-hour trading volume also remained fairly stable, circulating between $9-10 billon and showing more interest than a few months back when the daily volumes were mostly around $5 billion. As of now, the volume is at $9.63 billion and dropping while the market capitalization of Bitcoin is at $68.8 billion.
One thing worth noting is that the market has turned bearish, with 5 out of 12 technical oscillators and 7 out of 12 moving averages being in the red zone, suggesting that Bitcoin is sold more than it is bought. A similar trend can also be observed on the short-term charts, hinting that bears are taking control over the market. The SMA 100 is still over the SMA 200, signaling there’s less resistance to the upside, but with the bearish wave forming, things could change soon. If the price breaks below the $3,800 support, it will likely trigger another slide downwards.
Bitcoin Challenged by Telegram and Facebook
Another interesting update this week was that Facebook and Telegram are currently working on competitive cryptocurrencies that will give Bitcoin a run for its money, New York Times reports. Reportedly, Facebook, Signal, and Telegram have plans to release new cryptocurrencies by next year that will allow their users to send and receive funds via their messaging services. The new systems will work in the likes of PayPal or Venmo but for cross-border transactions.
The biggest competitor to Bitcoin is Facebook’s secret project which will end up creating a coin to be used in Facebook’s WhatsApp. According to people that were briefed by the magazine, the coin will be used to send funds instantly and Facebook has already begun negotiating with cryptocurrency exchanges about selling their coin to users.
A similar effort is reportedly already underway at Telegram where a new coin is being developed for the use in the company’s encrypted messaging service Signal, which is already popular among advocates of technology and privacy. And apparently, South Korean messaging giants like Kakao and Line are also working on such coins. With the millions of users available to each service, these new coins could seriously compete with Bitocin.