Advertisement
New Zealand markets closed
  • NZX 50

    12,105.29
    +94.63 (+0.79%)
     
  • NZD/USD

    0.5966
    -0.0040 (-0.67%)
     
  • ALL ORDS

    8,153.70
    +80.10 (+0.99%)
     
  • OIL

    82.08
    +0.73 (+0.90%)
     
  • GOLD

    2,231.40
    +18.70 (+0.85%)
     

Bitcoin Consolidates with a Weekend Rally on the Cards

Bitcoin rallied 7.15% on Friday, following a 1.33% rise on Thursday, to end the day at $8,863.3, in what was a far better showing, Bitcoin having lagged the majors through the earlier part of the week.

Bitcoin broke through the day’s major resistance levels, with a morning rally seeing Bitcoin hit an $8,572.4 high, to break through the first major resistance level of $8,374.87 and 2nd resistance level of $8,468.73 before a late surge took Bitcoin to a day high $8,937.5, moving through the 3rd resistance level of $8,733.93 and holding above the level by the day’s end.

A morning $8,219 low left support levels untested, with Bitcoin managing to break free of $8,000 that had proven to be a key level through much of the week.

Bitcoin gained just 6.1% in the week, Monday through Friday, which was well behind Bitcoin Cash’s 43.8% rally and the gains seen across the broader market, as investors continued to consider the future for Bitcoin.

ADVERTISEMENT

While Bitcoin receives significant interest from the mining community, transaction speeds and fees have left Bitcoin treading water and, with Bitcoin Cash’s imminent hard fork, Bitcoin is likely to lose more ground in the race to become the primary alternative to fiat money.

Get Into Cryptocurrency Trading Today

BTC/USD 21/04/18 Hourly Chart
BTC/USD 21/04/18 Hourly Chart

At the time of writing, Bitcoin was down just 0.06% to $8,860, with the start of the day seeing Bitcoin moving within a tight range following Friday’s late in the day rally.

An early $8,777.1 low saw Bitcoin steer clear of the day’s first major support level of $8,410.37 and 23.6% FIB Retracement Level of $8,362.3, with the upbeat sentiment across the market providing strong support early on.

A morning high $8,924.9 came up short of $9,000 levels and the day’s first major resistance level of $9,128.87, with $9,000 the next milestone for Bitcoin and the Bitcoin bulls.

For the day ahead, failure to break through to $9,000 levels could see Bitcoin struggle for direction, following Friday’s gains, with the day’s first major support level of $8,410.37 likely to come into play.

The issue Bitcoin faces will be growing demand for Bitcoin Cash, as investors begin to consider the viability of Bitcoin as an alternative to fiat currency rather than the appetite driven by Bitcoin’s position within the cryptocurrency hierarchy.

Elsewhere, Bitcoin Cash was up 0.2% at the time of writing, while the rest of the markets were in the red through the early part of the day. The markets have rallied in the latter part of the morning in recent days, any upside in the late part of the morning likely to see investors jump in.

The good news for the markets is that the influence of the futures market has been relatively muted, with the Cboe Bitcoin Futures May contract Friday closing at $8,570 unlikely to pin back any moves through the weekend.

Buy & Sell Cryptocurrency Instantly

This article was originally posted on FX Empire

More From FXEMPIRE: