Bitcoin (BTC) calmed its bullish growth after a week of gains on Jan. 15, settling just below its highest levels in two months.
Cryptocurrency market daily overview. Source: Coin360
BTC steadies 12% higher
Data from Coin360 and Cointelegraph Markets showed BTC/USD hitting local highs of $8,885 on Tuesday, before a slight retracement an area around $8,700.
Bitcoin 7-day price chart. Source: Coin360
The repositioning caps a frenetic few days for the largest cryptocurrency, which cemented weekly gains of over 12% in just five days.
So far, January 2020 has already marked Bitcoin’s most successful start to the new year since 2012 — on Jan. 1, BTC/USD traded at $7,150, or 25% below Tuesday’s peak.
Now, traders appearing to be taking stock, welcoming breathing space which steadied Bitcoin’s growth in line with previous predictions.
For regular Cointelegraph contributor filbfilb, the current range was suitable for the price to “cool off,” nearing Bitcoin’s 200-day moving average (MA).
“It would make sense to, been quite a ride and close to 200ma,” he told subscribers of his Telegram channel.
Previously, fellow trader Tone Vays had highlighted the 200MA as a likely cause of Bitcoin’s bull run ceasing in the short term.
On the back of a surge in Bitcoin futures and associated options trading which Cointelegraph reported on this week, overall Bitcoin trading volumes were also up, reaching their biggest daily since late October.
In an update to his twelve-month Bitcoin price forecast, filbfilb confirmed his theory that BTC/USD was nearing the end of a reaccumulation phase, with upside more likely to characterize the coming months.
As Cointelegraph noted, others remained wary, with analyst Keith Wareing not discounting the possibility of a fresh annual low coming before Bitcoin’s block reward halving in May.
Controversy rises over Bitcoin SV surge
Altcoins continued to display markedly erratic behavior compared to Bitcoin on Wednesday, with hard forks Bitcoin SV (BSV) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) setting themselves apart from other major tokens.
The former even usurped the latter’s market cap ranking on Tuesday to claim the title of fourth-largest cryptocurrency. On the back of 81% gains in the past 24 hours, multiple theories continued to circulate on social media over the rise of BSV and its dependence on proponents Craig Wright and Calvin Ayre.
BCH also made gains, up 17% over the same period, while the majority of major altcoins saw growth of between 8% and 13% on the day.
Ether (ETH), the largest altcoin, sealed 8.7% to hit $163, its highest since mid-November.
Ether 7-day price chart. Source: Coin360
The overall cryptocurrency market cap was $238.9 billion, of which Bitcoin’s share was 66.1%.
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