Bitcoin Price Watch: BTC/USD’s Upside Capped By 100 SMA

Key Points

• Bitcoin price corrected higher, but upsides were capped by $8,800 and 100 hourly SMA against the US Dollar.
• The BTC/USD pair broke an ascending channel with support at $8,450 on the hourly chart (data feed from Kraken).
• The pair must stay above the $8,300 support level to avoid any further declines in the short term.

Bitcoin price recovered from $8,220 against the US Dollar. However, BTC/USD is finding it difficult to break the $8,800-9,000 resistance zone.

Bitcoin Price Analysis

This past week, we saw a downside reaction from well above $9,000 in bitcoin price against the US Dollar. The price broke many support levels such as $9,000, $8,500 and $8,400 to trade close to $8,200. A low was formed at $8,226 before the price started an upside correction. It moved above the $8,400 resistance and even cleared the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the last decline from the $9,391 high to $9,225 swing low.

However, the upside move was capped by the $8,800 resistance and the 100 hourly simple moving average. It was rejected from the 100 hourly SMA and declined back below $8,600. The BTC/USD pair broke an ascending channel with support at $8,450 on the hourly chart. The recent downside break indicates that the pair was rejected from the $8,800 resistance zone. It is currently trading below the $8,500 support with a bearish angle. However, there is a major support forming near $8,300. As long as the price is above the stated $8,300 support, it is likely to move higher in the near term.

Looking at the chart, the price seems to be consolidating above $8,300. Once the current consolidation phase is over, BTC price may either move above $8,500 or break $8,200 for more losses.

Looking at the technical indicators:              

Hourly MACD – The MACD for BTC/USD is now back in the bearish zone.

Hourly RSI (Relative Strength Index) – The RSI is currently well below the 50 level.

Major Support Level – $8,300

Major Resistance Level – $8,600