Boredom and apathy are familiar bedfellows in this game.
They creep into any market eventually.
But, given bitcoin’s penchant for volatility, neglecting it for long spells could prove a risky tactic.
Now, more than ever, BTC’s graph requires close attention.
That seemingly stagnant sideways movement, when viewed close in, is not all it seems.
Zoom out.
Look at the graph over months – not days or hours.
Draw a line from an historic peak and strike it through today’s price.
It’s shuddering along under $3,600. Just like it did a few weeks ago at $3,400.
By its very nature, Bitcoin cannot sit still in this zone.
It fidgets, fusses and flounders when it finds itself caught between support lines.
We’ve seen a few forays north as something occasionally builds but, try as it might, it struggles to hold on to any momentum that threatens to carry it above $4,000.
This pattern, coupled with a distinct fall away in volume and investor enthusiasm has only one direction of travel.
Historically, the likely outcome from the current inertia would be the start of a minor drop-off before a false surge heralds something slightly more cataclysmic than the tedium of a flatline.
If it plays out as many expect, BTC ought to dip a couple of hundred dollars to a tantalising depth where enough buyers will bite. The buy-in should then attract enough volume to see another rise – quite possibly sufficient to create excitement and shouts of “To the moon!” etc.
However, the health warning comes amid that excitement.
If the momentum dissolves – as we have seen time and time again – the trapdoor opens and bitcoin will have nothing below its shoes until a support line can be mustered.
It all looks calm and serene as BTC glides along a gentle slope, but this seemingly quiet market has all the hallmarks of spontaneous volcanic activity.
All that “nothing” may yet be something.
Coin Rivet is a website bringing news, information, analysis, opinion and insight from the fast-moving blockchain world.