Bitcoin: Is cryptocurrency building up to something big?

In fact, rather than delivering some deeply thoughtful riddle that would unlock the secrets of cryptocurrency, he would probably be tempted to give it a swerve for something simpler… like the meaning of life, for instance. Cryptocurrency is, and always has been, an unpredictable puzzle. And, right now, it is at its most puzzling. To the untrained eye, the markets have settled back down to a fairly horizontal level after being briefly startled like a sleeping dog earlier in the week as a curious spike drove everything upwards for a short period. Bitcoin itself leapt from Monday’s low of $3,683 to a dramatic $3,832 before riding the rest of the week out around $3,870 to $3,880.

The fluctuations are small, and they’re not restricted to BTC. These tight ranges are also being seen across all the leading altcoins (alternative cryptocurrencies to bitcoin).

It’s this constricted margin which is making things very difficult to call. To many, this flatlining is met with a slump of the shoulders at something which appears quite dull and boring. To some, however, seeing such little movement north or south after a fidgety and uncomfortable spell of minor volatility is cause for excitement.

Imagine staring down at a seismometer during a period of unusual volcanic activity. You’ve spent a year reading the seismograph charts, but that little needle has been busy of late, darting up and down the print-out. Yet, over the last three days… nothing. Barely a flick in any direction, just a gentle undulation here and there.

This is the point where volcanologists head for the data sheets and history books in a desperate attempt to figure out what happens next. Is the volcano about to blow, or was it just getting comfortable again as it slips into sleepy dormant state?

This is where we’re at right now with the crypto charts.

How do we figure out if BTC is about explode and breakout to $4,000, $5,000, $6,000 or maybe more? Will it implode and be sucked into the bubbling magma of $3,000, $2,000 or lower still? Or, has it now just found a level where it wants to hibernate long enough to sleep off the hangover of a little too much excitement from the last three or four months?

At the minute, Bitcoin is being traded around $3,870 as the tight grip of the current range holds it below some technical resistance.

It’s nearest rival – Vitalik Buterin’s Ethereum – is also on a steady path around $138, while XRP from Ripple is doing little more than $0.3150.

Science has nowt to offer us by way of information, but recent history may be able to give us a few spoilers as to how the story unfolds.

Market volume is fairly reasonable, meaning there is some buying power in here. But that lack of movement may also give away a lack of interest. Market apathy has been a steady bedfellow of crypto in recent months.

What has been duly noted, though, is the remarkable amount of movement outside the normality of Monday to Friday. Weekend traders currently seem to be driving the direction of bitcoin and its crypto cohorts.

Certainly, over the last two weekends we’ve seen a frenzy of activity that follows the same pattern – a slow build from Friday into Saturday, followed by a fairly dramatic drop come Sunday evening into Monday morning before things correct themselves by Tuesday.

If Nostradamus were to have a crack at crypto, he’d be predicting much of the same for this weekend. 

Coin Rivet is a website bringing news, information, analysis, opinion and insight from the fast-moving blockchain world.
source: express.co.uk