Bitcoin dropped to about $84,200 on Wednesday, down more than 2% from near $86,500 on Tuesday. Even so, CoinDesk data showed the cryptocurrency still trading inside the $83,000 to $87,000 range it has held over the past two weeks, leaving its broader stair-step bullish structure intact.
Price remains inside the recent band
At the time of writing, BTC was changing hands near $84,300. The intraday decline put Bitcoin on the defensive, but it did not push the asset out of the consolidation range that has defined trading in recent weeks.
Vikram Subburaj, CEO of Indian crypto exchange Giottus, told CoinDesk, “The October 7 decline does not invalidate Bitcoin’s stair-step rise.”
The pattern dates back to July
CoinDesk described Bitcoin’s advance since July as a sequence of flat trading ranges, with each new range forming above the previous one. On a chart, the setup resembles a staircase: sharp rallies mark the move from one step to the next, while the sideways stretches in between form the flat steps.
From mid-July to Aug. 18, Bitcoin traded roughly between $62,000 and $67,000. It then jumped 21% in three days.
The next range ran from late August to mid-September, between about $76,000 and $81,500. Another abrupt move followed, with a 6.6% gain from Sept. 19 to Sept. 21.
Since then, Bitcoin has held between about $83,000 and $87,000.
$83,000 is the key level in Subburaj’s view
After moving above $81,500, Bitcoin established a new trading band of roughly $83,000 to $87,000, Subburaj said. “If $83,000 holds, it would show that sellers cannot force the price back into its previous trading band.”
He added that the main downside level to watch sits near $83,000. A clear break below that area would end the staircase pattern, at least for now.
A sustained move below $82,000 to $83,000 would signal that September’s breakout has failed, and that would bring $80,000 to $81,500 back into play, according to Subburaj.
FxPro analyst points to support near $84,000
Alex Kuptsikevich, chief market analyst at FxPro, put support slightly higher, around $84,000. A break below that level, he said, would open the way to $80,000.
For now, the market’s next signal rests on whether support in the $83,000 to $84,000 area continues to hold.