Bitcoin Price Approaches Key Resistance; Prominent Whale Moves 40,000 BTC
Bitcoin’s price resumed its uptrend on Thursday, as the bulls targeted a return to yearly highs following a week of relative calm for the largest and most influential cryptocurrency. The path higher will likely face strong resistance as buyers try to force their way back to $6,000 – a level with major significance.
Bitcoin’s Slow and Steady Grind
The bitcoin price gained 1.5% to $5,464.42, the highest in nearly a week, according to CoinMarketCap. Since falling to the low $5,200 region on Tuesday, bitcoin appears to have entered another accumulation phase. As Hacked previously reported, a drop to the $5,000 region would have likely attracted bargain hunters. Based on the latest price action, $5,100-$5,200 appears to have attracted substantial buyers.
That being said, bitcoin still faces several technical hurdles before it can lay claim to $6,000. The first such hurdle comes just north of $5,600, the high from April, followed by $5,900 and eventually $6,000.
Expected volatility in the bitcoin price has levelled off over the past week, signaling relative calm in the market. The 30-day bitcoin volatility index was last seen at 3.75%, unchanged from week-ago levels.
Bitcoin’s price is coming off its third consecutive month of growth, having gained more than a quarter in April. Bitcoin’s last three-month winning streak occurred in the first quarter of 2017. Read more: Bitcoin is on the Cusp of a Two-Year Milestone.
At current values, bitcoin has a total market capitalization of $96.6 billion. Last month, it peaked around $100 billion.
Altcoins and tokens followed bitcoin higher on Thursday but remained in minority position relative to the largest blockchain. At last check, bitcoin’s dominance rate stood at 54.5%. It peaked at 55% earlier this week.
40,000 BTC on the Move
A prominent bitcoin trader by the name of “Loaded” has apparently moved a sizable fortune of BTC at the start of the month. “Loaded” is the screenname of a veteran Bitcointalk poster who has held a private stash of 40,000 BTC for several years.
Bitcointalk's famous whale Loaded is moving its 40k BTC stash again.https://t.co/t6y909jN2Ehttps://t.co/TrHwb4s2H6
— Antoine Le Calvez (@khannib) May 1, 2019
As Antoine Le Calvez reported on Twitter, the transaction isn’t out of the ordinary. “Loaded” last moved his BTC fortune in January 2018 just after bitcoin peaked. What is interesting is the fee he paid for those transactions.
In January 2018, when bitcoin was still priced well above $11,000, the trader paid 0.0001 BTC ($1.09) for the transaction. The latest transaction cost him or her 0.00074227 BTC ($3.93). That’s a significant increase percentage-wise but practically unnoticeable given the size of his holding.
The ultra-low fees paid by “Loaded” is due to the trader’s bitcoin address, which utilizes Segregated Witness (SegWit) technology. Through SegWit, bitcoin’s block size limit quadruples from 1 MB to 4MB, which allows for simultaneous confirmation.
For SegWit users, this makes for smaller fees, while Bitcoin‘s backlog of unconfirmed transactions shrinks as users (and wallets) adopt the scaling tech.
Disclaimer: The author owns bitcoin, Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies. He holds investment positions in the coins, but does not engage in short-term or day-trading.
Featured image courtesy of Shutterstock.
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