Gains Difficult To Maintain

By Raghav Sawhney

As of Tuesday, cryptocurrencies have kept up their downward descent as all major coins are in the red. Speculations say that due to concerns over increased regulation, Bitcoin (BTC) price is struggling for gains above $8,500.

As Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at Think Markets says:

“The recent selloff has come from the news out of China that the ICO market is still very active and there are fears that China will further increase the strict regulation.”

China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has issued a report which states clearly that the Chinese government has reconsidered its position against “certain risks that cannot be ignored” in regards to ICOs, pyramid schemes, and fraudulent behavior. The report has cautioned the public against “excessive speculation” and “false propaganda” and has even gone so far as to compare the current climate to the early days of the internet.

Blockchain Week and the Consensus conference in New York has contributed to the hype surrounding cryptocurrency and it has proven to be a dud. Co-founder of Fundstrat Global Advisors, Tom Lee, had made bullish predictions on BTC price. However, he had later admitted that his prediction of a post-conference rally was wrong.

While gains above $8,500 are difficult to maintain, $8,000 support is still holding for now. According to Market Watch, as the range narrows, the probability of a breakout is growing. For almost six weeks, BTC has traded between $7,800 and $10,000. At press time BTC is trading at $8,096 and has decreased by 4.25 percent over a 24 hour period.

There is no surprise that Altcoins are also all trading in the red. Litecoin (LTC) is down by 3.74 percent over 24 hour period at $129.78, while Bitcoin Cash (BCH) has lost 7.48 percent to $1,145. Also over a 24 hour period, both EOS and Ripple (XRP) are down 6.42 and 3.24 percent and are trading at $12.60 and $0.65, respectively.