Cryptocurrencies experienced a slight increase on Thursday, with Bitcoin, the leading digital asset, gaining 1% and hovering just under $26,300. This marginal uptick follows a drop to $25,000 earlier this week, the lowest point since mid-June. Despite the recovery, Bitcoin's value remains near the $26,000 level which has been a significant support over the past month. This period has seen a historical lull in digital asset trading activity with trading volumes and volatility reaching multi-year lows.
However, a shadow has been cast over the future of these digital currencies with the formation of a 'death cross', a technical indicator that often signals an impending downtrend in prices or a shift in sentiment towards bearishness. The death cross is formed when the 50-day moving average for prices drops below the 200-day moving average. This event occurred for the first time since January 2022 and is considered an ominous sign from a technical perspective. At the start of 2022, Bitcoin was valued above $47,000 but then suffered a more than 65% fall to reach its low point in November.
The impact of this technical indicator on Bitcoin's future performance is yet to be determined. Since 2011, there have been nine instances of Bitcoin's death crosses. The outcomes following these events have been almost evenly split between price decreases and increases over three, six or twelve month periods following the indicator's appearance.
Other cryptocurrencies also saw changes on Thursday. Ether—the second-largest cryptocurrency—rose 1.5% to $1,620. Smaller cryptocurrencies such as Cardano and Polygon remained relatively flat while so-called memecoins had mixed results: Dogecoin saw less than a 1% increase while Shiba Inu dropped by less than 1%.
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