March 20: the Bitcoin (BTC) price broke the $9,000 mark today after a rough start to the year in which the price decreased by nearly 70 percent from the December high of $20,000.
Following the December high the BTC price has moved downward in fits and starts. On January 17, BTC price was down to $9,724, less than half of where it had been a month previously when it scraped the underside of $20,000. The month of February started with BTC dipping below $9,000 for the first time since late Nov. 2017.
By February the price had sunk to just $5,922, with skeptics claiming that it could sink even lower. By late February and early March, BTC was fluctuating around the $9,000 mark, with changes spurred by news of new regulations on exchanges by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
A return to prices above $9,000 would provide the confidence many traders and investors need for the BTC value to grow even further.
BTC/USD 4hr chart. Bulls have breached an important resistance: previous highs. Next real target is around $9,000. Do we have the buyers to get there? Going LIVE at 3EST. https://t.co/q0bLYxmAbE #btc #bitcoin #cryptotrading #crypto #news #LTC #Ethereum #trx #Altcoin #xrp #tronix pic.twitter.com/d7uH0iwu61
— Lord Ray (@LordRay23) March 20, 2018
As Cointelegraph reported March 20, the G20 decided not to crack down on cryptocurrency, and opted for a more moderate approach of simply classifying cryptocurrencies as assets. Some see this as a possible cause for crossing the $9,000 psychological threshold.
Bitcoin is edging toward $9,000 after the G-20 nations declined to call for a coordinated clampdown on the cryptocurrency market https://t.co/NUEouzGkpH pic.twitter.com/CHL5ChMh9m
— Salih SARIKAYA (@SalihSarikaya) March 20, 2018
Others are more skeptical that the results will be long lasting, and see the most recent bump above $9,000 to be part of a holding pattern that requires another, stronger increase in order to break the barrier.
#btc #bitcoin
— Eric Choe (@CryptoChoe) March 20, 2018
i) #btc retraced smaller than I would ever expect - only 23%
ii) if 4-hour candle closes above $8.7, theoretical target would be $9.5 - $9.7 range
iii) it'll be a journey to get there
iv) what worries me are the overbought positions. I'm waiting for a pullback pic.twitter.com/9hkk1XzUI6
At press time, Bitcoin was trading at $8,976.45