Bitcoin (BTC) has shown signs of entering into a sideways trading channel as February trades kick into gear.
The benchmark cryptocurrency has closed between $41,800 and $42,800 for the past seven trading sessions, with weekend price action conforming to the trend.
On Sunday, the BTC/USD pair was kicked down one percentage point before a bullish engulfing candlestick pattern emerged this morning, effectively cancelling Sunday’s losses.
At the time of writing, bitcoin was swapping for $43,054; volumes appear low for now, tempering hopes of a further breakout.
Furthermore, bitcoin remains unable to confidently move above the 50-day moving average, with the sideways trade instead converging around this trendline, adding to a flat trading thesis for the time being.
Bitcoin converges at the 50-day MA (pink) – Source: binance.com
With bitcoin ETF hype waning, attention is turning to the next halving event in April.
Bitcoin halving, which occurs every four years or after 210,000 blocks are mined, halves the rate at which new bitcoins are created and released into circulation.
Halving reduces the rate of inflation and is typically seen as a bullish catalyst for the coin’s spot price, though the prospect of a ‘sell-the-news' event should be kept in mind.
In the wider crypto space, Ethereum (ETH) has started the week off strongly with 1.2% added against the US dollar this morning, wiping out losses incurred over the weekend.
The ETH/USD pair was swapping for $2,313 at the time of writing.
Ripple (XRP), Cardano (ADA) and Avalanche (AVAX) dipped in the low single digits overnight, while BNB, Solana (SOL) and Dogecoin (DOGE) inched higher.
Global cryptocurrency market capitalisation currently stands at $1.65 trillion, with bitcoin dominance at 52.6%.