Bitcoin (BTC) maintained short-term support on September 17 as crypto market sentiment turned bearish.
Bitcoin Struggles With Resistance Levels as Trader Confidence Weakens
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows BTC price action recovered back to $58,000 during the Asian trading session.
After the sharp sell-off that started on Wall Street the day before, BTC/USD appears to have stabilized as the 21-day moving average (SMA) remains the bedrock.
“Obviously, losing the 21-day average is not a good thing, but in my opinion, closing above the 50-week average is much more important,” Keith Alan, co-founder of trading resource Material Indicators, wrote in part in an alert on X during the bearish U.S. session.
At the time of writing, the 21-day and 50-week SMAs stand at $57,858 and $53,945, respectively.
Popular trader Jelle meanwhile noted that the 50-week exponential moving average (EMA) continues to act as market support consistent with the last 20 months of the Bitcoin bull market.
“Chaotic trading during the summer bull market has become the norm,” he told his X followers.
“The previous two chaotic trading sessions both ended with new highs in the third week of October. We could be just a month away from a new all-time high if this one plays out the same way.”
Jelle echoed a recent theory put forward by commentators, including crypto trader, analyst, and entrepreneur Michaël van de Poppe, who stressed his belief in the return of BTC price discovery next month.
However, for trader and analyst Josh Rager, it is still too early to be optimistic about BTC price performance.
“People keep calling it the ‘first higher low’ on the $BTC chart. But they said the same thing in June,” he argued on daily timeframes.
“Bitcoin then rejected the trendline and made a new low.”
The attached chart shows a steep downtrend channel from the latest all-time high in March, with a consecutive Chain of lower highs and lower lows.
“Not saying a new low is coming here but calling this a bottom is a bit premature. Prices have been rejected again,” he concluded.
Cryptocurrency Sentiment Takes Another Hard Blow
Bitcoin's choppy price action has meanwhile contributed to a fresh decline in overall crypto market sentiment.
The latest data from the Crypto Fear & Greed Index recorded a value of 33/100 on September 17 — a drop of 17 points in just two days.
Sentiment has therefore dropped from “neutral” to “fear” after BTC price fell more than 4%.
