The price of Bitcoin (BTC), the best valued crypt currency by market capitalization, has fluctuated between $8,600 and $10,500 since halving. During the two months of lateral trading (in a well-defined range, also called consolidation), the market began to move and altcoins came into focus.

According to Coinmarketcap, the current market capitalization of Bitcoin is USD 167,372,723,757.

Be sure to read: Bitcoin Forecast: What will be the price of bitcoin in 2020 according to the experts?

Also, traders and investors are constantly debating whether the price of Bitcoin is still in rising or falling territory. Let’s take a closer look at the charts to see where the Bitcoin price is headed.

Bitcoin has to keep support above the crucial $8,600 level
The price of Bitcoin has to sustain the critical level above the area of $8,550-8,750.

The price of Bitcoin has been in a significant uptrend since the big drop in March. The uptrend is classified through higher highs and lower lows, and the recent decline is in the area of $8,550-8,750.

This is a significant area because traders use these points to place stop/loss levels. But since the price of Bitcoin has been slowly retreating and consolidating, the focus should be on volume.

During the consolidation period, the volume decreased steadily. This is an indication that we are not „moving“, which would mean a new trend. This movement would be confirmed with a strong break above $10,500 or a strong break below $8,500.

An example is seen in the consolidation period 18 months ago, between 3,500 and 4,000 dollars.

According to economist Nicolas Litvinoff, the price of bitcoin has a long-term upward trend

A big movement is on the horizon
In the first quarter of 2019, Bitcoin Loophole price moved within a narrow range.

This is significant because it shows what usually happens during a long period of side trading and why the current stage is also classified that way.

During the 2019 consolidation period, the volume was drained over time. The actual climax of the volume came with the breakout, which meant that breakout traders reached their buy limit and short sellers reached their stop/loss.

This chain reaction resulted in a sudden $1,000 candle. When the price has been hovering in the range for months, the breakout is usually significant and explosive. The longer something is in a certain accumulation period, the greater the movement once it breaks.

This exact example can be seen with many altcoins, since some of them have been in a range of accumulation. One example is Zilliqa (ZIL), which went out of range and has risen by 1,000% since then.