BTC price struggles at $21K as trader says 'top is in' for Bitcoin, Ethereum

Bitcoin (BTC) continued consolidating into the Oct. 30 weekly close as concerns over a deeper retracement became vocal.

Trader avoids new longs below $21,000

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD circling levels just below $21,000 on the day.

Weekend trading had produced an early return above the $21,000 mark, this short lived as Bitcoin bulls failed to offer the volume to sustain higher levels.

Now, popular trader and analyst Il Capo of Crypto sensed a change of direction was ultimately due for Bitcoin and altcoins alike.

Altcoins themselves had also performed strongly through the weekend, notably led by Dogecoin (DOGE), which was up another 25% in the past 24 hours at the time of writing and at six-month highs.

“In my opinion, top is in for $BTC and $ETH, but some altcoins could pump more,” he wrote in part of a fresh Twitter update.

“Not entering any new long positions and just trailing my stops in profits (altcoins). I will fully TP soon.”

Profit-taking was already a hot topic in recent days, with on-chain indicators suggesting that the temptation would become considerable should Bitcoin pass $21,000 more convincingly.

Responding to Il Capo of Crypto, fellow trader Mark Cullen voiced similar caution over the short-term market strength.

Bitcoin, he said, had “spent a bit too long under 21k for my liking, while Alts / ETH in particular have run.”

“BUT, break the golden zone and i would consider a quick push higher first. Lose 20.4k and i start to question everything,” he tweeted.

"Uptober" on track for sideways 7% gains

On the daily chart, BTC/USD was up against the 100-day moving average (MA), having managed to beat out the 50-day MA over the week.

Related: Bitcoin price due sub-$20K dip, traders warn amid claim miners ‘capitulating’

Turning to the weekly and monthly charts, October 30 looked to offer Bitcoin’s highest weekly candle close since mid-September.

At current prices, Bitcoin was meanwhile up 7% in October, still its third-weakest performance since 2013, according to data tracked by monitoring resource Coinglass.

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