Bitcoin Price Flatlines at $10K as Traders Brace for Expected Volatility

Bitcoin (BTC) price held above $10,000 for a third day on Aug. 28 as a fresh period of sideways trading endured through the week. 

Market visualization. Source: Coin360

Eerie calm descends over Bitcoin markets

Data from Coin360 painted a fairly unremarkable picture of Bitcoin markets on Wednesday, the largest cryptocurrency trading in a narrow corridor between $10,050 and $10,250.

BTC/USD has stayed above the $10,000 mark since Monday, repeatedly testing but failing to break support for five figures. 

Bitcoin 7-day price chart. Source: Coin360

Looking ahead, Friday’s Bitcoin futures settlement deadline could also produce fresh turbulence for Bitcoin, commentators added.

For regular analyst Josh Rager, however, price has little significance in the short term. 

“Lots of debate right now about Bitcoin and whether it's going to move up from $10K or break below $10K. IMO, It doesn't matter,” he wrote in his latest Twitter update. 

Rager added traders should be devising a strategy for either an upward or downward move, such as accumulating a modest amount of BTC now and eyeing the options for a short trade in the event of markets tanking.

Altcoin investors take a break from sweating

For altcoins, Wednesday likewise failed to produce noticeable sentiment in either direction. Movement was hardly visible throughout the top twenty cryptocurrencies by market cap.

Ether (ETH) was down 1% on the day to trade at $187, while the picture was almost identical for Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Litecoin (LTC) and XRP. 

Ether 7-day price chart. Source: Coin360

Bitcoin SV (BSV), a token championed by the embattled Wright, also stemmed potential losses, trading 1% down at $132.

The overall cryptocurrency market cap was $264 billion at press time, with Bitcoin’s share at exactly 69%.