Bitcoin Price Under $12K But Analyst Says Being Bearish ‘Riskier’ Now

Bitcoin (BTC) price was hovering closer to $11,500 on Aug. 7 as analysts brushed off concerns of a fresh downward move.

Market visualization. Source: Coin360

Bitcoin price experiences another healthy correction

Data from Coin360 showed BTC/USD trading at $11,630 as of press time, capping 24-hour losses of 4.5%.

The correction follows several days of bullish price action for the pair, which culminated in fresh local highs over $12,300 on Tuesday. 

Bitcoin 7-day price chart. Source: Coin360

While weekly gains for Bitcoin remain strong at 18.5%, analysts were keen to note the drop below the $12,000 barrier did not constitute a return to bearish sentiment. 

“As long as price holds above $11000, I'm not really that concerned about revisiting $9ks again or lower. It's far riskier being bearish at this point in time,” regular trader Josh Rager summarized on social media Wednesday. 

As Cointelegraph reported, the impetus for Bitcoin’s latest surge likely lies in macro trends focused on the trade war between the United States and China, along with unrest in Hong Kong. 

Rager noted such events represented an opportunity to buy up more BTC now, as the initial boost temporarily faded to bring the price lower. 

Altcoins produce familiar mimicry

Despite ongoing rumors about a fresh hack of major exchange Binance, it was unclear at press time whether concerns were translating into extra downward pressure on cryptocurrency markets.

Altcoins were thus left broadly copying Bitcoin’s behavior, with most of the top twenty tokens by market cap shedding 2% and 6%. 

Ether 7-day price chart. Source: Coin360

Ether (ETH), the largest altcoin by market cap, was trading 3.6% lower on the day at $227. 

The total cryptocurrency market cap was still over $300 billion Wednesday, with Bitcoin’s share circling multi-year highs at 68.2%.