Bitcoin bear market is far from over, says analyst

Story by: Aaron Hankin

Bitcoin prices rallied as much as 10% over the weekend, giving virtual currency owners some respite after another tumultuous week.

However, after moving above $3,600 on Sunday, the price of a single bitcoinBTCUSD, -2.94%  has drifted lower and was last fetching $3,413.40, down 3.3% since 5 p.m. Eastern Time Sunday on the Kraken crypto exchange.

The market value of all cryptocurrencies is hovering above its 15-month low at $110.8 billion, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

Read: Opinion: Bitcoin is close to becoming worthless

What are analysts saying

Stephen Innes, head of Asia Pacific trading at Oanda, is arguing that the bitcoin bear market is far from over because the No. 1 digital currency has yet provide a significant use case. “Bitcoins have gone well beyond the ridiculousness of tulip bulb mania,” he said on Monday.

“It’s has been a disastrous year for cryptos, and by all indication, the current bear market could go from bad to worse with no fundamental or underlying reasons to buy BTC even more so when the only support offered up is a squiggly line on an analyst chart.”

Altcoins, which are the collective group of digital coins other than bitcoin, are trading lower on Monday. Ether, ETHUSD, -4.23% the currency of the Ethereum blockchain, is down 4.8% at $88.68, Litecoin LTCUSD, -4.28% has lost 4.3% to $24.13, XRP, XRPUSD, -3.58% is off 3.7% at 30 cents, and Bitcoin Cash,BCHUSD, -5.20% is trading at $99.80, down 5.6%.

After the weekend rally, bitcoin futures are trading higher on Monday. The Cboe Global Markets December contract XBTZ8, +3.73% is up 3.1% at $3,385 and the CME Group December contract BTCZ8, +3.33%  is up 2.9% at $3,395.

Original story by: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/bitcoin-bear-market-is-far-from-over-says-analyst-2018-12-10

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