Bitcoin continues to trade range-bound as we wait for direction. While the crypto lost about $10 dollars since our last update, no major levels have been broken. Bitcoin’s little brother, Litecoin, is also trading undecided after a brief spike above $1.50 dollars.

Bitcoin Waits for Direction

Everyone’s favorite cryptocurrency had several daily losses in a row, declining by $1.50, $0.40 and $3.10 dollars. But like we mentioned above, the slow drip lower hasn’t broken any important levels. Bitcoin is currently trading at $232 dollars per coin.

This is just above the weak support at $230 dollars. A more important support area can be found between the April 26th swing low at $210.86 and the round $200 dollars figure. A decisive break of this area should spark a new BTC downtrend. On the higher end, the deciding barrier is $250 dollars. A BTC/USD breakout above it may trigger a new rally. Notable resistance levels higher up are $258 (weak), followed by $270 and $300 dollars. As we’ve been repeating for the past few months, the $300 mark is very important. This is a former triple top for bitcoin that stopped two previous rallies (see chart below). A clean breakout above it should exacerbate the gains.

Along with the range-bound price movement, volatility has suffered as well. The 20 day average true range is now down to $6.43 dollars. The 20 ATR has seen a steady decline from reaching a high of $26.53 on January 29th. Coincidentally, this was also the day when BTC failed to break above the important $300 dollars mark. In this low volatility environment, it’s probably best to stay on the sidelines and wait for the market to give us direction first.

Litecoin Briefly Spikes Above $1.50

Litecoin spiked above the $1.50 dollars resistance last Wednesday, hitting the next resistance level at $1.60 before falling back. But the gains proved to be elusive as the move retraced completely in the same minute. I wasn’t watching the markets when this happened so not sure if this was a bad tick or caused by an exhaustion of the orderbook. In any case, the $1.50 dollars level hasn’t been broken and remains to be valid.

A clean breakout above $1.50, not just a brief spike above like what happened on Wednesday, may usher in a period of more LTC gains. Important resistance levels above the mark can be found at $1.60 and $1.70. Higher up there is the March 23rd swing high at $1.7961. On the downside, the double bottom near $1.30 per coin should provide some support to falling prices. However if the bears can clear this level, the downtrend may resume and lead to more losses for Litecoin.

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