Investing.com – Bitcoin turned positive after falling below $8,000 for the first time in more than a month but sentiment remained fairly negative as new inflows into the cryptomarket remained at premium.
On the bitfinex exchange, Bitcoin rose 1.61% to $8,218. The popular currency has struggled to find its footing after attempts to rally above $11,000 to $12,000 zone was met with staunch resistance.
Yet, the rebound in bitcoin likely reflects easing selling pressure - as traders take some of their profit off the table given the nearly 7% this week - rather than increasing buying pressure as demand for cryptos remained subdued.
The total cryptomarket cap at $329 billion – at the time of writing – is down nearly $50 billion from roughly $376 billion last week, at a time when an increase in buying activity is needed to avert a retest of bitcoin's $6,000 low seen February 6.
Frank Cappelleri, executive director, institutional equities at Nomura Instinet, warned recently that “if bitcoin fails to garner demand at current levels then “the February lows [around $6,000] would in the cross-hairs."
Sentiment on bitcoin has rapidly turned negative as regulators and large tech companies stepped up efforts to curb crypto-related activity.
Google said on Wednesday said it would ban all crypto-related advertisement, furthering limit the exposure of cryptocurrencies after Facebook adopted a similar measure in January. On the regulatory front, the SEC said recently it was taking a closer to look at crypto-trading platforms offering “exchange-like services,” which it said could be violating the law.
International regulators, meanwhile, have continued to voice their concerns about the dangers of an unregulated cryptomarket, stoking fears that a further regulatory crackdown beckons for the industry sooner rather than later.
Ripple XRP fell 1.87% to $0.682 on the poloniex exchange, while Ethereum rose 0.40% to $604.64.