Bitcoin stuck in apathy phase, but big moves are coming: analyst

Bitcoin price has moved sideways this week even as American stocks continued their post-Black Monday crash rally. 

Bitcoin (BTC), the biggest cryptocurrency in the industry, has been stuck in a narrow range between $58,000 and $60,000 this week.

Bitcoin has had positive headlines

In contrast, the Dow Jones index has risen for three consecutive days and is just 2.5% below its all-time high. The Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500 indices have also recovered, while the US dollar index has retreated.

Bitcoin has remained stagnant even as more large American companies disclosed their Bitcoin ETF investments in their filings. Goldman Sachs revealed that it had $418 million invested in Bitcoin ETFs. Other companies like Charles Schwab, Nomura, Citigroup, and Barclays have also invested in these funds.

At the same time, the crypto industry is gaining some regulatory clarity. On Aug. 14, Charles Schumer, the Senate Majority Leader, stated that he was committed to passing a crypto-related bill by the end of the year. He made the statement in a forum where Democrats expressed their support for the industry.

Still, it is unclear whether the divided Congress will pass anything before the November election. Schumer would need 60 votes for the crypto bill to pass, which has become difficult in recent years.

Additionally, Marathon Digital, one of the top Bitcoin mining companies, has continued to accumulate Bitcoin holdings. It bought coins worth over $250 million this week, bringing its total holdings to 25,000.

Most importantly, there are signs that the Federal Reserve will start cutting interest rates now that the unemployment rate has risen to 4.3% and inflation is falling.

Bitcoin price could stage a comeback

In an X post, Miles Deutscher, a popular crypto analyst with over 534,000 followers, noted that Bitcoin was getting boring and that it was entering the apathy/time capitulation phase. He observed that the number of crypto-related views on YouTube had dropped by 30% in the past two weeks and that trading volume had fallen by 21%.

Data by DeFi Llama shows that DEX volume in chains like Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), and Arbitrum (ARB) has fallen by over 33% in the last 7 days. Miles believes that this would be the best time to accumulate.

Technically, Bitcoin is hovering at the 200-day Exponential Moving Average while the accumulation/distribution indicator is in an uptrend, signaling that accumulation is ongoing.

Most importantly, BTC has formed a bullish flag chart pattern, characterized by a vertical line and a rectangle pattern. Therefore, there is a likelihood that the coin will bounce back if bulls push it above the resistance point at $62,513.