Bitcoin traded sideways and held support during the Asian trading session, but the start of US hours triggered a correction, pushing the price back to retest the $86,000 support level.
The total crypto market cap failed to breach the $3 trillion mark, retreating to $2.95 trillion at the time of writing, down 2.67% on the day.
Market sentiment held steady at 47, reflecting a neutral outlook amid broader market uncertainty.
Momentum faded across the large-cap altcoin market, with most gains concentrated in small-cap meme coins that topped the day’s charts.
Why is Bitcoin going down?
Bitcoin retested the $86,000 support level today as traders offloaded risk assets ahead of US President Donald Trump’s new trade tariffs, with a fresh round of measures set to take effect on April 2.
Bitcoin mirrored the sluggish mood in US equities, with both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq opening lower.
Meanwhile, the US dollar index (DXY) climbed to a three-week high of 104.46.
Traders typically view this as a bearish signal for BTC, given their inverse relationship.
Despite Bitcoin exchange outflows reaching a seven-month high and spot Bitcoin ETF inflows turning positive after several days of outflows, bulls failed to push the price past the daily high of $88,430.
Will Bitcoin price go up?
Analysts at QCP Capital pointed to lingering uncertainty around the US trade policy and upcoming tariff decisions.
In a note to Telegram subscribers, the firm highlighted a lack of clarity on how broad or impactful the measures could be, warning that sideways volatility may stick around until more details emerge.
Still, QCP flagged a potential catalyst, which was GameStop’s decision to add Bitcoin to its corporate treasury, which was announced earlier today.
While not a first in the world of corporate adoption, the move could spark renewed interest from retail investors, especially given GME’s meme stock legacy. If retail momentum picks up, the firm expects Bitcoin’s upside to resume.
On X, market commentator Colin Talks Crypto noted that Bitcoin had likely formed a short-term local top after entering the resistance zone between $89,000 and $92,000.
He expects the price to cool off in the near term but believes the rally could resume within a few days.
Bitcoin price has formed what I would consider a possible short term local topping pattern: three daily candles with tall upper wicks. (see white circle in 1st chart)
This doesn’t mean BTC needs to correct for long. It could just be a matter of days. Or could be a bit longer.
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According to a well-followed analyst, Mr. Wall Street, retail is “worried about recession” and is currently staying out of the market, which he sees as a key factor behind the current slump in momentum.
However, he called the fear cycle a “shake” tactic rather than a signal of real economic trouble, adding that a similar sentiment in 2022–23 paved the way for Bitcoin’s rally from $16k to $ 74k.
Yet fellow trader Titan of Crypto made some optimistic projections, pointing out that BTC had broken out of a 3-month descending channel, which he labelled as a “key shift in market structure.”
Historically, such breakouts have marked the start of strong upward trends, often signaling renewed bullish momentum.
Titan believes this could pave the way for a fresh leg higher if key resistance levels are cleared.
At press time, Bitcoin was down roughly 1.5% in the past 24 hours at $86,688. As of now, $85,000 remains the next key level to watch, according to market pundits.
Over the past months, a break below that market has led to deeper corrections on every occasion.
Altcoin markets see subdued price action
The top altcoins saw little action as the sector’s total market capitalisation had dropped nearly 4% to $1.20 trillion at the time of writing.
The altcion season index improved only slightly in the past 24 hours, at 18, up two points.
Yet a number of analysts were calling out current levels as a precursor to the start of alt season.
One such analysis came from Mister Crypto, who pointed out that the total altcoin market cap had once again bounced from a long-standing ascending support trendline.
In his chart, Mister Crypto highlighted multiple successful retests of this trendline dating back to early 2020, suggesting the structure remains intact.
Altcoin market capitalization. Source: Mister Crypto
Meanwhile, fellow analyst Merlijn The Trader expects the “Altcoin bullrun phase” to begin soon,
“10X gains are next. If you’re still here, congratulations – altcoins are about to explode!” the analyst noted in a March 26 X post.
Nevertheless, such optimism was yet to reflect across major altcoins, with top performers, mostly meme coins, posting only single-digit gains on the day:
Movement
Movement (MOVE) rose 7.8% over the past day to $0.5065 at the time of writing while bringing its market cap to $719.6 million.
The price jump came with a big spike in trading activity as daily volume shot up 300%, crossing $719.6 million.
Source: CoinMarketCap
Most of the gains followed an announcement from the Movement Network Foundation that it had recovered $38 million in USDT from a now-banned market maker operating on Binance.
The firm had turned malicious, dumping 66 million MOVE tokens shortly after listing while placing minimal buy orders, causing the token’s price to tank.
The Foundation has since severed ties with the firm and allocated the recovered funds to a three-month buyback initiative known as the Movement Strategic Reserve, widely seen as a bullish catalyst for the project.
The move also led to an uptick in whale accumulation, further extending the rally.
Pepe
Over the last 24 hours, Pepe (PEPE) rallied 7.2%, exchanging hands at a four-week high of $0.0000058 as its market shot up to $3.65 billion.
Its price rise came along with trading volume increasing 64% to over $940 million over the same period.
Source: CoinMarketCap
Today’s gains came along with a sharp rise in futures open interest, which surged to over $324 million, the highest since February 2 and nearly double this month’s low.
A spike in OI is typically seen as a bullish signal, which indicates growing trader confidence and fresh capital entering the market.
Investor accumulation also appears to be underway, with PEPE exchange reserves falling nearly 1% in the past week as holders are moving tokens off exchanges, likely with the intent to hold rather than sell.
Pepe’s rebound was also helped in part by a recent Truth Social post from US President Donald Trump that reignited interest in meme coins.
Shiba Inu
Shiba Inu (SHIB) rallied 7.5% over the past day to $0.00001460, pushing its market cap to $8.6 billion and ranking it 16th among the top 100 cryptocurrencies.
Its daily trading volume also saw a strong jump over the period, nearly doubling to over $537 million.
Source: CoinMarketCap
SHIB prices stayed green as the Shiba Inu team hinted at the launch of Shib Finance, a major DeFi upgrade that will introduce features to enhance the meme coin’s ecosystem.
The altcoin also gained broader exposure after its listing on BingX Futures, which added to the momentum.
Adding to SHIB’s bullish momentum, its burn rate has spiked recently, with around 1 billion tokens burned in a single day.
These tokens were permanently removed from circulation, driving scarcity, which in turn increased the value of the remaining supply.
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