Bitcoin struggles for direction as traders pine for breakout

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Bitcoin prices continue their slow starting to the week, trading mostly unchanged Tuesday.

In early Tuesday trading, a single bitcoin














BTCUSD, -0.29%












 was last going for $6,549.20, down 0.1% since Monday at 5 p.m. Eastern Time on the Kraken crypto exchange.

The world’s largest digital currency has not traded outside the $6,500 to $6,600 range this week. “Bitcoin price is consolidating on the back of low volume,” wrote Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at Think Markets U.K., evident by futures volumes, which slumped to their lowest levels since Sept. 20 on the CME Group exchange with just 1,514 contracts changing hands Monday.

“We are struggling to break the resistance of $6,800 and $7,000. The support of $6,000 remains a major focal point,” Aslam said.



Bitcoin technical resistance

Read: Bitcoin and other cryptos won’t dent gold’s shine, says Morningstar analyst

Furthermore, the sideways price action has pushed the 30-day bitcoin volatility index to a 12-week low of 2.55%. Year-to-date the index has fallen more than 500 basis points.

Altcoins and futures begin

Coins other than bitcoin, often referred to collectively as altcoins, were also off to a quiet start Tuesday. Ether,














ETHUSD, -1.05%












the second largest digital currency was down 0.8% at $226.98, Bitcoin Cash














BCHUSD, +0.93%












 added 1.5% at $535.70, Litecoin














LTCUSD, -0.73%












 was off 1.2% at $59.58 and a single XRP coin














XRPUSD, -4.14%












 was trading at 55 cents, down 4.7%.

In futures trading, the Cboe Global Markets October contract














XBTV8, -0.53%












was down 0.2% at $6,530 and the CME Group October contract














US:BTCU8












was down 0.2% at $6.525.

Read: The Tax benefit of bitcoin’s big selloff

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Source : MTV