Bitcoin (BTC) lost $50,000 for the first time in several days on Dec. 26 as exchange inflows caught up with the cautiously optimistic mood.
BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView
“New player” beefs up $50,000 sell wall
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed volatility hitting BTC/USD overnight on Saturday.
The pair had reached $51,500 before starting to retrace, this culminating in a dip to $49,644. At the time of writing, Bitcoin was back circling $50,000.
The move came in tandem with a rise in inflows to major exchange Binance, with order book data showing a new wall of resistance being built at $50,000.
Binance order book heatmap chart. Source: Material Indicators
The behavior points to a large-volume investor shaping market bias, and Binance was already the source of suspicion over such activity in recent days.
“This looks like a new player,” data analysis account Material Scientist noted in comments on Binance’s rapidly-changing order book setup.
Binance BTC balance chart. Source: Coinglass
Overall, exchange balances have crept up 60,000 BTC beginning Dec. 22, from 1.69 million to 1.75 million BTC, data from on-chain monitoring resource Coinglass shows.
Ethereum preserves $4,000 defense zone
In some mild relief for altcoin traders, most large-cap tokens remained relatively unscathed after Bitcoin’s latest dip.
Related: Top crypto winners and losers of 2021
Ether (ETH) was still above $4,000 at the time of writing.
ETH/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView
Others in the top ten cryptocurrencies by market cap either kept losses below 1.5% or saw flat performance.
For ETH/USD, popular trader Pentoshi highlighted $3,940-$4,000 as a “key” area for bulls to defend going forward.
“Currently long. Would like to see a push up and some momentum off this rounded bottom. Looking to sell 4.4-4.5k,” he added.
