Bitcoin Price Grinds Closer to $8K as $7,500 Support Remains Intact

Bitcoin inched closer to $8,000 on Nov. 29 after maintaining its previous gains for another day.

Since the bullish shift on Nov. 25, Bitcoin has broadly held onto its higher levels, with only a brief dip below $7,400 challenging a steady grind higher.

At press time, Bitcoin traded at just above $7,550, near its weekly high of $7,640.

Markets broadly shook off recent negative sentiment over a Chinese crackdown on cryptocurrency trading and an assumed insider hack at South Korean exchange Upbit this week.

Longer-term, Bitcoin was still down 16% compared to the same time last month, while weekly, the largest cryptocurrency managed 7% gains.

Analysts had previously anticipated such volatile performance to endure over the coming months - before next May's block reward halving, the sentiment would remain mixed, statistician Willy Woo said last week.

Altcoins meanwhile settled in line with the relatively stable Bitcoin price on Friday.

Among the top twenty cryptocurrencies by market cap, most saw flatter performance than on previous days.

Ether, the largest altcoin, was up 1.8% at $154, preserving fresh support at $150 and could be headed for a run to $170, according to fresh analysis.

The overall cryptocurrency market cap was $206.2 billion at press time, with Bitcoin's share at 66.4% of the total.