Bitcoin Price Struggling at $10K as Analysts Warn of 2018-Style Dump

Bitcoin price was testing support at $10,000 Aug. 22 as the largest cryptocurrency fluctuated between four and five figures.

Difficulty must touch floor before Bitcoin price moons.

As Cointelegraph reported, regular commentator Josh Rager had eyed a daily close above $10,200 as being necessary to preserve upside chances, something which Bitcoin ultimately failed to achieve.

Another popular social media-based analyst, The Crypto Panda, was more pessimistic still, warning on Wednesday Bitcoin faced a breakdown similar to November 2018.

He noted mining difficulty ⁠- an indicator estimating the amount of computing power required to validate Bitcoin transactions ⁠- must bottom out before price highs appear.

In an indication of the behavior still impacting Bitcoin markets, weekly gains remain at almost 5% for traders, while monthly losses conversely circle around 1%. Three-month performance nonetheless remains extremely strong at 30% gains.

Thursday marked an interesting day on altcoin markets, becoming one of the few days on which the majority of tokens were less volatile than Bitcoin.

In the current market retraction, that meant many traders were spared the losses affecting Bitcoin.

Ether, the largest altcoin by market cap, dropped 1% compared to Bitcoin's 1.7%.Ether 7-day price chart.

Others, such as XRP and Litecoin, also fared better, while Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin SV matched Bitcoin's moves.