Bitcoin is on the cusp of a “death cross” – a technical pattern that would likely presage another major selloff for the original cryptocurrency, a prominent crypto trader has warned.

In a Twitter thread overnight, Rekt Capital, an account with 144,000 followers, wrote that the death cross would occur in mid-June if Bitcoin doesn’t increase its price soon. The bearish pattern could see BTC fall to US$18,000 or so, he wrote.

A death cross is when the short-term moving average moves down and crosses under the long-term moving average. (The opposite pattern is known as a “golden cross”.)

 

If Bitcoin’s 50-day exponential moving average (EMA; the yellow line) crosses under its 200-day EMA (the blue line), that would constitute a bearish pattern known as a “death cross”. This chart shows Bitcoin’s price action for the year so far, with each candlestick indicating one day. (Stockhead/Tradingview)

However Rekt Capital indicated they were still bullish long-term and that the Death Cross didn’t have to occur.


Bitcoin has been trading in an increasingly narrow range since the May 19 liquidation event so a major move in one direction or the other seems imminent.

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Bitcoin on the three-hour charts showing trading since May 15. (Stockhead/Tradingview)

At 11.36am AEST, BTC was trading for US$36,100 ($46,575), down 3.9 per cent in the past 24 hours.

Ethereum was changing hands for US$2,571 ($3,313), down 4.0 per cent.
 

Most coins down

Just 20 of the top 100 coins were in the green, with 0x (ZRX) tokens gaining the most, 12.5 per cent.

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Coin360

Dogecoin had also jumped 6.0 per cent to US35.9c after leading US exchange Coinbase Pro said it would list the meme coin on Thursday.

Coinbase is the most popular exchange in the United States and listings tend to be coveted.
 

Mina Protocol problems

Mina Protocol plunged by two-thirds, to US$3.13, after setting an all-time high yesterday on new exchange listings.

According to social media posts, the plunge appeared to be related to issues with the token’s initial coin offering (ICO).

Mina sold US$18.75 million worth of tokens to 40,500 participants at a US25c apiece in just four hours early May. More than 375,000 had registered for the pre-sale and token purchases were capped at US$500 to allow most to participate.

Earlier seed rounds had been limited to institutional investors.

With IOU tokens trading for as high as US$60 or US$90, expectations were high for the launch.

But initially, people who bought those tokens on Coinlist had issues withdrawing them.

It seems when they were finally successful, the price crashed.

Mina Protocol labels itself as the “world’s lightest blockchain” — just 22kb, compared to hundreds of gigabytes for Bitcoin and Ethereum.

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