Was that it? Bitcoin wavers above and below US$60k as market holds its breath; SAND token pumps

Bitcoin has been vacillating around the $60,000 mark this morning as crypto-traders try to decide whether the bottom is in.

The original crypto fell as far as $58,580 around 9pm AEDT yesterday, before recovering to US$61,300 around 2am. It has crossed above and below the $60,000 four more times since then, and at noon was changing hands for US$59,821, down 3.5 per cent from yesterday.

Sydney-based City Index analyst Tony Sycamore, who predicted Bitcoin’s fall yesterday, said whether BTC was out of the woods was the $100 million question.

“The pullback has reached the target so from that point of view good signs and I’m leaning towards reinstating a bullish bias,” he told Stockhead.

“To increase conviction that a low is in, I would like to see Bitcoin reclaim the breakdown level 63/64k on a closing basis.

“Then it looks terrific again!”

Australia-based crypto trader Eunice Wong, meanwhile, tweeted from Lisbon that Bitcoin was a “miracle coin” and could return to its glory as long as it holds in the following range.

“As long as it’s staying around 58k, we ok,” she added. “Don’t freak ”

“Buying dips is very risky, as u never know how lower it’s gonna get. Let it consolidate. Don’t emotional buy. Be patient,” she messaged Stockhead. (Wong added she’s not a licensed financial adviser, that this wasn’t investment advice and that any kind of crypto trading is risky).

Crypto market down 4.8%

Overall the crypto market stood at US$2.6 trillion, down 4.8 per cent from 24 hours ago.

Ethereum was changing hands for US$4,217, down 5.8 per cent.

About 90 of the top 100 coins were in the red, although Zcash and the Crypto.com Coin were the only ones down by double-digits. They had fallen 11.4 and 10.6 per cent, respectively.

Avalanche was the non-stablecoin in the top 30 in the green, rising 6.0 per cent to US$96.35.

AVAX hit an all-time high of $102 yesterday.

Animoca Brands’ The Sandbox token (SAND) had also hit an all-time peak of $3.55, and at lunchtime was still up 35.3 per cent to $3.43.

The token used to power The Sandbox game is now the No. 54 crypto with a circulating market cap of US$3 billion.

The token has traded for under $1 for most of the year, but began pumping this month amid a general bullishness for metaverse assets following Facebook’s name change.

Rival metaverse token Decentraland (MANA) was up 10 per cent, and IOTA was up 15 per cent to $1.45 after announcing it would release Shimmer, an incentivised test network for Iota similar to how Kusama works for Polkadot. Anyone staking IOTA tokens will receive Shimmer coins.