Dado Ruvic/Reuters
- Bitcoin slipped to $32,639 as of Thursday morning, sinking back below the $33,000 level.
- "We expect it to spend the next few weeks testing this range on either side," Pankaj Balani of Delta Exchange said.
- Cryptocurrency-linked companies have suffered in step with the broader digital asset ecosystem.
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The price of bitcoin slipped 7% Thursday amid a broader cryptocurrency sell-off that has also dragged crypto-linked stocks lower.
The world's largest digital asset by market capitalization slipped to $32,639 as of Thursday morning ET, sinking back below the $33,000 level for the first time in over a week.
Other cryptocurrencies have also been trading rangebound as of Thursday morning ET:
- Ether: down 10.0% to $2,149.15
- Cardano: down 5.8% to $1.35
- Ripple: down 7.8% to $0.619756
- Dogecoin: down 10.6% to $0.209537
- Polkadot: down 10.5% to $15.44
Bitcoin in the past months has been trading in a range at just around half its April peak price of nearly $65,000.
It is expected to be in a consolidation phase between the $30,000-$42,000 zone in the near term, said Pankaj Balani, CEO and founder of Delta Exchange, in a statement.
"We expect it to spend the next few weeks testing this range on either side," he said. "Though we have seen an upward bias in the last few days it will take some work for BTC to break above the $42,000 mark."
Cryptocurrency-linked companies have also suffered amid the sell-of.
- Coinbase: down 7% to $233.71
- Riot Blockchain: down 8.47% to $32.44
- Marathon Digital: down 6.71% to $26.70
For now, though, Balani said there are limited catalysts here for any break on the upside in the short term.
In fact, crypto lender Amber Group says the price of bitcoin may have to fall as low as $25,000 before major investors start snapping up bitcoin in large quantities again.
The cryptocurrency market, particularly bitcoin, has been weathering an intensifying regulatory crackdown.
Most recently, Senator Elizabeth Warren warned of the growing risks the "highly opaque and volatile" cryptocurrency market pose, according to Reuters.
"While demand for cryptocurrencies and the use of cryptocurrency exchanges have sky-rocketed, the lack of common-sense regulations has left ordinary investors at the mercy of manipulators and fraudsters," Warren said in a statement Thursday.