Crypto Traders Lean Bearish as Bitcoin Hovers Above $26K; DOGE, XRP Dip Most Among Majors

Bitcoin BTC$86,733.15 watchers are leaning bearish in the short term but expect prices to pick up once the anticipated halving event is complete in 2024, with expectations of a consolidation period until then.

The industry’s oldest asset saw a tepid weekend marked by price stability and low volumes, nearing the $26,000 level, losing 1.7% in the past 24 hours.

Major tokens such as XRP and DOGE$0.1300 led declines, with drops of 4% in the past 24 hours. Ether ETH$2,922.08 fell 0.9%, outperforming the general market, as the CoinDesk Market Index (CMI), a broad-based tracker of hundreds of tokens, slumped 1.1%.

Aptos's APT, Chainlink’s LINK and gaming platform ImmutableX’s IMX were the only tokens in the green, rising as much as 6% on various growth – and fake – catalysts.

Analysts at trading firm FxPro told CoinDesk in a note they remain bearish for the next few weeks, expecting prices to reach as low as $23,000 amid the general lack of interest in trading riskier assets and the absence of market-moving catalysts.

However, there’s still hope for bulls. On-chain data platform CryptoQuant published in a weekly note that bitcoin's recent price performance closely resembled past cycles, suggesting that the asset was “likely to remain in a consolidation phase until the 2024 halving event” but hinted at a “significant price increase after the halving.”

“This assessment is supported by various long-term valuation metrics, including logarithmic growth curves,” analysts at CryptoQuant wrote. “There’s also the realized cap of short-term user transactions (UTXOs), which indicates under-valuation and the absence of widespread retail speculation, reinforcing the potential for future price growth.”

Bitcoin prices have historically boomed after its halving, a term when block rewards are slashed in half in typically four-year cycles. The estimated date for the next halving is Apr. 21, data shows.