Bitcoin Trending Down After Earlier Gains

Bitcoin remains on a downward trajectory toward $32,000 despite rallying as much as 4.6% during the early trading hours in Asia on Wednesday.

Bouncing from a 24-hour low of $31,620, prices were hovering at just around $32,500 at press time after they had reached a 24-hour high of $33,182, CoinDesk data shows.

The gradual slide is continuing to eat into year-to-date gains, which stand at just above 12%.

Intraday volume for the world's oldest cryptocurrency remains considerably lower than weeks past, with the number of coins traded every four hours having tapered since the June 29 sell-off.

Yet, according to some, that may be an indication of greater things to come.

The stalemate between bulls and bears in bitcoin's ever-narrowing range between $36,000 and $31,500 may soon come to an end, some analysts are suggesting.

"All the on-chain analysis suggests we're at the tight end of a slingshot," BCB Group CEO Oliver von Landsberg-Sadie told CoinDesk via Telegram. "It’s quiet now but don't mistake that for lack of interest."

Landsberg-Sadie said it's "anyone's guess" about how close bitcoin would get to $100,000 when the "tension breaks."

Indeed, June 29's peak of $36,623 marked the last time bitcoin's intraday spot price maintained a higher low, higher high setup. That indicates the price action is now firmly in the seller's court.

Some observers are suggesting bitcoin may get a boost later this month following the expiration of investor restrictions on the sale of shares in the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, as CoinDesk previously reported.

“Price pressure may actually never realize," Kirill Suslov, CEO of trading app TabTrader, said about Grayscale releasing nearly 40,000 bitcoin shares (GBTC). Grayscale Investments is owned by Digital Currency Group, the parent company of CoinDesk.

"Usually, institutions rebalance their portfolio according to the mandate. So if they are underwater because the bitcoin price has dropped, they will actually have to buy more to keep the mandated allocation to this asset class," Suslov said.

Because Grayscale's Trust lacks a redemption mechanism, Laurin Bylica, co-founder of a decentralized crypto finance project TheStandard.io, said the unlocking of GBTC shares shouldn't move bitcoin's spot price.

"However, misleading and complex information lets investors worry and, therefore, can create short-term bearish anxiety," Bylica said in an email.

Read more: Market Wrap: Bitcoin Flat; Fed’s Powell Grilled on Crypto

Other cryptos in the top 20 by market value were mostly green, up between 1% and 10% over a 24-hour period with solana (SOL) clocking the biggest gains.

Asian equity markets were mostly up between 0.5% and 1%, with the exception of Japan, which fell 1.2%.