After rallying to a new record high, bitcoin is once again trending down.
According to Coindesk's Bitcoin Price Index (BPI), bitcoin prices dipped below $5,800 this morning – prices first passed the $6,000 mark on Friday and set the new all-time high (of $6,148) at 15:00 UTC on Saturday. That figure takes the cumulative returns from the September low of $2,980 to more than 100 percent.
The record rally indicates that the regulatory crackdown in China, and subsequent fears of similar restrictions across the globe, have failed to dampen investor sentiment. Meanwhile, the potential benefits of holding bitcoin ahead of another hard fork (in November) – which promises the creation of a new cryptocurrency – have only boosted its appeal.
However, price action analysis suggests BTC could be setting up for a deeper pullback.
It's worth noting that bitcoin has rallied close to 500 percent since the start of 2017. In light of the stellar gains, a pullback of more than 20 percent will qualify as healthy correction and not a bear market as widely believed. (A drop of 20 percent or more is considered an entry into a bear market.)