Bitcoin (BTC) closed below US$30,000 for the first time in two weeks on Tuesday, having lost just shy of one percentage point to hit the midnight bell at US$29,500.
It marked the fifth straight day of losses for the BTC/USDT pair.
As observed in the Binance order book, bullish support kicked in at this price point to bring bitcoin back above 30k.
At the time of writing, the BTC/USDT pair was changing hands almost precisely at US$30,000, having added half a percentage point in this morning’s Asia trading hours.
Bitcoin bulls regain 30k – Source: currency.com
Some of the bullish price action may have been down to prospective Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s lofty ambition of a bitcoin monetary standard, as outlined in a recent virtual conference.
During the conference, RFK Jr said that "backing dollars and US debt obligations with hard assets could help restore strength back to the dollar, rein in inflation and usher in a new era of American financial stability, peace and prosperity”.
He said he would start “very, very small” by backing “perhaps 1% of issued T-bills… by hard currency, by gold, silver platinum or bitcoin” before increasing the allocation yearly “depending on the outcome”.
Prospective presidential candidates have a tendency to say a lot on the campaign trail without delivering, so in the meantime, bitcoin faces a barrage of headwinds in the form of risk-off sentiment, grim Chinese economic recovery and sustained US regulatory pressures.
Today’s order book places the support line at US$28,600, with US$32,000 tipped as the resistance point.
As for Ethereum, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency fell 0.7% to US$1,897 on Tuesday before climbing back to US$1,908 this morning.
Ripple (XRP) knocks higher
Whereas bitcoin and ether dragged, the altcoin du jour, Ripple (XRP) had another bullish session on Tuesday, gaining 5.5% to close just shy of US$0.78.
It appears that XRP’s rally following the partial court victory against the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) still has some life in it.
Global cryptocurrency market capitalisation currently stands at US$1.2tn, having added 0.4% overnight. Bitcoin dominance is slightly below 50%.
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