Bitcoin hints at $1T market cap retest after price hitting 4-month highs

A day of gains looks increasingly in jeopardy as shaky support levels provide fertile ground for fresh volatility.

Bitcoin (BTC) took a trip below $54,000 during Oct. 7 as traders waited to see how far a retracement of Wednesday’s $5,000 gains could go.

BTC flirts with $1-trillion asset support

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD looking decidedly less confident Thursday, down 3% while taking aim at $53,000 — and its $1-trillion market capitalization — before recovering.

The pair had hit local highs of $55,800 — its best since before the May miner rout — but it did not take long for over-optimistic markets to show signs of fatigue.

With volatility still in evidence, analysts were taking the opportunity to zoom out from spot price action once more.

“Historically, BTC tends to enjoy an average positive monthly return of +32% in the month of October,” Rekt Capital noted.

“This October, $BTC has already rallied +29% and it’s only the first week of the month.”

While impressive, such a performance could yet signal the start of consolidation, positioning Bitcoin to form higher support before powering through to a projected $63,000 by month-end. 

Such a monthly close, dubbed the “worst-case scenario,” would nonetheless far outpace average historical gains for October. Currently, the best year on record is 2017, during which BTC/USD added 47%.

Dogecoin beats the pack among altcoins

Altcoins continued to drag their feet in the wake of Bitcoin’s gains on the day — something which was not lost even on mainstream media.

Related: Bitcoin bears risk getting trapped if BTC price remains above $50K — Here’s why

Weekly gains on BTC/USD were matched only by Dogecoin (DOGE), echoing familiar action from Q1 this year. Both were up 25% over seven days at the time of writing.

Largest altcoin Ether (ETH) was quieter, however, posting 20% weekly returns and circling $3,575.