Bitcoin price drops 10% over the past week: Is another drop coming?

Experts believe that another dip may be in the cards for BTC in the near term, potentially taking the premier crypto down as low as $24K.
- As a result of its most recent dip, Bitcoin is now showcasing YTD gains of just 11%.
- Analysts believe that after this ongoing bearish wave concludes, BTC can potentially scale past the $40K mark once again.
- Data available online suggests that long-term holders (LTH) have continued to accumulate BTC during recent weeks.
After having stabilized around the $37,000 threshold for over a fortnight, the last 48 hours have seen Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by total market capitalization, slide even further, dropping as low as $30,800, albeit briefly. At press time, the flagship digital asset is trading at $37,247.
To gain a better understanding of what lies ahead for Bitcoin, Konstantin Annisimov, executive director for cryptocurrency exchange CEX.IO, told Finder that the future looks quite good for the cryptocurrency — especially as El Salvador’s president Nayib Bukele recently announced that his country is actively looking to start accepting Bitcoin as legal tender, adding:
“While this news appears to not have moved the market much over the past few days, it can serve as the basis for other nations to follow suit. This alongside a pent-up price impact from continuous buy-ups can help reignite a new bull run for the premier digital currency.”
When asked about Bitcoin’s near-term price action, Anisimov highlighted that as investors once again start to buy Bitcoin at ridiculously cheap rates, it stands to reason that the currency will be able to breeze past the $40,000 price mark with relative ease in the coming few weeks. “A push toward $55,000 will also be an ambitious target in the medium term,” he closed out by saying.
Accumulation continues behind the scenes
Though the market continues to be faced with a high level of volatility, it bears mentioning that as per data released by crypto analytics provider Glassnode, while short-term holders have been hit the hardest by the recent volatility, it appears as though long-term holders (LTH) have once again started accumulating BTC, thereby suggesting that the worst of the “market shake-out” may be over.
Bitcoin — Long-term holder (LTH) net change (source: Glassnode)
As is clearly evident from the chart presented above, long-term BTC holders seem to have once again accelerated their buying efforts, with the LTH supply stream showcasing a strong uptrend, much like the one witnessed during the 2017-18 bull cycle.
Looking ahead
As fears of incoming turbulence continue to persist, as per a number of independent crypto analysts, it appears as though Bitcoin may be heading for another “carnage,” which may see the digital asset dip to around the $24,600 range. In this regard, Twitter user Cobra Crypto stated that the coming few days and weeks could potentially see 20% of the crypto market’s capitalization “disappearing overnight.”
Similar predictions have also been made by other users. Crypto Ed, for example, is also of the opinion that another serious slide seems to be on the cards for Bitcoin. “Beware, I think we still get 1 leg down, the bounce is weak. BTC $32,000 or lower ETH $2,400 or lower,” he added.
Interested in cryptocurrency? Learn more about the basics with our beginner’s guide to Bitcoin, dive deeper by learning about Ethereum and see what blockchain can do with our simple guide to DeFi.
Disclosure: The author owns a range of cryptocurrencies at the time of writing