Bitcoin Breaches $41,000 as Investors Troop into Stablecoins Amid Plummeting Crypto Prices

Bitcoin (BTC) and the digital currency market have experienced massive losses this week, as the benchmark cryptocurrency dropped by over 12% over the last seven days. Only yesterday, the cryptocurrency hit its lowest point since September, venturing close to the $40,000 round but halting midway at $40,500.

Also, reports show that Bitcoin’s global trade volume on Saturday was a paltry $23.6 billion. That said, the cryptocurrency’s most traded pair, Tether (USDT), accounted for 61.4% of all BTC trades yesterday. The US dollar (USD) came in second place, accounting for 14.7% of all BTC trades. In third, fourth, fifth, and sixth places were Binance USD (BUSD) with 6.79% of all trades, the South Korean won (KRW) with 3.6% of all BTC trades, the Japanese yen (JPY) with 3.27% of all BTC trades, and the euro (EUR) with 3.2% of all BTC trades on Saturday.

Meanwhile, FTX.US led the pack in terms of Bitcoin transactions, followed by Coinbase, Bitfinex, Kraken, and Bitstamp. BTC’s global trade volume on Saturday came in at only 23.69% of the $99.6 billion in total crypto trades in the industry. Interestingly, while BTC captured only $23.6 billion in global trade volume, USDT commanded $46.7 billion, or 46.8%, in trade volume, accentuating the flight to safety by investors further exerting bearish pressure on the market.

Key Bitcoin Levels to Watch — January 9

Following its foray to the mid-$40,000 zone, BTC bears appear to have taken a break as the price regained a sideways pattern. The benchmark cryptocurrency broke the $41,000 floor following reports that the US Fed plans to taper its bond-holding program. This spooked risky investors, who took a flight to safer assets.

That said, the primary cryptocurrency needs to carry out an unlikely maneuver to the $43,000 – $44,000 area over the coming days to plug the bearish pressure and reposition to rebound higher. However, a possible failure for bulls to achieve this would open BTC up to the $30,000s and extend the bearish cycle.

Meanwhile, my resistance levels are at $43,000, $44,000, and $45,000, and my key support levels are at $41,000, $40,000, and $38,500.

Total Market Capitalization: $1.96 trillion

Bitcoin Market Capitalization: $790.4 billion

Bitcoin Dominance: 40.4%

Market Rank: #1