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Bitcoin Gives up $11,000 as the Market Prepares for the Litecoin Fork

Bitcoin was amongst the top performers on Saturday, gaining 9.17% to end the day at $11,139.03, just shy of an intraday high $11,159.81.

There was plenty of support through the day, with a lack of regulatory chatter through the week supporting a move through the early part of the weekend.

As the cryptomarket evolves and the tech becomes more user friendly, we may begin to see volatility in the true cryptocurrencies ease, but over the near-term, until the regulatory environment has been established and exchanges have incorporated jurisdictional KYC and anti-money laundering procedures, volatility will continue as the crypto market continues to be exposed to the possibility of harsh measures by some governments.

This week, in spite of continued uncertainty, investors have returned to the market, though this morning’s reversal has seen the total cryptomarket cap fall to $493.47bn, with Bitcoin’s market cap down to $181.24bn.

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One area of focus later today will be Litecoin’s hard fork that is expected to result in the distribution of Litecoin Cash coins to Litecoin holders.

There have been calls that the fork is in fact a scam and may not actually happen. While Litecoin would certainly be impacted should the fork actually be a scam, the rest of the cryptomarket could also fall foul of such an outcome. Market manipulation has been rife in recent times and the talk of a fork led Litecoin to more than 50% gains last week, with the rest of the crypto market benefitting from a week free of major fraudulent activity and government noise.

Any fraudulent activity and we can expect the regulatory chatter to resume and, as we have seen this year, that’s not something that will be well received by the cryptomarket.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin was down 5.22% to $10,521.8, with Bitcoin pulling back from an early morning intraday high $11,300.

The Sunday reversal is underway, as investors look to lock in weekend gains ahead of the start of what could be another choppy week ahead.

With the Cboe Bitcoin futures March contract sitting at $10,150 as at Friday’s close, Bitcoin could see further declines through the early part of the day, with Bitcoin’s first support level sitting at $10,203, though sub-$10,000 levels are unlikely with a lack of negative sentiment present in the market ahead of this evening’s Litecoin fork.

Elsewhere, Ripple was amongst the largest fallers through the early part of the day down 7.45%, with Stellar Lumen down 7.88%.

Bitcoin dominance has held above 36% through the weekend, currently at 36.7% and we will expect Bitcoin to continue to maintain current levels through to the early part of Monday.

BTC/USD 18/02/18 Hourly Chart
BTC/USD 18/02/18 Hourly Chart

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This article was originally posted on FX Empire

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