Bitcoin Trades Sideways as Bitcoin Cash Price Drops to $800

Following the all-time highs set over the last week, bitcoin has been trading sideways for the last 48 hours, and prices are fluctuating in the $4,050 to $4,200 range.

Prices for the asset across global exchanges averaged $4,109 at press time, having opened the session at $4,206 and achieved a high of $4,208 at roughly 8:00 UTC, according to CoinDesk's Bitcoin Price Index.

The question everyone will be wondering now is, will the price go up or down when the next big movement kicks off? For that we'll just have to wait and see, but a Goldman Sachs analyst said, on August 14, that bitcoin could rise as high as $4,800 in the current bull market.

Elsewhere, the new bitcoin alternative, bitcoin cash, shocked observers briefly yesterday by setting its own all-time high of around $1,091, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

Since being created in a fork of the bitcoin blockchain on August 1, prices had been for the greater part steady around $300. However, a breakout on August 17 saw enthusiastic trading – at South Korea exchanges, in particular – that took the digital asset to its previously unseen heights.

In the hours since, bitcoin cash prices have dropped somewhat and now hover close to the $800 mark.

Overall, the market is still trending up, with the market capitalization across all cryptocurrencies currently at $146 billion – down slightly from a record high of $147.2 billion set at around 8:00 UTC this morning.

Trading chart image via Shutterstock