On Sunday, cryptocurrency investors were driven into major panic as the Bitcoin BTC price fell below the $18,000 level. This major price drop came after the world’s foremost cryptocurrency had struggled to recover higher against the USD. On Friday, the BTC price was bullish, rising above the $21,000 level in what seemed like a rise toward $25,000. However, the bull run did not last as the bears soon took over the market.

BTC Price Analysis Today

At the time of writing, the price of the BTC cryptocurrency was $18,681.01. This means the largest cryptocurrency per market capitalization is down by 6.26% within the last hour. Over the last 24 hours, the price of Bitcoin has ranged between the $18,390.32 low and $20,010.20 high.

Bitcoin (BTC) is still at major risk of trending to $12,000 if the current bear run does not come to an end soon. Right now, the key technical support is at $18,000 and the bulls must do everything they can to hold the line above this level. Otherwise, Bitcoin will bottom out as low as $10,000 in the next few weeks.

Altcoins Bleed Out With Bitcoin

As Bitcoin falls, so do altcoins. Ethereum ETH is falling faster than any other one of the top five altcoins. ETH is trading at $1,308.08, down by 8.66% against the USD, and risks falling below the $1,200 level. Meanwhile, XRP is trading at $0.3512, down by 6.77% against the USD after rising as high as the $0.3969 level yesterday.

Downtrends are common in the cryptocurrency market and altcoins always tend to move in a similar direction as Bitcoin. The current bear rally is expected to pause before the end of the trading day tomorrow. If that happens, Bitcoin may have the momentum required to rise above the $19,000 level again. This will be followed by a downward correction and another upward momentum to the $22,000 level and maybe $25,000 level soon.