Bitcoin plunges below $18,000 — Here are the levels to watch next

Bitcoin (BTC) fell below $18,000 on Dec. 9 in the latest continuation of its bearish comedown from all-time highs.

Analyst: BTC price should "keep correcting"

Data from Cointelegraph Markets, Coin360 and TradingView showed BTC/USD losing $18,000 support during trading, hours after a critical moving average level also gave way.

At press time, new lows near $17,600 were appearing, with 24-hour losses totalling more than 7%.

The situation was tenuous for Bitcoin after support was lost higher up, with exchange data showing buyer interest only lined up in significant amounts at $16,200. Converse selling pressure had provided an instant rejection at close to $20,000 last week.

“Third test of support & breakdown,” Cointelegraph Markets analyst Michaël van de Poppe summarized to Twitter followers on Wednesday.

“Testing levels multiple times doesn’t make the level stronger. Downtrend likely to continue? I think so, unless $18,500-18,700 is reclaimed, I think we’ll continue correcting.”

The press-time range had already formed a topic of interest among traders, who were wary about a $1,300 CME futures gap remaining unfilled. With the bottom level just below $17,000, there was additional impetus for Bitcoin to fall further in the short term.

Both Van de Poppe and others were broadly optimistic, however, noting that lower levels would provide a buying opportunity for large-volume clients.

“Watch how traders, shitcoiners and weak hands transfer their #bitcoin to strong hands like Grayscale, Paypal, Square, MicroStrategy etc.,” quant analyst PlanB argued on Tuesday as the performance began to slip.

“These BTC will disappear from the market and go into deep cold storage and stay there for years.”