Market Cap: $271,875,438,188 | 24h Vol: $49,864,427,492 | BTC Dominance: 62.2%

Bitcoin (BTC) remained trapped within an increasingly narrow price range last week, as trading volume and volatility surrounding the cryptocurrency continued to decline.

The BTC/USD pair slipped back towards the $9,000 level, as a major Twitter hacking incident appeared to hurt sentiment towards cryptocurrencies.

In the aftermath of the hacking scandal, some critics called for tighter regulation over Bitcoin, while some voices on Twitter actively called for Bitcoin to be banned.

Despite Bitcoin’s ongoing period of price stagnation, a number of key metrics showed that institutional interest for the pioneer cryptocurrency continued to rise.

Data from Santiment showed that the range bound trading conditions, and lack of upside momentum had caused social media sentiment towards Bitcoin to turn heavily bearish.

However, historical sentiment data shows that the BTC/USD pair tends to perform best when social perception is in negative territory.

On-chain data from Santiment also suggested that a sizable directional move may be on the horizon, as BTC Token Age Consumed saw a notable spike last week.

Bitcoin’s mining difficulty followed Bitcoin’s network hash rate last, and reached a new all-time high last week.

Last week’s Commitment of Traders report on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange shows that leveraged funds increased bullish bets towards Bitcoin.

Data from the BTC options market also showed that traders are not betting on a major price drop in Bitcoin any time soon.

The much-awaited quarterly report from Grayscale Investments revealed that institutional demand for cryptocurrencies continues to accelerate at a record pace.

The total market capitalization of the cryptocurrency market fell back towards the $260 billion level, as Bitcoin and a host of top altcoins came under minor selling pressure.

Bitcoin’s market dominance consolidated around the worst levels of the year, as the DeFi cryptocurrencies continued to outperform the pioneer cryptocurrency.

In the altcoin space, Chainlink (LINK) rallied to a fresh all-time high last week, while Stellar Lumen (XLM) posted solid gains, touching a twelve-month trading high.

The Week Ahead

Looking at the week ahead, more range bound trading conditions should be expected while Bitcoin remains trapped between the $8,800 to $9,475 price range.

Should we see this price range breached then Bitcoin volatility and trading volume should see a significant increase.

Undoubtedly, the S&P 500 has shared an increasingly positive correlation with the price of Bitcoin lately, any major moves in U.S. equity markets thus has the ability to affect BTC/USD.

The United States economic calendar is once again fairly light this week. U.S. housing and manufacturing are worth paying attention to this week.

Traders and investors will be closely watching to see if the U.S. congress approves a new stimulus package.

The current technicals show that Bitcoin (BTC) is trading within a triangle pattern over the lower time frames. Watch out for a short-term directional move once the $9,080 to $9,275 price range is breached.

According to the higher time frames, Bitcoin is trapped with an ascending triangle pattern between the $9,000 to $10,000 level. A break above or below the triangle has the ability to start a $1,000 directional move, at a minimum.

To the downside, a break under the $9,000 level exposes the $8,700 level. Key support below $8,700 is found at the $8,400 and $7,800 levels.

Ethereum (ETH) remains trapped between the $230.00 to $250.00 price range, as the second-largest cryptocurrency struggles to find a new price trend.

If bulls can anchor price above the $250.00 level the ETH/USD pair could quickly rally towards the $290.00 to $300.00 resistance zone. It is noteworthy that a breakout above the $300.00 level exposes further ETH upside towards the $375.00 level.

To the downside, a loss of the $230.00 support level could send the ETH/USD pair into a new bear trend, although technical selling should really increase if the $217.00 level is broken. This would open-the-door for further losses towards the $190.00, and possibly the $155.00 support level.