The downward trend observed yesterday gained strength today, with the average of ( ) prices across all exchanges falling just over 2% to $445.62. It is suggested that traders on BTC-e are using sell trades to depress the price and enter buying orders to get Bitcoin at a lower price, as the BTC-e exchange has been leading the price movement. For example, the Bitcoin price is $439.99 on BTC-e, while on other exchanges it has not reached that low yet. On the BitStamp exchange, the price is at $448.77. The next important support levels lie at $432.79 and $419.68.

Although traders and margin traders could be to blame for the price decrease, volatility such as experienced in Bitcoin markets is normal for relatively new markets and is to be expected. But as adoption continues to increase, higher demand should push the price up long-term. One factor that is affecting the price in the short-term is mining. The easier accessibility of mining in the form of mining contracts and cloud mining has brought in new participants. This has increased the rate at which Bitcoin are introduced into the system, which depresses the price. The hash-rate has recently jumped, indicating more computing power is being devoted to maintaining the Blockchain. This increases the blocks that are mined and the number of Bitcoins that come into existence.

Another reason for this sudden price decline could be the ever-increasing number of merchants that accept Bitcoin are exchanging Bitcoin for . As people use Bitcoin to pay for goods, merchants are exchanging the Bitcoin straight into fiat currency. This trend will continue until the infrastructure of the Bitcoin system is improved and adoption increases.

An Australian Bitcoin start-up has introduced an electronic funds at point of sale card to bridge the gap between crypto-currencies and traditional payment methods. CoinJar’s new development will allow Australians to pay for items in Australian dollars using Bitcoin and withdraw their Bitcoin in Australian Dollars. The CEO of CoinJar hopes that this new service will expose Bitcoin to the majority of Australians and increase adoption. It is estimated half a million Australians are participants in the Bitcoin ecosystem and CoinJar hopes that its service will increase this number substantially.

The daily chart with the Ichimoku cloud is shown below. The price has entered the cloud, suggesting that any trades should wait until the price action breaks out of the cloud in either direction. The lower part of the cloud at around $436 is acting a support and the price failed to close below this level since May 2014, indicating the support level is quite strong. The cloud has switched from red to green, indicating an upward flow may materialize within this current downward trend. If the price action moves out of the cloud in the downward direction, the price could move to $412 and settle around that level. However, if the price moves in the upward direction, past the cloud and past the base line at $476, bullish momentum would be initiated.

Daily Bitcoin

The 4-hour chart for Bitcoin on the BTC-e exchange is shown below. The price is currently nearing the bottom Bollinger band® and could decrease to the important support at $432.79 before rebounding towards the middle band. Both the stochastic and relative strength index are indicating oversold conditions, which could continue today, but eventually an upward correction should take place.

4-Hour Bitcoin

Trade and over 125 other assets at YesOption – The leading forex and binary options trading platform-offering returns up to 89%.