Familiar areas of support are back on the radar after $25,000 became too much for bitcoin bulls. Bitcoin (BTC) price traded lower on August 12 as a pullback from a two-month high was widely expected.

The 200-week moving average becomes the fulcrum

BTC/USD on Bitstamp fell to $23,615 before Wall Street opened for the day, down about 5.2% in 24 hours, according to Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView.

The pair hit its highest level since June 13 on enthusiasm over falling US inflation and news that BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, will launch a Bitcoin private fund.

While some commentators hope Bitcoin will thus resolve resistance near $30,000, others remain cautious and suspect a new downtrend could be on the way.

"Volumes are dying. Channels are not impulses, they are corrections, "Il Capo, a popular trading account for cryptocurrencies, wrote in its latest update on the day. "Most people expect 28K or more, but the big level is 25,000-25500."

Ethereum is still 'very powerful'

Meanwhile, Crypto Ed struck a more positive tone, sticking to his forecast for further gains for bitcoin and the largest copycat coin, Ethereum (ETH). After referring to ETH/USD as $1,900, BTC/USD is still on track to top $29,000, he said that day.

Regarding Ethereum, trader TechDev described the price action as "very strong," noting that ETH/USD has pulled back its 20-week exponential moving average, while BTC/USD is "still struggling with its 10-week equivalent.

Market Recap: BTC is not ready to stay above $25,000

Bitcoin (BTC) briefly breached the psychologically important $25,000 level in overnight trading before giving up those gains during U.S. trading hours. The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization hit $25,212 early in the U.S. trading day before retreating to its current level above $24,000. Ethereum (ETH) prices fell 4% on Monday, but remained above the $1,900 level where they have been since late last week. At one point during the overnight event, ETH exceeded $2,000. Both BTC and ETH trade by average volume, using the 20-day exponential moving average (EMA) as a barometer of normality.

BTC briefly broke above $25,000 before retreating. However, the move occurred within a candle that ended an hour in negative territory, indicating that Bitcoin is not yet ready to hold the $25,000 support level. A trading candle shows the highest, lowest, opening and closing prices of an asset in a chart. Bitcoin prices rose 2.7% before the start of U.S. trading, then fell 3.5%. BTC appears to be holding steady between $24,000 and $25,000, with trading volumes dropping recently. A lack of trading in an asset may mean that traders have low confidence in the potential return of the asset.

The Bollinger band on the BTC daily chart indicates reversion to the mean

BTC's Bollinger band suggests prices could fall back to $23,500. For context, the Bollywood band measures the moving average of an asset and calculates values two standard deviations above and below the above moving average. Traders often use Brin bands to determine if prices have strayed too far from the short-term average of an asset. The question Mr Bollinger seeks to answer is whether assets are overpriced or underpriced relative to recent activity. Traditionally, when prices break above the upper Bollinger band, investors think they are too high. Conversely, when an asset's price breaks above its lower Bollinger band, investors think they are too low.

Because these bands are based on the standard deviation of price changes, they contract when volatility decreases and expand when volatility increases. In BTC's daily chart, Monday's price has been hovering in the upper range of its band. The price of BTC has recovered to the average/mid-band on several occasions when the upper and/or lower limits were hit. If BTC prices behave as they have in the past, BTC prices will revert to $23,500.