Bitcoin’s (BTC) October Struggles Continue as Buying Pressure Starts to Cool

Bitcoin’s slight recovery from near $80,000 offered some relief, but a major momentum indicator suggests buyers may be losing some strength.

Bitcoin is witnessing a decline in buying pressure, according to crypto analytics platform Alphractal. The latest reading of the Buy/Sell Pressure Delta indicates that bullish momentum is starting to cool.

Alphractal outlined two possible outcomes when the metric stops climbing.

Buyers Aren’t Looking as Strong

Bitcoin could face a decline, or it could move sideways and enter a consolidation phase. In past market cycles, both patterns have appeared before larger price moves, including deeper corrections.

For now, the dip in buying pressure is not a major warning sign on its own. The bigger concern would be a continued decline over several days. If the metric turns negative, it could signal that sellers are gaining control.

Interestingly, Bitcoin plunged briefly towards $80,000. The world’s largest crypto asset has since recovered modestly as it trades at $81,200. While it’s still early to say if bulls are losing their buying momentum, Joao Wedson believes that the impact will always be “greater” on altcoins.

But Wedson also flagged a historical pattern that could add to the uncertainty in the altcoin market. According to the Alphractal founder, when the median performance of the top 100 altcoins outpaces Bitcoin, a period of increased volatility often follows. This outperformance rarely lasts for long, and market trends typically reverse around every 60 days. During these changes, capital tends to flow back into BTC and stablecoins. If the pattern holds, altcoins could face increased selling pressure as traders adjust their positions.

This could make the coming weeks more volatile, especially if Bitcoin’s buying momentum continues to weaken.

You may also like:

Is Uptober Failing?

BTC’s start to October has been far from the strong run traders have come to expect from “Uptober.” With the month yet to deliver much upside, Bernardo Brites, Co-Founder and CEO of Trace Finance, offered a different take on why the usual October rally may not play out as expected. While speaking to CryptoPotato, Brites said,

“A roughly flat October so far challenges the narrative more than the market. Uptober was always a pattern, not a law. Ten green Octobers in thirteen years is a strong record, but it’s a small sample, mostly from a market driven by retail momentum and leverage. And last year already broke a six-year streak. Today Bitcoin trades more on ETF flows, rates, and the dollar, and none of those follow the calendar. This month’s real catalyst is the Fed meeting on October 27 and 28. If October ends green, that’s where it will come from.”