Bitcoin investors lived through the worst year on record

BTC/USD is changing hands at $3,775, after a short-lived Sunday attempt to recover above $3,800 handle. The cryptocurrency market has entered a hibernation phase to survive thin holiday markets. Bitcoin is no exception here, despite some short-lived sharp movements in both directions.

According to the statistics provided by Messari service, the return on investments in Bitcoin in 2018 was the worst on record. Traders have lost over 71% of their capital since the beginning of the year. To put this into perspective, it is much worse than in 2014, when Bitcoin demonstrated the similar slump.

Bitcoin's technical picture

On the 4-hour chart, Bitcoin is moving within a horizontal triangle. A sustainable movement above $3,860 (the upper line of the triangle) will create a setup for a strong recovery with the first aim at $4,234, which is the recent high reached on December 24. On the downside, the initial support lies with $3,700. It is created by a confluence of SMA100 and SMA200 (4-hour) and followed by the lower triangle border at $3,670. Once below, the sell-off may be extended towards $3,550 and psychological $3,500.

BTC/USD, 4-hour chart