Bitcoin ( BTC ) preserved short-term support on Sept. 17 as crypto market sentiment suffered.

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BTC/USD 1-day chart. Source: TradingView


Bitcoin battles trend lines as trader faith wanes

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC price action reclaiming $58,000 into the Asia trading session.

After a broad sell-off at the Wall Street open the day prior, BTC/USD appeared to stabilize as the 21-day moving average (SMA) remained a foundation.

“To be clear, losing the 21-Day MA is not good, but IMO, closing above the 50-Week MA is far more important,” Keith Alan, co-founder of trading resource Material Indicators, wrote in part of a warning on X during the US trading session drawdown.

At the time of writing, the 21-day and 50-week SMAs stood at $57,858 and $53,945, respectively.

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BTC/USD 1-hour chart with 21-day, 50-week SMA. Source: TradingView

Popular trader Jelle meanwhile noted that the 50-week exponential moving average (EMA) continued to function as market support in line with the past 20 months of the Bitcoin bull market.

“Bull market summer chop has become a regular occurrence,” he told X followers. 

“The previous two chopfests both ended with new highs in the third week of October. We'd be about a month away from new all-time highs if this time plays out the same.”
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BTC/USD chart. Source: Jelle/X

Jelle echoed a theory recently put forward by commentators, including crypto trader, analyst and entrepreneur Michaël van de Poppe, who reiterated his belief in a return to BTC price discovery next month.

For trader and analyst Josh Rager, however, it was too soon to adopt a clear optimistic stance on BTC price performance.

“People keep calling the ‘first higher-low’ on the $BTC chart. But people were saying the same thing in June,” he argued about daily timeframes.

“Then Bitcoin rejected the midline of the trend and formed a new low.”
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BTC/USD 1-day chart. Source: Josh Rager/X

An accompanying chart showed a downward-sloping channel in place since March’s latest all-time high, with a regular succession of lower highs and lower lows.

“Not saying a new low comes here but calling this the bottom is a bit too early. Price rejected again,” he concluded.


Crypto sentiment takes a fresh hammering

Meandering price action on Bitcoin meanwhile contributed to a fresh dip in the overall crypto market mood.

Related: Can Bitcoin price overcome the $60K 'double breakout' zone?

The latest data from the Crypto Fear & Greed Index recorded a value of 33/100 on Sept. 17 — a dip of 17 points in just two days.

Sentiment thus dropped from “neutral” to “fear” after a BTC price drop of little more than 4%.

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Crypto Fear & Greed Index (screenshot). Source: Alternative.me

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.