Bitcoin faced a tough local resistance ahead of $6,400 on Monday and since then trades lower within the bearish trend established late last year. The coin is attempting to keep above the $6,000 threshold to avoid a more aggressive selloff in the short term.
Over the weekend, the upside impetus proved too timid to open the way for further gains, which triggered profit taking, fuelled also by dollar strength as trade-war worries have recently partially eased. The additional downside pressure on BTCUSD came from Alibaba's (NYSE:BABA) chairman Jack Ma who advised against investing in bitcoin and called it a bubble, though mentioned that his company is betting on blockchain.
It is still too early to call a bottom as concerns over tighter regulation in Japan still persist and a number of influential sceptics remains high. The technical picture points to downside risks as well. Should the digital currency derail the $6,000 critical support in the foreseeable future, the price will fall to this year's lows at $5,760 and could even challenge this area if the sentiment in the industry doesn't improve in the short term.