September has started with significant losses for the Bitcoin market after a 9.16% price drop over the past week on data from CoinMarketCap. During this period, the price of the largest cryptocurrency has fallen below $53,000, hitting a low last seen in early August. Interestingly, despite Bitcoin’s low prices, investors are showing an unusual drop in buying interest.
Investors Are Holding Back Bitcoin Accumulation – What Could Be Behind It?
In one X message on Friday, Ali Martinez noted that the Accumulation Trend Score (ATS) for Bitcoin was close to zero. For context, the ATS measures the balance between accumulation and distribution activities in the Bitcoin market. As explained by Martinez, a score approaching 0 suggests that BTC investors are either offloading (distributing) their holdings or actively buying (accumulating) the leading cryptocurrency.
This trend, which represents a decline in buying interest, can be interpreted as unusual amid Bitcoin’s price decline, providing an opportunity for token accumulation at lower prices using dollar-cost averaging strategies. A possible reason for this ATS decline could be that investors believe the BTC market has not yet bottomed out, which will provide an attractive entry point.
Interestingly, Bitmex co-founder Arthur Hayes has predicted that Bitcoin could likely fall below $50,000 this weekend, amid the current downtrend. However, Hayes has not provided a specific level of support for the crypto asset.
What’s next for Bitcoin?
Overall, Bitcon’s bearish start to September is largely unsurprising after the token’s previous performance, which saw it post an average loss of 4.78% over the past 11 years. With a drop of almost 10% in the first week, it is possible that Bitcoin will experience a total loss of double digits by the end of the month, just like in 2014 and 2019.
However, the latest data from Non-farm payroll administration shows an increase in US jobs of 142,000 and a labor force participation rate of 4.2%. Based on these figures, Citi analysts previously predicted that the US Federal Reserve could implement a rate cut of 25 to 50 basis points at its meeting on September 18.
If such a prediction comes true, Bitcoin could see a price surge in the final weeks of September, leading into October, when the crypto market leader is expected to see a double-digit price increase based on historical price data.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin was trading at $53,855, down 4.13% in the past 24 hours. Meanwhile, the asset’s daily trading volume has increased by 58.82% and is valued at $49.3 billion.
