Bitcoin Market Overview: BTC/USD gets ready for a violent breakthrough to  $10,000

Bitcoin (BTC) has been hovering around $9,500 since Monday. The first digital coin has stayed mostly unchanged both on a day-to-day basis and since the beginning of Wednesday as the volatility has subsided after sharp movements earlier this week.

Bitcoin mining difficulty increased by almost 15%

Following another difficulty adjustment, the figure rose by 14.95% to 15.78 trillion hashes (T) and approached the level registered before the halving.

One of the key technical indicators of the Bitcoin network reached its all-time high at 16.55 T on March 10. Following the collapse of the cryptocurrency market on March 12-13, the mining difficulty decreased by a record of 15.95%.

Ahead of the halving, that took place on May 11, Bitcoin price increased, while the difficulty jumped to 16.10 T. However, once the block reward was reduced, the mining difficulty decreased by  6% on May 20 and 9.29% on June 4.

Hashrate resumed growth in May. The industry experts believe that the upside momentum was caused by the launch of new miners and the beginning of the rainy season in Sichuan.

BTC/USD: technical picture

Bitcoin is still moving inside a triangle pattern, but the narrowing range means that the breakthrough is nigh.  Now the upper boundary of the pattern comes at $9,500 and the price has made several attempts to clear it during early Asian hours. 

A strong move above the channel resistance at $9,500 will increase the upside pressure and push BTC/USD towards the psychological $10,000. This barrier may be a hard nut to crack as the price has been making attempts to clear it since the beginning of May. Once it is broken, the upside momentum is likely to gain traction with the next focus on  $10,400 (June 1 peak). It is followed by $10,511, which is the highest level of the year. 

On the downside,  the support is created by a combination of daily SMA50 and the lower border of the above-mentioned triangle at $9,350. 

BTC/USD daily chart