Bitcoin price analysis: BTC/USD recovers from intraday losses, upside limited

Bitcoin, the most popular cryptocurrency, broke above $12,000 handle, then has performed a U-turn and crashed towards $11,000. The wild gyrations of the cryptocurrency are allegedly caused by speculative positioning. There are no clear fundamental reasons that can support the rise and fall of Bitcoin.

At the time of writing, BTC/USD is changing hands at $11,650, mostly unchanged on a day-on-day basis. The coin has recovered from the intraday low of $11,320 and gained 1.2% since the beginning of Wednesday.  

Bitcoin's technical picture

On the intraday level, BTC/USD is capped by SMA50 (Simple Moving Average) on 1-hour chart cat $11,700. Once it is out of the way, the upside is likely to gain traction with the next focus on $11,900 (the upper line of 1-hour Bollinger Band) and $12,000. TH=his psychological barrier may slow down the recovery; however, a sustainable move above this handle will allow for another move towards $11,325 (the highest level of the previous day and the upper line of 4-hour Bollinger Band).

On the downside, the initial support is created by $11,450 (the middle line of 4-hour Bollinger Band). Though a much stronger barrier awaits us on approach to $11,350  (SMA100 1-hour and the lower line of 1-hour Bollinger Band, the intraday low), that's where new buyers are expected to join the game.

BTC/USD, 1-hour chart