Bitcoin Cash price range-bound ahead of hard fork

Bitcoin Cash has struggled to break above $280 and could dip below $250 if the bulls fail to reclaim support at the 20-EMA on the daily chart

While Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) are looking to break above crucial barriers, BCH price could struggle to keep a major support area intact.

At the time of writing, the BCH price against the US dollar is down just under one per cent at $254 and remains range-bound going into a hard fork expected on the 15th of November.

The technical picture for the digital asset suggests that the bulls will need to bounce off the current price level to remain in control. Otherwise, an influx of sell-off pressure short term could see BCH/USD tip lower.

BCH/USD

BCH price at the time of writing is battling to bounce back above the 20-day EMA level at $257. With prices below this level, bulls are showing no conviction to push higher as suggested by the slightly sloping RSI on the daily chart.

If the bearish divergence holds, further declines off the 20-day EMA will see sellers establish strength at the 50-day EMA at $252. Early trades during the Asian trading session today morning have already seen bears touch the area, which implies a revisit of the 50-day simple moving average line at $246 could happen.

Should this scenario unfold, the next support level would be around the 4th of November lows of $231.

However, a rebound to the aforementioned EMA level at $257 and a decent rally to the highs of $280 would help invalidate the bearish outlook. Flipping past the short term range boundaries at $282 could see the upside take BCH/USD to towards September highs around $300.

Bullish momentum amid a broader bull run in the altcoin market could see the bulls seek to test resistance at the 2020 peak near $330.

However, the upcoming 15th of November hard fork that is expected to see Bitcoin Cash Node emerge as the dominant implementation on the network could play a role in the short term price action. Ahead of the hard fork, on-chain data shows a spike in BCH exchange inflows.

According to Chainalysis, BCH hodlers have increasingly moved their assets onto exchanges as observed over the past month. As per the blockchain analytics platform, over $300 million worth of BCH was moved onto exchanges over the past two weeks. More than 165,800 BCH have been added to exchanges in the past 24 hours—a figure above the network’s 180-day average.