Bitcoin remains under pressure amid uncertainty over Chinese ban

Bitcoin struggled to stage a recovery on Monday as the uncertainty over China’s plan to ban trading of virtual currencies on domestic exchanges continues to keep investors away from digital currencies. After dropping below the $4000 mark on Sunday, the BTC/USD pair corrected to $4373 before losing its momentum. As of writing, the pair was trading at $4180, losing 1.25% on the day. 

"Spokeswomen for the OkCoin and Huobi platforms told Reuters they had no information to share following a report by Chinese financial publication Caixin that sent the price of bitcoin down 6.6 percent on Friday," Reuters said in an article on Monday. Moreover, CoinDesk reported that Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal published reports on Monday, suggesting that the ban would be limited to exchange-based trading and would not affect over-the-counter transactions.

In case Chinese officials confirm the reports by WSJ and Bloomberg and eliminate the uncertainty,  the pair could gain traction and start pushing higher again.

The first technical resistance for the pair could be seen at $4430 (20-DMA) ahead of $4690 (Sep. 8 high) and $4970 (all-time high). On the downside, supports align at $4000 (psychological level), $3900 (Sep. 5 low) and $3600 (Aug. 22 low).