Bitcoin Holds at $118K—But Analysts Warn of Deeper Dips & Altcoin Season Shakeup

Bitcoin's price floor looks shaky as traders brace for potential turbulence. The king of crypto clings to $118K, but whispers of a sharper correction are getting louder.

Meanwhile, altcoins are staging a coup. Ethereum, Solana, and other major players are seeing unusual volume spikes—are we witnessing the great rotation?

Wall Street 'experts' remain divided (as usual). Some call it healthy consolidation; others see a bull trap. One thing's certain: the market's allergic to boredom.

Pro tip: When VCs start tweeting 'HODL' memes, check your stop-losses.

For van de Poppe, the message is not about deep retracement but time. A sideways range WOULD give the market breathing room, clear out overextended positions, and set the stage for the next move up. It would also open the door to rotation into altcoins, which often outperform when bitcoin stops trending.

That rotation, he suggests, could already be brewing. Once bitcoin stabilizes, traders typically seek higher returns in large altcoins like ether before spreading to smaller tokens. Altcoin rallies rarely start while bitcoin is in freefall, but they often gain momentum when BTC ranges and volatility cools.

In plain terms, the two analysts are describing different but compatible playbooks. Davis favors a deeper pullback into a support cluster that could refresh the uptrend, while van de Poppe sees a range-bound pause with potential for altcoins to shine.

For everyday readers, the checklist is simple: watch whether bitcoin trades sideways or dips to the $108K–$112K zone. In either case, analysts agree the broader bull market framework remains intact, but the path forward could look very different depending on how support and resistance play out in the weeks ahead.

• According to CoinDesk Research's technical analysis data model, Bitcoin showed bullish strength in the 24-hour window from Aug. 16, 15:00 UTC to Aug. 17, 14:00 UTC, rising from $117,847.02 to $118,485.32, a 1% gain.
• Support formed near $117,261.72 early on Aug. 17, followed by a break above $118,000 with higher-than-average volume of 2,848.15 BTC during rallies at 04:00, 08:00, 09:00, and 13:00 UTC.
• In the final hour from Aug. 17, 13:17–14:16 UTC, bitcoin climbed from $118,165.31 to $118,397.67, including a sharp move at 13:51–13:52 UTC when price spiked from $118,417.23 to $118,604.10 on 679.81 BTC of volume.
• The move set short-term resistance around $118,600 before consolidating near $118,400, leaving potential for further upside after cooling.

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