Bitcoin Price Falls Below $290 after Hitting 2-Week High

Bitcoin (BTC/USD) has come off its peak of $294, its highest level in nearly two weeks.

Late last week, bitcoin jumped by 4.4% and continued to advance throughout the weekend. However, a sudden drop of over 2% is now threatening to breach the floor of $287 held for the past 48 hours.

The jump and subsequent stability suggested a possible return to above $300, a psychologically golden level that has proven elusive to achieve in 2015. Bitcoin has broken above the mark on three occasions this year, but failed to hang on for longer than 24 hours each time. Bitcoin has yet to trade in positive territory in 2015.

Bitcoin retraced as much as 50% of its gains made since June 1, but held its ground well in the mid-$270s last week. This week will be key in determining whether bitcoin has found a way to advance organically, without having to rely on the trauma generated by economic crises such as those from Greece.

Litecoin (LTC/USD) has followed a similar profile to bitcoin since shedding 58% from its peak two weeks ago, holding its ground between $3.50 and $4.00 for about a week and then advancing to as high as $4.90 over the weekend. It is now trading at $4.54 on BTC-e.

Despite its recent struggles, litecoin has managed to stay above its 50-day moving average (MA) continuously since mid-May, barely staying above the mark even during the climax of its fall two weeks ago.

The LTC/BTC rate is near 0.016, remaining relatively flat as bitcoin and litecoin's price movements have mostly kept in sync.