BTC/USD holds support level but slowly trending lower

BTC/USD continues to trend slightly lower, although it continues to hold on to its key long-term support level of $600 by a fair margin.

It is currently trading at $619 on BTC-e, in fact spiking as much as 3% during the past 4h. It is trading at around $625 on Bitstamp and Bitfinex, in line with its typical 0.5-1.5% spread between the exchanges.

Prior to this jump, it had appeared the BTC was stuck in a slight but lengthy state of decline since failing to break a peak of $655 nearly 3 weeks ago. Over the past few months, the trend has been one where long periods of highly flat or steadily declining price action are proceeded by a big move to the downside. Hence the significance of its $600 level. The coming weekend may be a rough one, a sentiment echoed by at least one BTC-e trader.

As BTC earlier approached its support point, it briefly dipped below its 200-day moving average for the first time in 12 days. While it quickly bounced back, the gap between the two is shrinking. Its 200-day moving average has held virtually constant around $605 since July 1.

BTC/USD has been unreactive to what has been a recent stretch of mostly positive news, which includes multiple announcements of venture funding initiatives.