Bitcoin rose to test $67,000 early Friday and was quickly rebuffed, though it remains about 1% higher since midnight UTC with ether rising half as much. The derivatives market, too, is showing signs of positivity.
The CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20) is little changed, up just 0.7% in the period.
While the gains mark a recovery from yesterday's U.S. trading, which saw the cryptocurrency market fall back toward last week's lows, bitcoin is still on track for a fourth straight week of declines. That's the longest falling streak since mid-November.
Meantime, a slowdown in trading and fading volatility are weighing on volumes.
It's likely that traders are looking to the U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) print coming later today for hints on direction. A higher-than-forecast reading could lift bond yields and the dollar, putting additional pressure on risk assets. A lower reading might signal the easier conditions that are more conducive to risk-taking.
Even so, it will take quite a jump to push the bitcoin price to $85,000, a level that Deribiti's chief commercial officer, Jean-David Péquignot, said would signal the largest cryptocurrency's long-term rally is no longer "broken."