Bitcoin 

BTC

$20,858

 starts a new week with a decidedly bearish move — but one that fails to shake investor confidence in the bull run.

A mixed weekend saw BTC/USD close above $47,000 only to lose all of its previous gains to challenge $45,000 support hours later.

It’s a delicate situation — not just Bitcoin, but stocks and sentiment are taking a beating as the Evergrande implosion in China unravels. What could affect the cryptocurrency market? 

As analysts expect a “choppy” week for BTC price action, Cointelegraph takes a look at five factors worth considering when charting where Bitcoin might be headed in the short term.

El Salvador “buys the dip”

Bitcoin spot price action is hardly inspiring for traders as the week begins.

A reversal of previous strength on Sunday was compounded overnight, and BTC/USD lost the $46,000 mark.

Amid turmoil in traditional markets, headed by the Evergrande saga in China, this week may well not end up offering profitable trades. For popular trader Pentoshi, now is the time to take stock and wait for the situation to resolve itself.

As Cointelegraph reported, $44,000 represents a support wall that Bitcoin now looks set to retest. A deeper dive could yet yield $41,000 or even $38,000, the latter forming a key Fibonacci retracement level.

Overall, however, the mood remains firmly in favor of upside returning across cryptocurrency markets into Q4. 

Among those “buying the dip,” meanwhile, is the government of El Salvador, which on Monday confirmed that it had purchased another 150 BTC for total holdings of 700 BTC.

“They can never beat you if you buy the dips,” President Nayib Bukele said in a series of characteristically tongue-in-cheek tweets on his country’s Bitcoin policy.

Bitcoin is holding up “like an absolute champ”

It’s a tough environment out there, and all things considered, Bitcoin is performing much better than expected, analysts say.

Whether it’s stocks or safe-haven gold, the picture is decidedly less rosy this week. The S&P 500, for example, is on track to close below its 50-day moving average for the first time since June.

Gold is heading toward its lows from April, while against the Nasdaq 100 Index, veteran trader Peter Brandt noted, the precious metal is almost at lows from 20 years ago.

“Given the dollar rise (it’s near cycle high), weakness in Stocks, plunge in metals, BTC is acting like a absolute champ as it rejects notion of moving into a deep Cycle Low. Relatively v.strong,” trader, entrepreneur and investor Bob Lukas wrote in a recent summary of the situation.

United States dollar strength is indeed clearly noticeable, with the U.S. dollar currency index (DXY) nearing 94 in a classic headwind for Bitcoin.

Should the status quo begin to change, the impetus for BTC to perform much more strongly is therefore clearly in place.