It’s a bearish start to the day for Ethereum killer Polkadot (DOT) on Thursday, as it slides down to test the key $15 level. At the time of writing, DOT/USD is trading around $15.

The cryptocurrency has been on the downslide, affected by the somewhat downbeat mood in the overall crypto market. The risk-off mood affecting global financial markets has put pressure on digital assets, as traders worry about the resurgence of COVID-19 infections around the world due to the highly contagious delta variant. This has sent the US dollar higher over recent sessions, turning the DOT/USD pair bearish even as it affects the sentiment among investors towards most of the cryptocurrencies in general as well.

Analysts remain bearish about the prospects of market leader Bitcoin, owing to the reigning uncertainties prevalent in financial markets as well as related to regulations in the crypto sector. Leading investment bank JPMorgan Chase has downgraded its target for BTC, forecasting that it could slide lower towards $23,000, which could signal more downside for Polkadot and other digital currencies in the near-term.

On a positive note, however, losses in DOT could be limited over reports that leading UK-based fintech app Revolut has added Polkadot to its list of offerings. This will enable its over 15 million customers the access to buy, trade and hold DOT tokens once they have updated their apps.

Key Levels to Watch

The moving averages as well as leading technical indicator MACD are suggesting a bearish bias in the 4-hourly chart of DOT/USD at the moment, while the momentum indicator points to a bullish mood. In addition, the price is also holding just under the pivot point at around the $16 mark, indicating selling pressure.

In case the sentiment turns around, we could see buyers take the price past the pivot to test resistance at around $19. A break above this opens the door for $25, but not before more resistance at $24.

On the other hand, further bearish pressure can see Polkadot’s price slide lower to test support at $11. A breakdown of this level can take DOT/USD all the way down to below the $10 level towards the next support at $8.