[The article has been updated to include GDAX's notice to account holders]

BTC/USD broke below 90-EMA and dropped to 944.36 levels on March 18. It is currently trading at 1016 levels at the time of writing (Bitstamp).

Ichimoku analysis of daily chart:

Tenkan Sen: 1102.18      

Kijun Sen: 1147.18

Overall trend appears bearish for the pair: RSI(14) is at 38, bias lower; and the MACD line is below the signal line. The stochs are now in the oversold zone.

The pair is currently holding above 100-DMA. On the topside, resistance is seen at 1027.16 (90-EMA) and a break above would target 1040 (23.6% retracement of 1350 and 944.36)/1097 (5-DMA).

The pair has taken support near Cloud bottom on March 18 and struggling for a close above 90-EMA. It is likely to find support at 982.50 (61.8% retracement of 751.34 and 1350) and a break below would drag it to 944.36 (March 18 low)/913.73 (February 09 low)/900.

The recent plunge in bitcoin price came as nearly 20 bitcoin exchanges issued a statement which revealed that they are planning to list Bitcoin Unlimited as an alternative cryptocurrency. The exchanges said:

“As exchanges, we have a responsibility to maintain orderly markets that trade continuously 24/7/365. It is incumbent upon us to support a coherent, orderly, and industry-wide approach to preparing for and responding to a contentious hardfork. In the case of a Bitcoin hardfork, we cannot suspend operations and wait for a winner to emerge. Many of our platforms allow leveraged trading that requires markets to operate continuously. Due to operational requirements alone we are compelled to label an incompatible fork as a new asset.”

Soon after, an open letter was issued to bitcoin exchanges, urging them to remain neutral on the issue. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong also responded to industry letter saying:

“Coinbase didn't sign the industry letter because I think the intention behind it is wrong. On the surface it is a communication about how exchanges would handle the hard fork, and a request to BU for replay attack protection. But my concern was that it was actually a thinly veiled attempt to keep the BTC moniker pegged to core software. I think a number of people who put their name on it didn't realize this.”

“My goal is to have Coinbase be neutral in this debate. I think SegWit, BU, or other solutions could all be made to work in bitcoin. We're here to provide whatever our customers want as best we can across all digital currencies, and work with the wider community to make forward progress.”

GDAX head Adam White recently issued a notice on how a possible hard fork of the Bitcoin protocol into Bitcoin Core and Bitcoin Unlimited will affect customers' GDAX account. White wrote:

"We may provide support for Bitcoin Unlimited in the future depending on market conditions and stability of the protocol, but we cannot guarantee whether or when such support may be available. Customers who wish to access both blockchains at the time of the hard fork should withdraw their BTC from GDAX since we cannot guarantee what will happen during the hard fork or when this access may be available.

"Customers should take note that they will not be able to withdraw bitcoin from or deposit bitcoin to GDAX for a period of up to 24 hours or more following a fork."