Bitcoin lurks by $22K as US dollar falls from peak, Ethereum gains 20%

Bitcoin (BTC) hugged $22,000 on July 19 as macro conditions slowly turned to favor risk assets. 

BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView

Stocks, crypto rise as dollar weakens

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD cooling volatility immediately below the crucial 200-week moving average (WMA).

The Wall Street open saw further gains for United States equities in the face of a declining U.S. dollar, which extended its retracement after hitting its latest two-decade peak.

The U.S. dollar index (DXY) stood at around 106.5 at the time of writing, down 2.6% from the high seen July 14.

For Bitcoin analysts, it was thus a case of wait and see as markets bided their time between buy and sell levels.

“Shared this chart before, but just like that the $DXY is tanking, resulting into risk-on assets showing some momentum,” Cointelegraph contributor Michaël van de Poppe tweeted in an update on the day alongside a DXY chart.

“Yields need to drop now too, but the weakness on the Dollar could put more strength on crypto and Bitcoin.”

U.S. dollar index (DXY) 1-hour candle chart. Source: TradingView

On-chain monitoring resource Material Indicators, meanwhile, flagged the difference in strength between “psychological” levels such as $21,000 and $22,000 and the 200 WMA closer to $23,000.

“IMO, resistance at $21k and $22k are psychological, whereas the 200 WMA serves as legit technical resistance. FireCharts shows more BTC bid liquidity coming in to support an R/S flip at $21k,” it told Twitter followers on the day publishing data from the Binance order book.

“Looking for more bid liquidity to challenge the ever important 200 WMA.”

BTC/USD order book data (Binance). Source: Material Indicators/ Twitter

The day belongs to Ethereum

Deja vu for altcoin traders, meanwhile, came in the form of outperformance from Ether (ETH) versus other major cryptocurrencies’ intraday gains.

Related: 100X Bitcoin energy use would mean ‘absurd’ $20M BTC price — developer

ETH/USD, already up 25% in a week, added to its momentum overnight, climbing another 20% in just over 24 hours to briefly pass $1,600.

Resistance in the form of the 2018 high at $1,530 posed little problem for bulls, with the level forming a support focus at the time of writing.

“Ethereum relative to Bitcoin has closed above a key resistance,” popular trading account Game of Traders forecast.

“Buckle up for some big moves.”

ETH/USD 1-day candle chart (Binance). Source: TradingView

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