Price Analysis 1/17: BTC, ETH, BNB, ADA, SOL, XRP, LUNA.

With many cryptocurrencies seeing little more hikes and minimal retracements, the crypto market no doubt saw a lot of improvements from last two week’s performance. The market closed the period at $1.96 trillion but is estimated at $2.08 trillion as of the time of writing. 

Although the increase in the worth of the crypto industry is good news, nonetheless some traders argue that it is not as much as anticipated. The chart below suggests that most cryptocurrencies have surged by more than 5% over the last seven days with Near Protocol enjoying a more than 45% increase.

Source: Coin360

Crypto Street was seen buzzing with a lot of positives as it was hit by several bullish stories. One such piece of news is that Popular German online bank N26 is changing its strategy from solely global expansion to offering crypto services. The company’s co-founder and CEO, Maximilian Tayenthal, made this known during an interview with the Financial Times (FT), saying that N26 regretted its initial expansion strategy that made it miss out on the surging crypto space.

More support for Bitcoin as Block’s General Manager, Thomas Templeton revealed that the fintech firm is now officially carrying out its plan to build a Bitcoin (BTC) mining system via a tweet on Thursday and Nexo’s co-founder maintains is prediction of BTC hitting $100k despite the asset price retracement. 

Unfortunately these news were not able to cause a change in market sentiment as the crypto fear and greed index was seen as mostly stable at 21 but peaked at 23. Seeing a slight increase in the value of the crypto market, let’s examine how some projects in the top 10 performed.  

BTC/USD

Bitcoin continued its consolidation into the previous week as it was seen maintaining prices above $39,000. The coin failed to record significant gains as it closed the past seven days below $44k against the anticipations of many.

Looking at the chart above, it is impossible not to see a couple of dojis from the last seven. BTC started the week with one as it enjoyed a lot of volatility that saw the apex coin dip to its lowest since August. The cryptocurrency retraced to $39,558 but surged to $41,853 (the opening price) and closed the intraday activity around that level.

Tuesday saw more trading volume than the previous trading session. The intraday activities began with the top coin trading at $41,842 and hiked as high as $43,144. The coin saw a low of $41,284 during the time under consideration and closed the intraday session 2.18% higher than it opened.

BTC saw the biggest uptrend on the third day of the week as it gained almost 3% and surged to the intraweek high of $44,337 but the top coin lost the accumulated on thursday as things went downside.

The previous pattern of massive hikes in the weekend seems to be out of play. This is especially evident, as BTC has seen very little price action for almost 72 hours. The minute trading volume has resulted in more stability in price and bitcoin trading close to the first pivot support.

The long awaited death cross is here as we the 50-day moving average intercepted the 200-day on Friday. In the aftermath of this discovery, trading volume is on the decrease as illustrated by the Relative Strength Index (RSI). We may see BTC become oversold in the coming days.

ETH/USD

Ether closed the past seven days in profit for the first time since the start of January. The coin saw a lot of price movements but not as much as the ones experienced two weeks ago. Nonetheless, the cryptocurrency saw a lot of hikes.

The second largest cryptocurrency is up 6.30% as it is on a recovery path like BTC and the rest of the market. Following the more than 17% depreciation fourteen days ago, the largest shook off the bearish sentiment over the last seven days.

Opening the week below $3,200, Ether retraced as low as $2,926 but recovered and closed at $3,350, hence the percentage gained. The coin failed to surge on Monday but overturned the bad start as the seven-day period progressed.

Ethereum suffered its biggest seller’s congestion on Thursday as it canceled the previous day’s gains. The cryptocurrency ranged throughout the last 48 hours of the period under consideration as it held on to the $3,000 support.

Traders seem to be boycotting the asset as gas fees increase. This is made clearer by the sudden drop in RSI as the indicator is seen heading for the oversold region. We also observe an impending death cross on the ETH/USD chart as shown above.

BNB/USD

Binance coin may be one of the contenders for top gainer in the top 10. Last two weeks, we noted how the exchange token held the $500 support throughout the first two days of the week but crumbled later. We observed that the bulls defended the mark for more than 48 hours but lost the strength to rally the market as support broke. BNB dropped as low as $433 during that time but hit a high of $538.

Unfortunately, the buyers’ effort at holding price at a particular level failed as the asset lost 17%. The last seven days was a complete change to the loss as the second largest alt gained more than 13%.

BNB opened the intraweek activity at $436 and closed at $498. The cryptocurrency surged to a high of $506 but flipped the $400 support on the first day of the week. Previous efforts to break the 200-day MA fourteen days ago failed but yielded results as the closing price suggests.

Additionally, the second largest alt is gaining in on its PP and may retest it as we observe the distance between the current price level and the first pivot support increase. After failing to flip the $504, BNB gained a lot of stability and the pivot support 1 may continue to hold. Like the preceding digital asset we observe an impending death cross.

SOL/USD

The bulls got the spotlight last week following the ordeal Solana went through fourteen days ago. The coin lost 10% at the time, making it the continuation of the downtrend on the weekly chart following a two-week increase. SOL dropped as low as $132 (the lowest since September) after bursting to $176.

The third-largest alt started a little slow but picked up momentum as the week progressed. With the uptrend in top gear, the SOL/USD pair was mostly bullish during the period under consideration. Several sellers’ congestions pushed prices to testing the 200-day moving average but failed as buyers rallied the market at $135.

Unfortunately the slight improvement was not enough to pull the asset out of the bearish dominance. This has resulted in a decrease in the gap of the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) which hints that SOL may experience another bearish divergence. Amidst the dominance, the $130 support still holds and may be tough to break.

ADA/USD

Having lost both the 50 and 200-day Moving average some days ago, traders are delighted to see Cardano flip the the latter. The past week saw intense bullish action that ensured the project reclaimed the highlighted mark as it gained more than 20%.

While BTC and other cryptocurrencies saw few hikes, ADA saw more and was able to hold on to the leads. The coin got it biggest break for the week on Wednesday as it increased by more than 10% at the end of the intraday high.

Kicking off the week at $1.17, the coin had no chance for a surge as it was hit by bearish actions immediately. ADA dipped to a low of $1.07 but saw the buyers intervene as they rallied the market to close at $1.12.The following days after this incident saw the asset pick up momentum and surge to a high of $1.43. Cardano will look to gain stability above $1.5 and test $1.6.

XRP/USD

The seventh largest coin by market cap has seen a lot of volatility lately. Ripple recorded no significant gains over the past week as the candle representing the current intraweek session is looking more like a doji but green – showing slight uptrend

As with BTC, the above chart suggests that XRP saw little uptrend over the last seven days as it opened trading at $0.75 and closed at $0.77. Since its death cross some days back, the coin seems to be experiencing more price consolidations than dip.

The trend is more evident as we observe more dojis on the daily chart. The slight price hike the XRP/USD pair enjoyed last week was unable to cause a change in the trajectory of the 50-day moving average as the metric maintains its downtrend.

LUNA/USD

Last two weeks, Terra dipped as low as $62 as the digital asset lost almost 30% but recovered and ended the period losing only 16%. That seven-day period was one that many dreaded. However, LUNA saw a change in events over the last seven days.

After opening the intra-week session at $74, the bulls rallied the coin as soon as the initial sellers’ congestion faded. The cryptocurrency surged to a high of $89 and hit a low of $65 but closed the session at $85 – suggesting a 17% increase.

We observed that the $65 support held out throughout the week and may continue to hold until a massive retracement hits the market. Unfortunately, the ninth coin by market cap may see more bearish action as suggested by MACD.