Cryptocurrency market update: Bitcoin and alts climbing upwards

At the time of writing, the positive momentum in the crypto markets is still present. Much like the two previous weekends, the entire market has consolidated nicely, despite a bumpy start to Monday.

Bitcoin has broken past the $6,000, $7,000, and $8,000 levels with ease. Since then, we touched the $9,000 level for a brief moment, before returning to the $8,500 area soon after.

As I mentioned last week, the pump could be linked to the Consensus conference that took place in NY last month, as we’ve seen similar movements prior to this crypto conference in previous years. Also, as we saw during most talks and speeches, loads of crypto enthusiasts clearly see BTC as a store of value.

Bitcoin is an uncorrelated asset that is helping investors dodge economic and geopolitical risks in the form of trade wars, sluggish GDP growth, and what appears to be a new era of quantitative easing for central banks. For that reason, the coin has emerged as the top-performing asset of 2019, vastly outperforming stocks, bonds, commodities, and government-backed currencies.

Let’s take a look at how the top cryptocurrencies performed during the weekend.

Bitcoin

Bitcoin’s rally went parabolic last weekend, and the momentum lasted throughout most of the week before a 12% dive on Thursday. Bitcoin was sitting at around $8,700 on Sunday before a drop down to $8,500 on Monday morning.

The overall momentum seems to be quite positive, although there are some fears price is overbought. Nevertheless, I tend to avoid countering trends, as it’s usually riskier than just going with the flow. If prices are roaring, you probably shouldn’t try to short them.

Don’t forget that I consider Bitcoin to be in a bull run when the 20-day EMA is above the 50-day EMA and the latter is above the 200-day EMA. By looking at the chart above, we’re clearly in a bull run. Not only that, we’ve touched a critical level around $9,000, which could be an indicator the market is looking to continue pushing forward.

Ethereum

Looking at the Ethereum chart above, we can clearly see a couple of interesting features. Firstly, the 20-day EMA has crossed the 50-day EMA, which is a very bullish signal. Price is now also trading well above the 200-day EMA. Moreover, there could now be new support forming around $195, just above the 200-day EMA. The newly achieved yearly highs for Ethereum have been brought about thanks to the massive boost in Bitcoin last month. Nonetheless, the 50-day EMA hasn’t crossed the 200-day EMA yet, meaning there is still room for short-term gains.

For the time being, I expect ETH to maintain its positive momentum, as I don’t see a reason for the trend to break. Even with lower volumes, price has been consolidating above $250. If Ether maintains its movement upwards, the next target level is around $260, while resistance-wise, it seems we’re getting closer to the $280 and $300 levels.

Bitcoin Cash

Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is currently sitting above $430 – almost 10% higher than last week – following my prediction that BCH would break the $400 level.

Bitcoin is still gaining market-share dominance over most coins, including BCH, and BCH price is currently trading at its lowest against BTC since late 2018. However, this doesn’t mean investors won’t take this opportunity to convert BTC into BCH. Bitcoin Cash has broken the major $350 level around its 20-day EMA, and the 50-day EMA is getting close to the 200-day EMA. Moreover, the trend seems to be quite bullish, even though volumes have shrunk during last week and the weekend.

What I expect to happen is altcoins such as BCH, ETH, XRP, and LTC will rise both against BTC (even though prices may drop) and USD.

If order books stay on the side of buyers, which will become increasingly difficult the more price goes up, we could see BCH climbing again to $500 and above in just a few days.

Ripple

Ripple (XRP) has had a pretty bullish period as of late. Just look at the chart above. In the space of just a few days, price skyrocketed from about $0.294 to $0.47 – representing a 40% rise. It did crash back to close to its 200-day EMA, around $0.37, before recovering back to above $0.43.

Not only that, but XRP managed to cross the 20-day, 50-day, and 200-day EMAs as volumes went berserk. I expect support to be around $0.43 and then again at $0.38.

If the 50-day EMA crosses or touches the 200-day EMA during the week, we should expect XRP to moon past $0.5. Still, volumes are thinner, and that could mean consolidation for a while.

Litecoin

Although Litecoin has been underperforming compared to other altcoins during the past two weeks, we shouldn’t forget LTC has been on a bull run since February – and it hasn’t stopped yet.

From last week, LTC has gained close to 11%, which is a quite amazing achievement from a coin that was trading around $30 in January 2019 and peaked at $100 in April. Fundamentals remain strong as LTC’s adoption keeps rising due to small fees and faster block times.

At the moment, price is trading well above $110, and I expect it to continue to rise towards the $120 level.

On the downside, we could see price moving towards the $104 and $99 levels.

Conclusion

Last week I wrote my expectation was for price to correct. It didn’t.

A smart move is to make small entries both when price corrects around target support levels and if price moves upwards towards resistance levels.

Safe trades!