Crypto market analysis: Bitcoin surges as altcoins stutter

The cryptocurrency market has continued its remarkable performance of late with Bitcoin trading above $19,000 this morning.

It is the first time Bitcoin has broken above $19,000 since December 2017 as it approaches its all-time high of $20,000.

However, the rally in the price of Bitcoin has negatively impacted altcoins like Ethereum and XRP, with the former suffering a 3.72% drop while Ripple’s controversial token lost 25.54% of its value overnight.

Bitcoin on the brink of a new all-time high?

Bitcoin is arguably in a more bullish posture than when it was in 2017 following a monthly candle that has seen it rise by 38.73%.

A new all-time high is now very much on the cards, although this time around it’s unlikely that Bitcoin will be perturbed by the psychological level of resistance at $20,000.

After receiving a plethora of institutional investment over the past two months, Bitcoin is now experiencing a wave of retail interest as detailed by Google search trends.

BTCUSD chart by TradingView

The amount of Google searches for “Bitcoin” has trebled since August, demonstrating a shift in sentiment among regular investors that may have been perturbed by its performance since 2017.

From a technical perspective, it wouldn’t be out of the realms of possibility to see suffer a correction before it meets it match with a new all-time high, with downside targets remaining at $16,600, $13,850 and $12,500.

Ethereum

Ethereum has been one of the top performing crypto assets since the DeFi boom over the summer, rising to beyond $600 ahead of the ETH 2.0 launch on December 1.

While it is expected to sell-off in the event of a new Bitcoin all-time high, it remains overwhelmingly bullish on both short and long time frames.

ETHUSD chart by TradingView

Astonishingly, Ethereum has rallied by 478% since March’s sell-off as traders anticipate a bullish end to what has been a turbulent geo-political world.

As Ethereum begins to surge towards the dizzying heights of the previous bull market, upside price targets are fairly easy to spot at both $741 and $834.

Breaking above $834 would see ETH enter a period of price discovery with targets above $1,000 becoming more than likely.

XRP

Ripple’s XRP token has defied critics over the past month, breaking out of its shackles with a magnificent rally to $0.79.

This level was also the high in September, 2018, when XRP attempted to buck the trend of the ongoing bear market.

It did suffer an immediate sell-off from this level as traders switched their attention for Bitcoin, however its ability to remain above the $0.58 level of support is telling as it indicates a new bullish phase in the market.

XRPUSD chart by TradingView

Although XRP carries a more negative reputation among cryptocurrency aficionados, the fact remains that it commands a market capitalisation of more than $28 billion.

If XRP can take out $0.79 in the short term it will begin to look towards the $0.94 level of resistance that provided a point of rejection at the start of the 2018 bear market.

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