Bitcoin and Ether Market Update August 18, 2022

The total crypto market cap decreased by $26 billion for the period since Monday and now stands at $1,121 billion. The top ten coins are all trading in red for the last 24 hours with Dogecoin (DOGE) and Solana (SOL) losing 4.5 and 4.3 percent respectively. At the time of writing bitcoin (BTC) is trading at $23,470. Ether (ETH) is at $1,850.

BTC/USD

Bitcoin closed the trading day on Sunday, August 14 at $24,300 after failing to keep its price above the $25,000 mark and for the third day in a row was unable to break above the horizontal resistance formed near $24,500. Still, it closed the week with a 5 percent increase and above the 200-period Moving Average on the weekly timeframe chart.

On Monday, the new week started with a fresh new breakout attempt to the upside from bulls. The BTC/USDT pair climbed all the way up to $25,200 in the first half of the trading day but then was forced to go all the way down to $24,100 to close with a loss in one of the most volatile sessions recently.

The biggest cryptocurrency registered its third consecutive candle in red on Tuesday, August 16. It hit $23,900 in a potential consolidation before an uptrend continuation.

The mid-week session on Wednesday came with a good push from buyers in the morning that helped them re-test the mentioned resistance at $24,500. The failed attempt to break it resulted in a 2 percent drop to $23,300, right to the 21-day EMA.

What we are seeing midday on Thursday is a slight increase to $23,500, but the buying volumes remain significantly lower compared to the selling.

ETH/USD

The Ethereum Project token ETH hit a three-month high at $2,030 on Sunday, August 14 but after a solid 15 percent rally earlier in the week it was time for a healthy pullback. It corrected the price down to $1,934.

The ETH/USDT pair continued to fall on Monday. It reached $1,890 in a highly volatile session during which it was trading in the $1,870 – $2,011 range. Last week Ethereum’s merge successfully went live on its last testnet – Goerli, but the price rally looked a bit exhausted already. The trading volumes continue to fall, in divergence with the raising price in the last few weeks.

The Tuesday session was no different and bears continued to be in control of the market. The most popular altcoin closed at $1,877.

The third day of the workweek came with a quick reversal to the upside in the morning. The ether climbed all the way up to $1,952 to add 5 percent to its valuation, but the selling pressure increased significantly in the evening session in Europe and the coin eventually closed in red, at $1,830.

As of the time of writing, ETH is at $1,850, currently in green after 4 consecutive sessions in red. Still trading above the potential support right below $1,800 and the 21-day EMA.