Bitcoin and ether market update January 5, 2022

The total crypto market cap is up by $12 billion since Monday and now stands at $819 billion. The top ten currencies are mostly flat for the day with only Dogecoin (DOGE) trading in green with a 1.9% of increase At the time of writing bitcoin (BTC) is trading at $16,830. Ether (ETH) is at $1,254.

BTC/USD

Bitcoin closed the last week of 2023 with a 1.4% loss and moved down to hit the $16,600 mark. On Sunday, January.1 it started moving in the opposite direction thanks to the renewed short-term (for now) interest from buyers whose hopes for a better 2023 started to reflect on the chart.

The new seven-day period started with a second consecutive green candle on the daily chart on Monday. Bulls pushed the price up to hit the 21-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) around $16,800, but it was not enough to surpass it.

The same happened on Tuesday, but the trading volumes were already starting to increase, climbing above the 14-day average. Still, the dynamic resistance line was hard to break.

The mid-week session on Wednesday came with a solid 1.2% push to hit $17,000 during intraday. The price of BTC ended the day at $16,850 – above the already-mentioned indicator but still below the $17,000 mark, which is currently acting as a mid-level of the wider $16,000-$17,600 range.

What we are seeing early on Thursday is a price pullback that might be considered a short-term consolidation after the 4-day long rally.

Overall, bitcoin is in a downtrend and within a tight range below $18,000, but still hovering above the long-term diagonal support on the 1-week chart with bullish divergence visible on the RSI indicator.

ETH/USD

The ethereum project token ETH ended 2023 with a small 1.5 % loss during the last week of trading. The coin remained close to the important $1,200 level on Sunday – the midpoint between the $1,270-$1,300 resistance and the $1,140 support on the mid-term timeframe.

On Monday, January.2, ether moved 1.2 % up to $1,215 and stopped there at the daily candle close but not before touching $1,225 above the short-term EMA during intraday.

The Tuesday session was less volatile as bulls were consolidating below the dynamic resistance, probably for the next leg up. The 24-hour trading volumes were higher than the average for the last 14 days already, while the RSI was already in its mid-zone.

The third day of the workweek came with а solid 3.4% increase and a big green candle to $1,260. ETH even hit the above-mentioned range high but could not break it.

As of the time of writing this market update early on Thursday, the leading altcoin is trading slightly lower.

On the bigger, weekly timeframe, it is still in a Bear Pennant formation with a breakdown point at $1,180. A move in the upward direction that can see the price surpassing $1,300 will most probably invalidate it.