Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) Market Update October 20, 2022

The total crypto market cap is down by $6 billion for the period since Monday and now stands at $922 billion. The top ten currencies are trading mostly flat, with Solana (SOL) being the worst performer with a 2.7 loss for the last 24 hours. At the time of writing bitcoin (BTC) is trading at $19,150. Ethereum (ETH) is at $1,293.

BTC/USD

Bitcoin closed the trading day on Sunday, October 16 at $19,250 forming a new local horizontal support around the $19,000 mark. Bears haven’t been able to push the price for a candle close on the daily chart below that price level since September 27.

The biggest cryptocurrency closed the previous seven-day period with a 1 percent loss after trading in the wide range between $18,300 and $20,000.

On Monday, the BTC/USDT pair continued to move in the upward direction with a 1.5 percent increase to $19,500, which could be considered as the top of our improvised short-term range.

The Tuesday session was slightly different as bulls were rejected at the upper end of the mentioned range and the price of BTC was forced to re-test $19,000 once again, eventually stopping at $19,330 at the candle close.

The mid-week trading on Wednesday came with a further decrease down to $19,100 as neither buyers nor sellers were able to take control and choose the market direction.

What we are seeing midday on Thursday is an early drop to $18,900. The 24-hour trading volumes are below the average values for the last 14 days while the Relative Strength Index (RSI) continues to crawl higher toward the overbought zone, suggesting an accumulation in the range might be happening.

Looking at the bigger picture, the price of the biggest cryptocurrency is still caught in a narrowing range, in a Descending triangle formation. A clean break below the baseline will most probably result in a double-digit decline in the coming months. A break to the upside might see BTC re-visit the high of the range near $25,000 where the mid-term diagonal resistance also is.

ETH/USD

The Ethereum Project token ETH ended the previous trading week with a 1.5 percent loss and above the long-term diagonal uptrend line.

The price, however, remained locked in the $1,400 – $1,200 range since September 19.

On Monday, October 17, the coin formed its second consecutive green candle on the daily chart and confirmed its presence above the mentioned diagonal.

24-hour trading volumes were getting lower and lower on a daily basis.

The Tuesday session saw the price of ether erasing all gains from the previous day and moving close to the mid-point of the range.

Then, during the third day of the week, it fell further down to $1,280 as $1,270 turned into a short-term stability zone.

As of the time of writing this market update the ETH/USDT pair is trading higher. A confirmed break below the dynamic support, however, combined with a failure in the BTC market structure could drive the price down to the next support at $1,000.