Bitcoin, Ether, and XRP Weekly Market Update March 16, 2020
The total crypto market cap lost $76.3 billion for the last seven days and now stands at $150.5 billion. The top 10 currencies were all in red for the same time frame with Binance Coin (BNB) and Bitcoin SV (BSV) being the worst performers with 40.3 and 38.6 percent of losses respectively. By the time of writing Bitcoin (BTC) is trading at $5,238 while Ether (ETH) moved down to $120. Ripple’s XRP fell to $0.149.
BTC/USD
Bitcoin nosedived to $8,027 on Sunday, March 8 in its worst session so far this year. It erased 9.7 percent of its value and was looking for a break of the psychological level at $8,000.
Additionally, we saw both the 100 and 200-day EMAs being broken on the daily chart on March 8. The most popular cryptocurrency lost the mid-term trendline and the $8,200 – $8,400 support zone.
The BTC/USD pair continued to slide on Monday losing the $8k line. It moved down to $7,935 after trading as low as $7,634 during intraday.
On Tuesday, March 10, bitcoin formed its fourth consecutive red candle on the daily chart and dropped down to $7,875. We witnessed a highly volatile session during which the leading cryptocurrency was trading in the $8,159 – $7,739 range.
The mid-week session on Wednesday was no different. BTC bears were in control and managed to push the price down to $7,600 in the early hours of the day. The coin recovered in the evening and entered positive territory to $7,941.
It experienced one of the biggest declines in its history on Thursday, March 12. The stunning 38 percent from the market value vanished and Bitcoin dropped all the way down to $4,834 before stopping at the long-term uptrend line we drew by using the December 2018 low as s a starting point.
On the last day of the workweek, bulls managed to partially erase the losses by pushing the price up to $5,633. The coin, however, hit a year low during intraday by touching $3,960- the lowest point since March 2019.
The weekend of March 14-15 started with another red candle on Saturday. The BTC/USD pair closed at $5,162 as the seller pressure continued to be significant.
On Sunday, it was buyers’ turn to show some activity and a new green candle to $5,337 was formed.
ETH/USD
The Ethereum Project token ETH followed the general crypto market trend on Sunday, March 8 and crashed down to $200. The ETH/USD pair erased 15 percent of its value and closed the seven-day period with a 7.4 percent loss.
Bulls were already looking at the 200-day EMA for support in combination with the horizontal support in the $197-$202 zone. $202 is also in line with the 50 percent Fibonacci retracement level.
The leading altcoin started trading on Monday by ranging in the wide-area between $208 – $189. It closed the session with a small gain to $202.
On Tuesday, March 10, the ether made a step back and corrected its price to $200 in a relatively calm day on the market.
The mid-week session on Wednesday saw the coin moving once again into negative territory. It made a huge drop to $183 in the early hours of the day, also breaking below the long-term EMA. Bulls, however, managed to initiate a partial recovery and the ETH token closed with a small loss to $194.
On Thursday, March 12, the ether followed the general crypto market trend and formed a huge red candle to $109. The coin lost 43 percent of its value and broke all major support levels above $100.
The Friday session was again highly volatile with the ETH/USD pair trading in the wide range between $88 – $150. Still, the coin found some stability in the evening hours and ended with a solid gain to $135.
The first day of the weekend came with another price correction. This time the ETH took a dive to $121.
On Sunday, March 15 it registered a small increase to $123 but not before peaking at $134 during intraday.
XRP/USD
The Ripple company token XRP fell down to $0.203 on Sunday, March 8 losing the stunning 14 percent in a single session.
The coin opened trading on Monday by making a step North to $0.209. The move was followed by another relatively clam session on Tuesday, March 10, during which the XRP/USD pair formed another green candle on the daily chart and extended gains to $0.211.
On Wednesday, it fell down to $0.207, but not before hitting $0.198 during intraday. Still, no major movements were seen on the daily chart as neither bulls nor bears were able to take over control.
This drastically changed on Thursday, March 12. The XRP token experienced a catastrophic drop to $0.14 erasing 32 percent of its value in a single session. The entire cryptocurrency market was bleeding and the Ripple currency was no exception.
The last day of the workweek found the coin touching $0.11 in the early hours of trading as the bear pressure was increasing with every hour. Buyers, however, managed to reverse the direction of trading and XRP closed with a significant gain to $0.16.
On Saturday, March 14 it moved South to $0.144, still, it avoided making a new low.
The weekend ended with a short green candle to $0.153 on Sunday. The “ripple” continued to trade in the $0.145-$0.15 support zone.
Altcoin of the Week
It is really hard to choose a well-performing altcoin given the fact that basically every coin on the Top 100 list saw double-digit losses for the seven-day period.
Still, it was the LEO token (LEO) that was the best performing digital asset for the last week. It managed to survive the Thursday massacre with a small 2.7 percent loss. It is also 1.4 percent down for the two-week period.
The coin is currently ranked at #12 on CoinGecko, with a total market cap of approximately $933 million. It peaked at $1 on Monday, March 9 and reached its lowest point – $0.89 on Sunday, March 15.
As of the time of writing the coin is trading at $0.959 against USD on the Bitfinex platform.
