Bitcoin, ether, major altcoins. Weekly market update Jan. 9, 2023

The crypto market added $46 billion to its market cap during the last seven days and now stands at $853 billion. The top 10 coins were all in green for the same period. Cardano (ADA) and binance coin (BNB) are the biggest gainers, with 30.3% and 14.5%, respectively. Bitcoin (BTC) currently trades at $17,252, while ether (ETH) is at 1,322.

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, Jan. 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, January 2. Bulls pushed the price 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.

Thursday, Jan. 5, saw a small price pullback in a potential short-term consolidation after the 4-day long rally. The coin stayed close to the exponential average line.

The last workday of the week was marked by high volatility. Bitcoin traded in the $16,600-$17,000 range and eventually managed to close above the range mid-point.

The weekend of Jan. 7-8 started slowly with a flat session on Saturday, followed by an uptrend continuation on Sunday – a 1% increase to $17,135.

Overall, the seven-day period ended with a 3.2% growth for the biggest cryptocurrency.

We are seeing another solid green candle early on Monday as bulls are already aiming for the range high at $17,600.

ETH/USD

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

On Monday, Jan. 2, the 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, 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.

On Thursday, the leading altcoin corrected its price after the horizontal level rejection during the previous session.

The trading day on Friday was once again good for buyers. Ether managed to close next to the $1,272 line with a 1.5% increase in its price.

The first day of the weekend came with a drop to $1,263, but the pullback was short-lived. It moved 2% more on Sunday to close the week at $1,290.

What we are currently seeing, early on Monday, is a break above the $1,300 mark. ETH is going parabolic above the range high.

Still, the price is yet to hit the Bear Pennant formation upper boundary, which is currently situated somewhere near $1,330.

Leading Majors

• Solana (SOL)

Solana quickly fell out of the Top 10 list in the aftermath of the FTX collapse back in November. However, the relatively loyal and determined community combined with the unexpected support from Vitalik Buterin made the coin interesting to traders once again. The Ethereum co-founder expressed his desire to see the Solana community thrive in the future.

Last week the SOL/USDT pair rallied 46% to become one of the best-performing cryptocurrencies among the first 100 by market cap, second only to Lido. The move became the biggest one-week jump for SOL since August 2021.

The popular Layer 1 solution engulfed the last three red candles on the 1-week chart and is currently trying to consolidate above the formed short-term resistance around the $14 mark.

On the lower timeframes, it is already trading above the 21-day EMA.

Potential support is around $12.

Altcoin of the week

Our Altcoin of the week is The Sandbox (SAND). The popular metaverse project started moving in the upward direction last week and quickly became one of the best-performing digital assets for the period.

The coin added 26% to its valuation while its virtual world competitors Decentraland, Axie Infinity, and GALA also rallied, posting double-digit gains thanks to the renewed interest in the projects.

The Sandbox recently announced their Game Maker v0.8 with new additions to the overall in-world experience.

The SAND/USDT pair is still trading in a downtrend on the larger timeframes after losing 95% in the last year but managed to break above the diagonal resistance line on the 1-day chart and the 21-day EMA. Bulls are now looking to beat the next major horizontal obstacle – the $0.55-$0.60 area, which is 17% from the current trading zone.

If the $0.45 level is successfully broken and the price consolidates above it, we can expect it to provide short to mid-term support.

SAND is currently ranked at #51 with a market cap of $732 million.