Bitcoin, Ether, Major Altcoins – Weekly Market Update July 18, 2022
The cryptocurrency market added $100 billion to its market cap during the last seven days and now stands at $1,015 billion. The top 10 coins were all in green for the same time period with ether (ETH) and Solana (SOL) being the biggest gainers with 26.4 and 14.6 percent of gains respectively. Bitcoin (BTC) is currently trading at $22,243 while ether (ETH) is at 1,478.
BTC/USD
Bitcoin closed the trading day on Sunday, July 10 at $20,837 after failing to extend the uptrend above the 21-day EMA on the daily timeframe chart. The high selling volumes combined with the lack of bullish momentum, mainly when it comes to fundamentals resulted in a reversal to the downside.
The BTC/USDT pair started the new seven-day period by continuing the downtrend on July 11. It fell down to $19,972 and erased another 4.3 percent of its market cap. The high inflation fears and the risk of recession in the United States drove the price of the US dollar up which in turn accelerated the outflow of money from risk assets like stocks and cryptocurrencies. BTC was on its way to re-test the sub-$20,000 support area.
On Tuesday, the biggest cryptocurrency dropped down to $19,300 for the second time in July driven by the increasing sell pressure. Bulls will be hoping for a triple bottom bullish reversal at the horizontal support.
The mid-week session on Wednesday was marked by high volatility. Bitcoin was trading in the wide range between $18,900 and $20,100 before closing in green at $20,200, 4.8 percent up for the day. The consumer-price index in the world’s leading economy rose 9.1 percent (expectations were for 8.8 percent) in June from a year earlier which caused havoc across all asset classes in the early hours of trading.
On Thursday, July 14 the coin drew another green candle on the daily chart and end the session at $20,630, but not before hitting $20,900 in the morning.
The Friday session was no different and BTC successfully built the Three White soldiers’ formation that usually suggests a bullish reversal. This, combined with the mentioned triple bottom have high hope for buyers.
The weekend of July 16-17 started with a break above the 21-day EMA on Saturday. The BTC/USDT pair continued to surge, driven by the exhaustion of the USD Dollar Index uptrend and the falling commodity prices.
On Sunday, the biggest cryptocurrency corrected its price down to $20,800 but still ended the seven-day period flat.
What we are seeing midday on Monday is a serious 6.8 percent push from bulls, to move above the $21,500 short-term resistance.
ETH/USD
The Ethereum Project token ETH was trading in a range for the last few weeks. The leading altcoin was moving up and down the $1,030 – $1,260 range since June 13 when it first broke into this area.
It last suffered a heavy rejection near the $1,300 area which forced it to close below the 21-day EMA and re-visit the range low right above $1,000.
On Monday, July 11, the ether lost another 6.2 percent and moved down to $1,097 heading towards yet another support re-test.
The Tuesday session was no different and we saw bears pushing the price down to $1,030, close to the psychological level of $1,000. Just like with BTC, the current macro support is stable, but it surely gets weaker with every re-test. However, a triple bottom reversal pattern is still in the cards.
The third day of the workweek came with an early drop to $1,007, which was later retraced. ETH closed at $1,115 – a 7.5 percent increase.
The uptrend was resumed on Thursday and the coin climbed up to $1,195 or 6.4 percent higher.
On Friday, July 15, the ETH/USDT pair broke above the 21-day EMA and the range high (temporarily) in its third consecutive day in green.
On the first day of the weekend, the price of ETH closed above the mid-term resistance and escaped the range by rallying all the way to $1,360.
Then on Sunday, July 17 buyers lost the initiative and we saw a small correction. The Ethereum token formed its third consecutive week in green.
It is trading at $1,476 or 11 percent higher as of the time of writing this market update on Monday.
Leading Majors
- Solana (SOL)
Solana continues to be one of the best-performing assets on CoinGecko’s Top 10 list. Nevertheless, it continues to be caught in the $32-$42, struggling to break above its upper boundary on the daily timeframe chart. We can clearly witness the formation of an ascending triangle. The horizontal resistance is also the most actively traded area on the chart as per the Volume Profile (VPVR) indicator. If successfully broken, the next potential resistance will be around $60.
Support at the lower line of the range – $32.
SOL is currently ranked at #9 on CoinGecko with a total market cap of $14.5 billion. Solana is the 5th biggest chain in terms of Total Value Locked (TVL) with a 9 percent increase in this indicator on a monthly basis.
Altcoin of the week
Our Altcoin of the week is LIDO (LDO). The liquid staking solution for ETH 2.0 was one of the worst hit by the recent market crash and the deep correction that followed. It lost 88 percent of its market cap before bottoming at the $0.45 mark. However, it has been in a constant uptrend since July, 1, climbing to $1.613 as of the time of writing which corresponded to a 270 percent increase. Not even the intermittent loss of peg of the stETH/ETH pair could affect its performance in the mid-term.
The recent rally in the price of LDO is most definitely caused by the upside reversal of ETH and the upcoming Proof of Stake (PoS) merge that will probably happen in mid-September.
The LDO/USDT pair is currently trading above the only major resistance line in the area – $1.5-$1.55 and bulls will be hoping it can be turned into the support that will fuel an uptrend continuation into a price discovery zone.
Support around the psychological level of $1.
The LIDO DAO token is currently ranked at #64 with a total market cap of approximately $795 million.
