Markets Update: Cryptocurrency Gains Start Lifting Confidence Among Traders

The cryptocurrency economy has seen some improvement over the last 48 hours as many of the top digital assets are seeing gains between 5-15% this Saturday. The entire ecosystem of all the coins in existence has gained about $5 billion since the small correction on Christmas day. Furthermore, global trade volume has also increased indicating that the bulls may be rested after experiencing some exhaustion last week.

Also Read: Many Self-Proclaimed Bitcoin Inventors and Satoshi Clues Were Debunked in 2018

This Weekend’s Top Cryptocurrency Markets

The weekend is here and a large portion of crypto-assets are doing quite well this Saturday, just a few days before the New Year. At the time of publication, the entire digital asset economy has around $19 billion in global trade volume. BTC, USDT, and ETH are the top three traded cryptocurrencies today but ETH is clearly the forerunner gaining 12% over the last 24 hours. Currently, bitcoin core (BTC) is trading for $3,923 per coin and BTC markets are up 4.2% this Saturday. BTC has an overall market valuation of about $68 billion and has seen 5.7 billion traded in the last 24 hours.

Top 10 digital assets on Saturday.

Ripple (XRP) is trading for $0.37 per coin and prices are up by 5%. The third highest valued market capitalization is held by ethereum (ETH) as spot markets are swapping ETH for $138 per token. ETH markets are up well over 12% for today and about 22% over the last seven days. Lastly eos (EOS) still holds the fifth market cap today with each coin trading for $2.68. EOS has spiked 9.2% this weekend and is up 3.7% over the last seven days.

Bitcoin Cash (BCH) Market Action

Bitcoin cash (BCH) markets are doing well today as the last 24 hours has shown a BCH increase of 7%. Although the increase is still less than last week’s losses and BCH is still down over 11.4% for the week. BCH is trading for $169 per coin and has a market valuation of around $2.9 billion this weekend. Bitcoin cash is the seventh most traded cryptocurrency below litecoin (LTC) and above ethereum classic (ETC).

BCH/USD daily. Dec. 29, 2018.

The top five exchanges trading the most BCH on Dec. 29 includes Lbank, Binance, Huobi, Coinbase, and Hitbtc. The largest currency pair trading against BCH is tether (USDT) which is capturing 44.5% of all trades. This is followed by BTC (20%), ETH (15.8%), USD (9.2%), and JPY (4.5%). The EUR has increased to 2.7% alongside the KRW’s 2.6% which typically is a good sign of markets becoming more bullish.

BCH/USD Technical Indicators

Looking at the 4-hour BCH/USD chart on Bitstamp shows other positive signs of a possible trend change. The biggest indicator would be the long term 200 Simple Moving Average (SMA) dipping below the short term 100 SMA. Both trendlines have just crossed hairs at the time of writing and this would indicate that the path toward the least resistance will change to the upside. However, the 4-hour BCH/USD Relative Strength Index (RSI) is meandering in the middle at around -51.51 showing some temporary uncertainty.

BCH/USD daily. Dec. 29, 2018. Bitstamp.

Stochastic and MACd show similar findings confirming there is plenty of room for any type of movement in any direction in the short term. Order books show a different story than the possible trend shift the SMAs are presenting at the moment. Bulls are feeling resistance as we speak and will be feeling it until they surpass $190 per coin. After that, there may be smoother seas for bulls attempting to head northbound. On the backside, bears will find strong foundations between $165 through $145 until sell orders on the books start looking lighter.

BCH/USD 4-hour. Dec. 29, 2018. Bitstamp.

Crypto-Markets Remain Steady as Traditional Markets ‘Hop Around Like Jumping Beans’

Overall traders seem a bit more optimistic about cryptocurrency markets changing trends, but some are definitely still leery of bigger price drops ahead. Although many are starting to believe that even though there’s still a possibility of dropping lower, they think crypto-markets are very close to the so-called “bottom” at this vantage point. Some investors are seeing an opportunity to begin cost averaging their long-term positions but some sharks are still waiting for for some final blood.

Traditional markets have been very volatile over the last two weeks.

Traditional markets like stocks and equities were also down last week but after one day of trading the Dow Jones spiked on Wall Street by 1,086 points on Wednesday. Mati Greenspan, senior market analyst at Etoro this week detailed that cryptocurrency spot markets didn’t move much while the stocks and traditional investments have been extremely volatile.    

“One trading day after US indices officially entered a bear market, the Dow rose 1,086 points — its largest single day gain of all time,” explained Greenspan. “In a strange instance of role reversal, the crypto markets remain calm and collected while the rest of the markets hop around like Mexican jumping beans.”

The Friday afternoon spike and prices this Saturday show cryptocurrency bulls are still attempting to press markets forward but also face another holiday in the next few days. Trade volume may be lighter during New Years day but we did see some strong volatility on Christmas. For now the bears have been stopped and continued upwards pressure could still yield another small rally.

Where do you see the price of BCH, BTC and other coins heading from here? Let us know in the comments below.

Disclaimer: Price articles and markets updates are intended for informational purposes only and should not to be considered as trading advice. Neither Bitcoin.com nor the author is responsible for any losses or gains, as the ultimate decision to conduct a trade is made by the reader. Always remember that only those in possession of the private keys are in control of the “money.”

Images via Shutterstock, Trading View, Bitstamp, and Satoshi Pulse.

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