Ethereum Runs Out of Steam as Bitcoin Dominance Rises

Bitcoin price topped $6,000 and the majority of altcoin turned red. Is Bitcoin’s increasing dominance stealing Ethereum’s thunder?

ETH-BTC 4-Hr Chart

After topping out at 0.031402 ETH price 00 took a bearish turn and dropped to the lower arm of the falling wedge to set a new low not seen since December 22, 2018.

For those looking to the ETH-BTC pairing as the indicator of Ether’s price action, this is less than pleasant news but the ETH-USD 00 4-hour chart shows that the 61.8% Fib retracement level ($167.50) could provide support. $173.25 is proving to be significant resistance.

ETH-USD 4-Hr Chart

The RSI is flat in neutral territory and the MACD is crossed and also descending into a neutral zone. Volume has screeched to a halt and its possible that traders are watching from the sidelines and BTC fights to hold its recent victory over $6,000 and the majority of altcoins are in the red.

Above $173.50 ETH could stage a run to $180 again and a drop below $167.50 (50% Fib retracement level) could see ETH revisit the recent swing low at $156.

ETH-USD Shorts

ETH-USD longs have seen a slight uptick after dropping to 350k from an April all-time high of 581k. Meanwhile, ETH-USD longs are on the decline after rising slightly over the past two weeks.

As mentioned previously by Bitcoinist, Ethereum’s recent run to $180 could have been propelled mainly by the news of the CFTC considering the approval of ETH futures, the possibility of Microsoft debuting products that utilize Ethereum blockchain, and the upcoming Consensus 2019 conference.

ETH-USD Daily Chart

ETH price is bearish for the short term but has exhibited bullish behavior on every pullback since the end of April. While the 4-hour and daily ETH-USD charts are still relatively bullish.

Traders should still keep an eye on the ETH-BTC pairing to watch for a trend reversal.

At the time of writing, ETH is below the 20-MA on the Bollinger Band indicator but finding support at the 61.8% Fib retracement level. A close glance at the 4-hour chart shows ETH tends to stack gains after overtaking the 20-MA so setting an alarm for $170 would mark ETH’s cross above this MA.

Do you think ETH will recover to overtake $180 this week?

[Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are not intended as investment advice. Market data is provided by Bitfinex. The charts for the analysis are provided by TradingView.]

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Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Trading View. Market data sourced from Coinbase.fkff