Market Wrap: Bitcoin Hovers Approximately $ 27K While Couple Becomes ETH / BTC Bullish

Bitcoin traded mostly in a tight, low volume range on Monday, while some profit-taking bitcoin appeared in ether on the ETH / BTC charts.

Bitcoin (BTC) trades around $ 26,822 from 21:00 UTC (16:00 ET). Increased by 2.3% in the last 24 hours.
Bitcoin’s 24-Hour Series: $ 25,759 – $ 27,447 (CoinDesk 20)
BTC is very close to its moving averages of 10 hours and 50 hours on the hourly chart, a sideways signal for market technicians.

Bitcoin has been trading on Bitstamp since December 25th.

Bitcoin’s price action stagnated on Monday and, according to CoinDesk 20 data, traded for many hours in a range of $ 27,000 to $ 27,200. The lack of movement follows a Sunday when bitcoin broke an all-time high of $ 28,352, fueled by a bull run on December 25th.

According to Alessandro Andreotti, who is not available over the counter, this is a bit of a delay for the course. “I think it’s just a small retracement, a little break after a week of highs,” Andreotti told CoinDesk. “BTC is definitely still in a strong area.”

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After Sunday’s run of more than $ 4 billion on major CoinDesk 20 exchanges, spot trading is much lower on Monday, at $ 1.8 billion on the press. “Given the rapid increase yesterday, especially after the last few days’ march, a slight contraction is normal,” said David Lifchitz, chief investment officer of the ExoAlpha trading industry.

Bitcoin spot volume on eight major exchanges.

“Bitcoin is continuing on its strong upward path with more retail investors going into bitcoin over the holidays,” noted Jason Lau, chief operating officer of San Francisco-based OKCoin. According to Lau, volume growth may not be a trend toward next year. “With the [U.S. economic] a stimulus package signed could continue the appeal of bitcoin as a value bath until 2021. ‘

In the derivative space, the liquidation of futures contracts fueled bitcoin’s recent price run. This is evident from the number of liquidations – the equivalent of a margin call in traditional markets – on BitMEX. Over the past three days, more than $ 116 million in liquidations took place, while shorts amounted to $ 65 million.

BitMEX bitcoin liquidations over the past three days.

“At this stage, there is a clear shortage of sellers because all the shorts are being charged,” QCP Capital, a quantum trading firm, wrote in an investor note Monday. “The storyline remains clear: increasing institutional acceptance of BTC raises the price and feeds the retail FOMO, which then spans the entire crypto.”

Other analysts agree with QCP that bitcoin’s price push makes it possible to get more attention from other cryptocurrencies, especially ether. “I think the slowdown in the BTC price is creating some breathing space for the altcoin season,” said Misha Alefirenko, founder of crypto-market maker VelvetFormula. The ethernet futures market is recovering after a record $ 2.2 billion in public interest lost some steam after December 19th.

Ether futures have been of interest for the past three months.

However, the news that CME will be in the ether-term game, according to OKCoin’s Lau, is a positive sign for continued institutional interest in crypto.

“Ethereum has maintained the upward trajectory alongside bitcoin and reached the highest levels since May 2018,” Lau said. The CME Ethereum futures offer in February ‘could have a big impact through exposure [ether] to more institutional investors. ”

ETH / BTC goes to Bull Mode

Ether (ETH), the second largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, was higher on Monday, trading around $ 732 and rising 8% within 24 hours from 21:00 UTC (16:00 ET).

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The ETH / BTC trading pair, a common offering on most exchanges, suddenly became bullish on Monday after a long bearish cycle. This pair indicates the strength of ether against bitcoin. The bullish signal on the hourly charts, including an increase in volume on Coinbase, indicates that traders are selling bitcoin for ether.

The ETH / BTC trading pair on Coinbase last month.

According to Vishal Shah, an options trader and founder of the derivatives firm Alpha5, profitability of bitcoin in ether is the biggest culprit. “I think these are the consequences of BTC exhaustion,” Shah told CoinDesk. He also added that it is likely hard crypto traders who are earning more profits in this bull cycle that increase the hourly ETH / BTC chart. ‘This whole rally was born out of bitcoin [its] hard to see it just shifting gears. And if it does, it’s probably not the same investor. ”