Cryptocurrency markets are starting to slowly inch back upwards after many digital assets lost roughly 40-70 percent of the values they held two months ago. Bitcoin core markets (BTC/USD) reached a low of $5,920 this past Monday, but as the weekend approaches the price has regained strength hovering around $8,250-8,450. Moreover, the price of bitcoin cash (BCH) has jumped considerably, gaining over 23 percent today with an added $1.4Bn worth of trade volume combined to the intraday.
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Is the Bear Market Over?
Some individuals speculate the bearish cryptocurrency dumps that plagued markets for six weeks seem to be over. Most digital assets saw some excellent percentage gains yesterday on February 8, but during overnight trading sessions there were some considerable highs and lows. Currently, average BTC/USD prices are holding above the $8K price region and trade volume is roughly around $10.2Bn over the past 24-hours. The top five exchanges trading the most BTC today include Okex, Bitfinex, GDAX, Upbit, and Bitflyer. The Hong Kong-based exchange Binance has been having upgrade issues and had to stop trading until the platform is fixed. At the company’s current rate, they estimate trading activities will resume at 2018/02/09 4 am UTC.
Right now the Japanese yen is the most traded currency with BTC capturing 48 percent of the day’s trade volume. This is followed by the U.S. dollar (31%), tether (USDT 7.5%), the euro (5.8%) and the Korean won (3%). Today the most traded cryptocurrencies swapped for BTC or vice versa include ETH, BCH, and XRP. Bitcoin core’s market capitalization dominates by 35 percent ($141Bn) of the $394 billion cryptocurrency market cap.
BTC/USD Technical Indicators
Looking at charts shows a considerable bounce off the $5,900 resistance point this past Monday. A well-defined uptrend has been forming on the 4-hour through 3-day charts. During last night’s trading sessions the weekly charts finally changed to a green spinner after a quick dip at 7:30 pm EDT. Additionally, the overnight push brought the 100 Simple Moving Average (SMA) above the longer term 200 SMA. The gap has continued to spread, and this indicates the path to the upside is still very much in the cards.
The Macd is moving northbound, but the Relative Strength Index (RSI) and Stochastic are dipping showing temporary oversold conditions. Order books show there’s a good amount of resistance towards the upside between $8,750 and $9K. If bulls can manage to break this particular region by at least tomorrow that would likely be a decent ‘bullish indicator.’ On the back side, foundations are quite robust which means sell-offs will have a hard time moving faster unless key price zones such as $8,100 and $7,700 are broken.
Bitcoin Cash Jumps Over 20%
Bitcoin cash markets have seen a considerable spike today, gaining 23 percent during the early morning trading sessions. The price has dipped a bit but is still above the 20 percentile region with a price of $1,180 per BCH this Thursday. BCH markets had seen about $2Bn worth of trade volume over the past 24 hours when yesterday the volume was a mere $600 million. The top five exchanges trading the most BCH today include Okex, Upbit, Hitbtc, Bitfinex, and Bithumb. The most traded currencies with bitcoin cash are BTC (67%), USD (13%), KRW (8%), USDT (7%), and the euro (1.5%).
BCH/USD Technical Indicators
BCH charts have followed a similar pattern with BTC markets and declined a touch more during the dip. However, today’s trading sessions are a different story as the extra decline has been erased. Other differences show the long-term 200 SMA is slightly above the 100 SMA, which means the path to the upside has touched significant resistance.
Macd is heading down slowly, and RSI/Stochastic oscillators are showing oversold conditions presently. Order books reveal there are big sell walls above the $1,275, and if momentum can clear these orders then resistance will be a bit lighter. On the back side from $1,100 to 1,000 there is plenty of support for the next 4-6 hours unless a rapid sell-off takes place. If BCH bulls are persistent, then $1,300-1,350 price levels are attainable in the short term.
The Verdict
Overall the cryptocurrency community seems way more optimistic than a few days prior. Traders are still skeptical and believe markets are not entirely ‘safe’ from bears until $9K or $10K prices are obtained, signaling a good bull charge. The U.S. congressional testimonies from the SEC and CFTC showed some positivity that regulators would not try and stifle innovation. Further regulatory ‘crack down news,’ aka FUD from Asia, has been settling down some as well. According to Coinmarketcap, most of the top ten cryptos are following the same trend upwards but some tokens are having a difficult time recovering. It’s likely the current uptrends will be slower with a few scalps in between, but for now things look far better than they did days prior.
Where do you see the price of BTC and other digital assets heading from here? Do you think cryptocurrencies will see more gains? 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.”
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