Well, it certainly seems that Altseason may officially be upon us as many altcoins surge over the past few days. The entire altcoin market cap has been significantly increased this week and has recently reached the $89 billion level.

This Altseason has kicked off with many cryptocurrencies in the top 10 surgings by over 20% over the past few days. These include Ethereum (+20%), XRP (+24%), and Stellar (+32%). At the same time, Bitcoin continues to trade along its period of consolidation - allowing the altcoin markets to bounce back.

So What Pulled The Trigger?

What actually caused this initial wave on the road to altseason? Well, there have been many arguments put forward as an explanation and, personally, I believe it is a mix of a plethora of reasons. The first one being revolved around the global economic situation. As many FIAT-currencies make moves to devalue their currency - the weaknesses in the traditional financial system start to show as the “hardness” of FIAT money is actually pretty soft, especially if they can easily devalue their currency.

On the other hand, cryptocurrencies have largely been known to be the hardest form of money in history. Cryptocurrencies are typically immutable and have a hard supply cap - leading to it being a hard source of money.

Another reason put forward is the backlash that Edward Snowden has received from releasing his new book “Permanent Record”. The US Department of Justice (DOJ) is suing Edward Snowden on the grounds that the whistleblower did not submit a draft of his book for approval by the regulating bodies. A spokesperson for the DOJ had the following to say;

“We will not permit individuals to enrich themselves, at the expense of the United States, without complying with their pre-publication review obligations,”

Meanwhile, at the same time, Snowden tweeted the following Tweet which stated this entire situation is good for Bitcoin.

Let us take a quick look at the markets that have moved today!

Ripple

XRP has been the strongest performer out of the top 5 cryptocurrencies after surging by 24% over the past couple of days. We can see that XRP has now met resistance at the short term 1.272 Fib Extension level priced at $0.3180.

If the bullish pressure continues, we can expect resistance at $0.3246, $0.3363, $0.35, and $0.3624.

Ethereum

Ethereum has also seen a decent surge after rising by 20% over the past few days. The latest price increase has allowed Ethereum to climb back above a long term rising trend line and back above the $200 level.

We can see that Ethereum is currently testing the congestion around the 100 and 200 days EMA around $215. If the bulls can bring the price for the coin above this, an initial resistance is expected at $225 (bearish .382 Fib Retracement). Above this, higher resistance is expected at $231, $238, $242, $259, and $284.

Cardano

Cardano has seen an 11% price hike over the past 24 hours which has now allowed Cardano to rise into the 11th ranked position. The cryptocurrency has now broken back above $0.05 as it makes it way toward the 100-days EMA.

If the bulls continue to climb higher, an initial resistance is located at $0.056 (bearish .236 Fib Retracement) which is further bolstered by the 100-days EMA. Above this, resistance is located at $0.060, $0.06428 (bearish .382 Fib Retracement and 200-days EMA), $0.070, and $0.0768.

Stellar

Stellar is the strongest performing coin out of the top 10 after surging by over 30% over the past couple of days. We can see that the cryptocurrency is currently testing resistance at the 100-days EMA.

If the bulls continue higher, resistance is located at $0.08861 (bearish .382 Fib Retracement). Higher resistance then lies at $0.1 which is strengthened by both the 200-days EMA and the bearish .5 Fib Retracement. Above $0.1, resistance lies at $0.11, $0.12, and $0.12364.