Bitcoin, Ether, and XRP Weekly Market Update January 20, 2020

The total crypto market cap added $20.2 billion to its value for the last seven days and now stands at $237.1 billion. The top 10 currencies were all in green for the same time frame with Bitcoin SV (BSV) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) being the best performers with 63 and 24 percent of gains respectively. By the time of writing bitcoin (BTC) is trading at $8,635 while ether (ETH) moved up to $164. Ripple’s XRP is trading at $0.231.

BTC/USD

Bitcoin moved up to $8,185 on Sunday, January 12 and ended the previous week with 11.5 percent increase.

On Monday, the BTC/USD pair started the new trading period with a small correction to $8,100. Still, bulls managed to keep the price above the 100-day EMA, which was surpassed two days earlier.

The zone around $8,000 was now serving as a consolidation area and on Tuesday, January 14, BTC formed a huge green candle on the daily chart. The most popular cryptocurrency climbed to $8,821 and added another 8,9 percent to its value.

The mid-week session on Wednesday brought no changes in direction as the coin stayed around the $8,800 level even though it was trading in the wide range between $8,900 – $8,560. The next target for bulls was to hold the mid-$8k gains and then consolidate properly for an attack towards the psychological level of $9,000 and then $9,300.

On Thursday, January 16, the BTC/USD pair dropped down to $8,740 after hitting $8,570 during day-trading.

As expected, the leading cryptocurrency successfully found its local bottom in the mid-$8k and on Friday initiated an attack towards $9,000. Buyers pushed the price up to $9,020, but could not fully capitalize on their gains and closed at $8,895.

The weekend started with a calm session on Saturday, January 19 during which bitcoin was trading in the $9,000 -$8,800 zone, still, it remained flat for the day.

On Sunday, BTC lost 4 percent in just 1 hour of trading between 10:00 and 11:00 CET but managed to recover partially in the evening and closed with a 2.3 percent loss to $8,690.

ETH/USD

The Ethereum Project token ETH moved up to $146 on Sunday, January 12 and closed the 7-day period 8 percent higher. It successfully moved out of the $140 – $145 support zone, which confirmed the consolidation is over and put the target at $160.

On Monday, January 13, it opened the new trading period by dropping down to $143 and thus erasing the gains from previous sessions.

The next day, however, was more positive for buyers and the leading altcoin skyrocketed to $166 following the general crypto market uptrend. The coin added 16 percent to its value and returned to an area last visited in November 2019.

The Wednesday session found bulls consolidating after the rapid increase from the previous day. Even though the ETH token was trading in the wide-area between $159 and $172, it closed with no change in price.

On Thursday, January 16, we saw profit-taking activities and the ether moved down to $164. It was seen as low as $158 at some point during the day but managed to stabilize above the important level at $160.

The last day of the workweek came with yet another green candle on the daily chart and the ETH/USD pair climbed up to $169.

The good performance was extended to the next day, Saturday, January 18 when the coin reached $179. It closed at $174 already eyeing the $180 – $200 area.

On Sunday, the ETH token followed the general crypto market trend and corrected its price down to $166, erasing 4.5 percent of its value.

XRP/USD

The Ripple company token XRP moved back up to the $0.215 line on Sunday, January 12. It closed the previous 7-day period with a 10.8 percent of price increase.

The major altcoin started the new trading week by forming the exact same candle on the daily chart like the one from the last session, except it was in the opposite direction. It moved down to $0.211.

On Tuesday, January 14, the XRP/USD pair registered one of its best days for the month and skyrocketed all the way up to $0.235 adding 11.3 percent to its value.

The mid-week session on Wednesday was quite volatile. The coin was moving in the $0.243 -$0.266 zone but ended the session with a small loss to $0.233.

The short-term target for bulls was to stabilize in the $0.23-$0.25 zone in order to prepare for an attack of $0.30. These two levels were major support/resistance zones in the past showing high intensity.

On Thursday, January 16, the XRP token fell further to $0.228 after touching $0.221 during intraday.

The last day of the workweek came with a quick rebound for bulls as the “ripple” regained its positions above $0.23. It moved 4.3 percent up and stopped at $0.239.

The weekend of January 18-19 started positively on Saturday. The XRP peaked at $0.254 before closing at $0.242 later in the day. On Sunday, it managed to peak above $0.25 for the first time since November 2019, still, it the coin closed the day with a loss to $0.235.

Altcoin of the Week

Our altcoin of the week is Ethereum Classic (ETC). The “original” Ethereum was 44 percent up for the last seven days and 72 percent for the two-week period.

The coin peaked at $11.73 on Friday, January 17 and increased its market capitalization by more than $300 million to reach approximately $935 million on Sunday, January 19. It is currently ranked at #15 on the CoinGecko Top 100 list.

The recent surge was most probably caused by the news that Binance, one of the leading cryptocurrency exchanges, will start offering ETC/USDT futures on its platform. As announced on Thursday, the company will launch a perpetual contract with up to 75x leverage.

At the time of writing, ETC is trading at $8.3 against USD on the Coinbase daily chart.