Tuesday afternoon, Bitcoin (-2.29%) started dropping, diving down the rest of the altcoins. The top five altcoins are losing about 1.5%. The market capitalisation of the sector descended to $259.2 Billion, and the dominance of the Bitcoin is 69.6%.

Below, the heat map shows generalised descents.

What is happening?

Nickel Asset Management has launched the Nickel Arbitrage Fund, said to be the first UK’s FCA-authorised digital assets arbitrage hedge fund. The fund profit from arbitrage utilising high-frequency quantitative strategies in digital tokens and coins. Source: bitcoinist.com.

DeFi, decentralised finance, is becoming a hot topic. Decentralised finance uses decentralised networks to allow for the exchange of financial assets without intermediaries, using smart contracts. Source: newsbtc.com.

Nasdaq is adding Defix, a DeFi cryptocurrency Index which includes Augur, MakerDAO and 0x. The index is already trackable on the Nasdaq Global Index Data Service (GIDS) and other platforms such as TradingView. Source: cryptoslate.com.

The Netherlands might start blocking foreign crypto-services firms under the new anti-money laundering laws, according to a coindesk.com article. By Foreign, it means companies registered outside of the European Economic Zone.

Bitcoin SV is losing its hash rate to other projects, which means a lack of interest for the altcoin. Source: bitcoinist.com.

Technical Analysis

Bitcoin



Bitcoin broke the triangle created from the ascending and the descending trendlines on increasing volume. The current action seems dominated by sellers.

On the 4H chart, we see the price moves below the -1 Bollinger line, and MACD and Stochastics point south. We can see, also, the action is dominated by sellers, fading bullish candlesticks (see the previous candlestick, with a short body and large upper wick).

Finally, the current price area shows there are some buying power below $ 9,950. So, although there is a negative bias, it is also possible the current price action could be a capitulation of the recent longs and a pivot point to a new bullish movement. Anyway, buyers need to see indications that the buyers kick in, such as MACD making a bullish crossover, and the price moving above the Bollinger band mean-line.

Ethereum





Ethereum is creating a sideways channel between $176 and $183.5. The current Bitcoin bearishness did not affect it much to the downside. On the technical level, The price moves below the -1Bollinger line, but we see the bands shrinking. That means essentially the same: lateral movement. Stochastics is on the lower side and making a bullish transition. That means an improvement in the Bitcoin situation will also trigger ETH buyers to enter.

Litecoin



Litecoin has retraced the last bullish candlestick and now is below the $71 key level. The price moves in a tight horizontal channel. The Bollinger Bands move slightly up, and the price is above the mid-line, so it seems buyers are only waiting for an improvement on the Bitcoin conditions to kick in.

Dash





Dash has recovered from yesterday’s drop and is making a morning star formation, while the Stochastics created a bullish crossover. The asset will catch more buyers if the price closes a 4H bar above $86, because, currently, the price movement means only a partial retracement of the last bear candlestick.