Markets Update: BTC Consolidates Around $7K After Breaking Trendline

The cryptocurrency markets are consolidating today, following BTC’s recent break above the major descending trendline dating back to December’s all-time highs and subsequent rally to approximately $7,150 USD.

BTC Consolidates Around $7,000 After Short Squeeze and Broken Trendline

The BTC markets appear to be consolidating at approximately $7,000 today, after retracing roughly 2% from yesterday’s highs of roughly $7,150. The markets broke above a major descending trendline dating back to the all-time highs of December 2017 on the 27th of August, with BTC rallying by nearly 6% over the course of two days.

The bullish action was driven by a significant short squeeze, with Bitfinex posting a 28% retracement in selling pressure over the course of seven days as shorts fell from nearly 39,000 on the 24th of August to roughly 28,000 as of this writing.

BTC is currently trading for approximately $6,975, has a total market capitalization of $120.5 billion, and a market dominance of 53.3%

BCH Consolidates at Roughly $540

The BCH markets also rallied on the 27th of August, gaining by nearly 10% by the close of the 28th. Since then, the markets have retraced by roughly 4% over two days, with BCH trading for approximately $540 as of this writing.

Looking at the BCH/BTC charts, Bitcoin Cash gained roughly 3% over Bitcoin Core to retest the preceding support area of 0.08 BTC during the 27th and 28th of August. The former support area appears to have been confirmed a resistance, with the BCH/BTC markets producing a full retrace back to approximately 0.0775 BTC since.

As of this writing, Bitcoin Cash is the fourth largest crypto market by capitalization with a total market cap of $9.5 billion, and a market dominance of 4.2%.

ETH Breaks New Lows Against BTC for 2018

Ethereum, the second largest market by capitalization, has produced very similar price action to BTC and BCH in recent days when measuring against BTC, with ETH rallying by 8.5% over the course of the 27th and 28th of October, before retracing by roughly 5.5% during the last two days. ETH is currently trading for $280.

Despite ETH having gained 12% from its 2018 low of $250 on the 14th of August, the ETH/BTC markets are breaking into new lows for 2018 today – currently trading for approximately 0.04 BTC. Ethereum has a market capitalization of nearly $28.8 billion.

The third largest cryptocurrency by market cap, XRP, is currently trading for $0.33 after consolidating between $0.31 and $0.36 for over a week.

When measuring against BTC, XRP has lost 15.5% in the last 12 days to currently trade for 0.0000475 BTC. The total capitalization of XRP is $13.15 billion.