Bitcoin Ethereum Prices continue to disappoint, Altcoins gaining major traction!

KEY TAKEAWAYS

1. Top crypto tokens by market cap – Bitcoin price is trading flat at around $16,850, while Ethereum price at about $1250, up about 0.5% in the past 24 hours.
2. Global crypto market cap is up about 0.15% in the past 24 hours, currently at about $820 billion.

CRYPTO MARKET TODAY AT A GLANCE

TOP CRYPTOS TODAY BY MARKET CAP

As you can observe from the chart above, crypto market heavyweights like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) have not given any strong directional action in the past 24 hours, and even since the beginning of the year too. However, a surprise performance amongst the top 15 cryptos by market cap have been the two largest memecoins - Dogecoin (DOGE) and Shiba Inu (SHIB). Dogecoin has managed to gain about 3.5% while Shiba Inu price managed to jump up a good 6.2% in the past 24 hours!

Amongst the other altcoins in this list, Cardano (ADA) and Avalanche (AVAX) have also managed to post reasonably gains despite the lackluster performance by the flagship coins in the market. Solana (SOL) is the biggest loser out of the lot having lost about 2.5% in the past 24 hours. Overall the crypto market cap managed to gain a meagre 0.15% in the past 24 hours.

Read More: Ethereum Shanghai Upgrade Date

BITCOIN PRICE TODAY

BTC/USD | Source: Tradingview

Bitcoin price action has been the same as it has been for the past two, almost three weeks now. BTC price has been trading within a very narrow range of $16,200 to $17,000 with occasional breakouts here and there. Thoe breakouts were immediately sold into and thus couldn't provide any upward momentum in the king coin's price action. To further add, ever since the collapse of the FTX crypto exchange in early November 2022, Bitcoin has been trading within a range between $15,600 to $17,300 too.

Read all about the FTX fiasco here: FTX Collapse Explained

Bitcoin has been on a weak footing from a technical point of view too. BTC price is trading very close to one of the lowest point in the past 26 months, just about $1000 from the lowest recorded level of around $15,500. It is also below any and all critical support levels on the chart, and thus would face strong selling pressures whenever it tries to make a recovery. However, the Relative Strength Index for Bitcoin's daily timeframe chart is at a decently good position to support any rally that might come in the days to come.

Read more: BTC Price Prediction 2023

ETH/USD | Source: Tradingview

Quite similar to Bitcoin in the past two weeks, Ethereum price has been trading within a range too. However, between yesterday and today - ETH price has managed to gain some momentum and has been successful in providing a breakout over a resistance level (marked in black). If ETH price is able to hold on to that level, we could see subsequent bullish price action in the altcoin king going forward.

On a broader front, ETH price is slightly better positioned to rally if and when a broader recovery in sentiment of the crypto market actually happens. Ethereum price is quite far away from its 2022 lows, which gives some valuable upward support to the crypto. So overall, Ethereum is slated to perform better if and when a rally comes in the future.

Conclusion

While Bitcoin and Ethereum have not been able to provide any strong directional stimulus to the crypto market so far, there have been some other altcoins which have managed to gain significant amounts in the past couple of days, even since the beginning of the year 2023. As highlighted a few days ago - Litecoin (LTC) and Solana (SOL) have managed to gain significantly since the beginning of 2023 and in the past 24 hours - the biggest memecoins by market capitalization - Dogecoin (DOGE) and Shiba Inu (SHIB) managed to gain the most out of the top cryptos.

DOGE price has successfully been able to break out of an accumulation zone on the chart, by providing a 3.5% jump in the past 24 hours and has even breached its 50 DMA to touch $0.075 levels. SHIB price has also been performing pretty well in the past couple of days, rallying nearly 7% in the past 48 hours too. So overall, it looks like altcoins are taking the lead to bring recovery back into the market.

Prices as on 5 January, 2023.