ETH Rallies on Segwit2x cancellation

The planned 2MB block increase got cancelled yesterday. The announcement on linuxfoundation.org says:

‘Although we strongly believe in the need for a larger blocksize, there is something we believe is even more important: keeping the community together. Unfortunately, it is clear that we have not built sufficient consensus for a clean blocksize upgrade at this time. Continuing on the current path could divide the community and be a setback to Bitcoin’s growth’

The post is signed by the lead Segwit2x developer Jeff Garzik, Jihan Wu, a major Chinese miner and Mike Belshe, CEO of BitGo. Erik Voorhees confirmed the news on his twitter.






After an initial relief rally from $7,462 to $7,887 on FXOpen, we saw an unwinding of the ‘free money’ trade. Bitcoin fell to a low of $6,980 in the next hour. Later in the day, it stabilized around $7,200 dollars per coin. A similar (but upside down) pattern was observed in ETH/BTC. Here we first fell to a low of 0.03773 BTC then rallied to a high of 0.044 BTC. The pair is trading at 0.0428 BTC right now.


Technically ETH/BTC is still in a downtrend on the daily charts. A decisive breakout above the 0.05 round figure is needed to end it. A move beyond the 0.05545 BTC swing high would start a new rally. No change on the longer-term timeframes. Here the pair is in a downtrend on the weekly charts but in an uptrend on the monthly.


Read also about Dash on FXOpen blog

Ether Still in Range


Despite being up 5.25% today and 17 % since our last update, ether is still in a trading range (vs BTC) on the daily charts. Against the U.S. Dollar, ether peaked above the $400 round figure earlier today and is nearing its all-time high at $415 dollars.


As you can see on the chart below, ETH/BTC hasn’t broken the two important swing points at 0.03712 on the downside and 0.05545 BTC on the upside.





No clear trend can emerge until one of these levels is decisively broken. Below 0.05545 we find two weaker resistance levels at the 0.05 round figure followed by last week’s high at 0.0541. On the longer-term charts we have a downtrend on the weekly but uptrend on the monthlies.


Read about DSH/BTC and BTC/USD on FXOpen blog

ALTCOINS SOLD FOR BTC
Altcoins are getting sold aggressively for BTC. Since last Thursday BTC/USD gained over 60 percent while ETH/BTC dropped by close to 45 percent. Now both ETH and Dash are in a bear market versus BTC.
ETH/BTC Drops by 45 Percent
Ether has lost almost 45 percent of its value versus bitcoin. There’s a speculative rush into BTC, likely preempting the launch of bitcoin futures. The CBOE announced that they will launch bitcoin futures this Sunday at 6 PM EST. Their competitor the CME will do so 8 days later.
Today the price of bitcoin hit a new all-time high of $16,614 dollars per coin, peaking at close to $20,000 on some other exchanges. Right now we are trading close to the Fxopen highs at $16,600 dollars. The surge in BTC/USD has led to a massive sell-off in altcoins, with ETH/BTC dropping by 44.83 percent in only seven days.

As we said back on Thursday, the bears need to push ETH/BTC below the 0.03712 lows to start a new downtrend. As can see on the chart above since that break the losses in this pair has been massive. A move back above the 0.05 round figure is needed to end this downtrend. A break above the 0.05906 BTC swing high would shift the trend to the upside. On the longer-term charts ETH/BTC is in a downtrend on the weekly chart but in an uptrend on the monthlies.
Read about Dash Trend Shifts and Bircoin on FXOpen.

Is this going to have a soon recovery? For how long I've to wait

Litecoin Surges 46 Percent


Litecoin has been the big winner during the past week. Prices surged higher and are quoted at $227 dollars right now. This is a gain of $72 dollars or just over 46 percent in seven days.






The two main drivers behind the gains have been Litepay and a new fork called Litecoin Cash. While Litecoin founder Charlie Lee called the new fork a “scam” many users seem to have taken up the offer, buying up LTC ahead of the fork in order to benefit from the ‘free coins’. This fork already transpired on Sunday as every Litecoin holder got 10 Litecoin cash coins. So far no major exchanges are supporting the new fork so it’s hard to derive its true value. But on the exchanges where it’s traded prices fluctuated wildly from $5 to $10 dollars per coin. It’s currently quoted at 0.000584 BTC or $6.44 dollars.


Technically LTC/USD is now in rally mode. The bears will need to push prices below $136 dollars to end it. Support above here can be found at the $150 and $160 round figures, followed by the $168.13 and $173.25 swing highs. Higher still there’s more support at the former resistance now turned support at $196.22 and at the $200 round figure. On the weekly and monthly charts Litecoin is also in an uptrend.


Read about BTC/USD in our blog post.

Ether Downtrend Still in Force


The downtrend for ETH/BTC continues for another week. Right now the crypto is trading at 0.05430 per BTC, around 4 percent off the lows.





We’ve been mostly range-bound during the past few days but we’re still far from ending the bearish trend on the daily charts. For that to happen the bulls need to push us above the 0.06030 BTC swing high. Higher up a break above 0.072 BTC is needed to trigger a new uptrend.


Below current prices there’s major support in the 0.050 – 0.052 BTC area. A decisive break below the 0.05 round figure would exacerbate the losses for Ether. On the longer-term charts ETH/BTC is looking range-bound on the weeklies but bullish on the monthly charts.


Read about DSH/BTC on FXOpen blog

Ether in Range


Ether prices are back in a range vs bitcoin on the daily charts. You can see this range marked with a yellow rectangle on the charts below. The pair dropped to a low of 0.07437 BTC earlier today during a bout of selling across the board. With a previous swing low at 0.07413 BTC, this formed somewhat of a double bottom.






A clearing of this bottom would start a new downtrend in ETH/BTC. On the upside the bulls need a breakout above the most recent swing high at 0.08542 BTC. This could re-start the move higher. Resistance above can be found at the 0.08829 swing high and the 0.09 and 0.1 BTC round figures. A decisive breakout above here may open to door to this year’s high at 0.121 BTC. On the longer-term weekly charts Ether is also range-bound. The trend is bullish on the monthlies but these charts take a longer time to turn.


The major event today and the reason for selling in ETH and BTC was news that the U.S. Justice Department entered a criminal probe into crypto price manipulation. The article says that the investigation is focused on illegal practices that can influence prices such as spoofing, or flooding the market with fake orders to trick other traders into buying or selling. Bloomberg specifically lists BTC and ETH as some of the coin markets that are being investigated. This was probably the reason why the selling was concentrated in these two cryptos while some others fared better.


Read about DSH/BTC here.