Cryptocurrency Markets Consolidate Near 2018 Low

The drama surrounding the recent Bitcoin Cash fork has comprised the catalyst for significant action across the cryptocurrency market, with both BCH and BTC posting new lows for 2018 on Nov. 15. Meanwhile, XRP has again overtaken ETH to rank as the second largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.

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Fork Drives New All-Time Price Lows for BCH

In the days leading up to the fork, BCH was trading within an approximately 6% range between $500 and $530. Support at the $500 area then broke at around midday on Nov. 15th, with the price crashing as low as $350 on Bitstamp. On Bitfinex, BCH spiked down to $250, before BCH trading was halted on the platform in the run-up to the fork.

In the days since the fork, BCH has predominantly traded within a 10% range of between $375 and $410. The aggressive sell-off has seen BCH lose over 35% of its value against the dollar in just 12 days, although this can be attributed to some of BCH’s value being assigned to the minority SV chain that forked off.

When measuring against BTC, BCH established a new low of 0.046 BTC on Bitstamp after the markets broke below resistance at 0.066 BTC. Since Nov. 6th, BCH has lost approximately 45% of its value when measuring against BTC.

Bitcoin cash is currently the fourth largest cryptocurrency by market cap with a total capitalization of $6.67 billion.

BTC Consolidates Below $6,000

Looking at Bitfinex, BTC experienced heavy selling pressure starting from approximately 4 a.m. on Nov. 14 when the markets began to test support at approximately $6,400. After a short period of consolidation, the markets then fell 9.5% from $6,460 to approximately $5,850 in less than three hours.

24 hours of sustained selling pressure then drove prices to set an annual low of $5,432 on Nov.15, before a sharp bounce found resistance at approximately $5,750. The aggressive sell-off saw the price of BTC drop approximately 15% in a single day. Since then, BTC has consolidated within a tight range of less than 5%, with prices hovering between $5,550 and $5,750.

On Bitstamp, the dump saw BTC lose 16% in 24 hours, falling from approximately $6,210 to set an annual low of $5,200. Since then, BTC has hovered between $5,400 and $5,600. BTC currently has a market cap of roughly $97.25 billion.

Ripple Boasts Largest Altcoin Market Cap

XRP has again overtaken ETH to rank as the second largest cryptocurrency by total capitalization, a position it has held since Nov. 15 as of this writing. XRP currently has a market cap of $20.6 billion.

When measuring against USD, XRP has fully recovered from its 16% crash that transpired on Nov. 15, with prices currently hovering at roughly $0.517.

When looking at XRP/BTC, the Nov. 15 sell-off appears to have formed an inverse head & shoulder pattern on the hourly chart, priming the markets for the Nov. 16 breakout that has driven the price of ripple up to test resistance at 0.000093 BTC in recent hours.

ETH/BTC Sees Low Volatility

When measuring against BTC, ethereum has held relative stability in recent days, with the Nov. 15 dump trading within a tight range.

As of this writing, ETH is testing support at 0.0325 BTC, with the current price action appearing to follow roughly two months of sideways consolidation following May through July’s heavy selling pressure.

When measuring against USD, the Nov. 15 sell-off drove an approximately 17% drop in the price of ethereum once support at $210 broke. After bouncing off a low of $170, ETH has since consolidated between $175 and $185.

Ethereum is currently the third largest cryptocurrency by market cap with a capitalization of $18.17 billion.

Do you think the markets have posted their lowest position for 2018 or is more selling pressure imminent? Share your thoughts in comments section below!

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