Forex Signals Brief March 15: A Last Round of US Data Before Weekend

Posted on March 15, 2024March 15, 2024 by Skerdian Meta

Yesterday was quiet in the first half of the day, but traders were awaiting the US data, but there was a slight USD bullish bias, as traders feared a strong retail sales report from the US. However, the market largely overlooked the retail sales numbers, choosing instead to focus on the PPI inflation and unemployment claims, which will have some impact on next week’s Federal Reserve meeting. Continue reading “Forex Signals Brief March 15: A Last Round of US Data Before Weekend” →

XRP Drops, Will Bulls Rally Above $1 In April?

Posted on March 15, 2024 by Dalmas Ngetich

XRP is under pressure, sliding, and aligning with the immediate term formation. In all, the coin has not been spared and has reversed almost 80% of the March 11 upswing. Though there are hints of strength since gains haven’t been completely reversed, the odds of further losses could dent confidence.

From coin trackers, XRP is down roughly 9% in the past 24 hours, reversing all losses in the previous week. Even though the upside remains, the uptick in trading volume, like in most pairs, means traders might look to exit longs or double down on shorts. So far, trading volume is up 85% in 24 hours to $4.2 billion. At the same time, the market cap is down to $34 billion, shrinking by 8% in 24 hours.

The ongoing case between Ripple and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) questions the agency’s regulatory powers. By March 22, the SEC should file their opening remedy-related brief before Ripple lawyers submit their opposition brief a month later. However, the case will drag on for months as Ripple lawyers try to prove no fraudulent activity when they issued XRP.
The broader XRP community remains bullish. In their assessment, the outcome of the ongoing court case will likely drive prices above $1 or better. The case will end in April, but the court will specify their penalty later.

XRP Price Analysis

[[XRP/USD]] is bearish when writing.

Overall, the coin remains in a bullish formation, primarily because of the March 11 bull bar. Prices are still moving inside the bull bar, a net positive for optimistic buyers.

Even so, for the uptrend to be validated, there must be a conclusive close above $0.74. This breakout must be with rising volume, lifting the coin to $0.84, $0.93, and even $1 away from the current range.

Conversely, if sellers press on, any loss below $0.58 or the March 11 low might see XRP crumble to $0.50 or the February low.

Ethereum Dumps: Will This Sell-Off Take ETH To $3,200?

Posted on March 15, 2024 by Dalmas Ngetich

Ethereum is sliding when writing. Even though optimism was high following the activation of Dencun, prices plunged after registering highs of around $4090. Technically, the upside remains, and the path of least resistance, if everything remains constant, remains northward.

The coin is changing hands at around $3,750 when writing and is bearish. ETH is down 5% in the past 24 hours and 4% in the previous week. Its market cap is also down 5% to over $450 billion at the current valuation. However, following the crash of March 14, the average daily trading volume is up 52% to around $3.8 billion.

Trading volume might continue spiking higher if bears press on today. However, as fear sets in, the community is ecstatic about recent developments. Top of the list are the following Ethereum news events to watch:

Dencun Upgrade is live. With some of its EIPs, layer-2 solutions like Optimism and Arbitrum stand to benefit massively from fee reduction via Blobs. This technology makes swapping via Uniswap on Optimism more than 10X cheaper. The cheaper it is, the more users opt to trade on Ethereum, increasing demand for ETH.
Amid the slump, more ETH is sold as large wallets book profits. In March 2024 alone, over $1.02 billion worth of the coin has been sent to exchanges. The more holders sell, the slower the march to $5,000 becomes.

Ethereum Price Analysis

[[ETH/USD]] bulls are optimistic, looking at events in the daily chart. Even though the uptrend remains, the past few days’ sell-offs are a concern.

Looking at the ETH candlestick arrangement in the daily chart, traders can look for short opportunities. This preview holds as long as prices remain below today’s highs of $3,950.

Further losses below the 20-day moving average may trigger more losses toward the March 5 lows of $3,200.

Conversely, a sharp reversal above $3,950 at the back of high trading volume might see the coin float back towards $4,090 in a buy trend continuation formation.

Bitcoin Crumbles: BTC Back To $59,000?

Posted on March 15, 2024March 15, 2024 by Dalmas Ngetich

Bitcoin is down roughly 7% from the all-time high. While the coin trends lower, traders are net positive, expecting dips to offer loading opportunities, at least in the short to medium term. The immediate resistance level stands at $73,800. If broken, there might be a sharp breakout toward $75,000 or higher.

For now, sellers have the upper hand. The dump continued in the Asian session, and traders can look for potential continuation. So far, Bitcoin is down 8% in the past 24 hours, shaving weekly gains to 1%. At the same time, the market cap is down 8% to slightly over $1.3 trillion. While prices fall, trading volume is up 60% to over $75 billion. This could suggest that traders are looking to exit their longs, possibly in profit-taking.

In the meantime, traders are watching these events unfold:

Approximately a month to halving, Bitcoin miners in the United States are holding on to their coins and not selling as has been the case. As we approach this important event, how traders will react is yet to be seen. Historically, prices tend to crumble as miners unload.
The match-up, analysts note, is marked with a sharp contraction in exchange inflow. This suggests that coin holders prefer holding their stash, especially as institutions look to scoop more.

Bitcoin Price Analysis

The path of least resistance is upward, even with [[BTC/USD]] prices correcting at spot rates.

From the daily chart, the $73,800 level is critical; if broken in a rebound from current levels, Bitcoin bulls will have the impetus to roar even higher. The immediate target can be $75,000. However, some optimists are targeting $100,000.

Conversely, traders are looking at the $68,800 level—previous resistance. If prices fail to close above this level, the sell-off might likely continue, moving BTC toward $63,500 or even the March 5 lows of $59,000.

Bitcoin cools off after setting Fifth record High in a week

Posted on March 14, 2024 by Olumide Adesina

Bitcoin fell below $70,000 following its fifth consecutive record high in 7 days, as investors withdrew from riskier assets across financial markets. The leading cryptocurrency asset reached an all-time high of $73,797 on Thursday but then dropped as much as 6.3 percent to $68,549.

Solana, Litecoin, and Ether were among the other tokens that dropped. Bitcoin was trading at $71,400 at the time of this publication, down roughly 2% from the previous day.
According to CoinGlass data, the volatility liquidated over $360 million worth of leveraged derivatives positions across all cryptocurrency markets, primarily longs betting on rising prices. Since the correction on March 5, this has been the longest flush-out.

US stocks dropped and Treasury yields increased following a heated inflation report that confirmed expectations that the Federal Reserve will not quickly lower interest rates, despite signs of weakness in certain sectors of the economy.

The allure of crypto assets typically increases with lower interest rates. Bitcoin’s narrative as a secure and valuable store of value is attracting significant investment. Institutional interest: As Bitcoin ETFs have grown, several traditional financial institutions are endorsing the underlying infrastructure of Bitcoin. Because increased investment in Bitcoin is made in the “safer” asset within an already risky asset class.

The likelihood of a much looser monetary policy in 2024 is gradually declining. Markets entered the year expecting the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates by as much as 150 basis points in 2024, with the first reduction scheduled for the Federal Open Market Committee meeting the following week.

Meanwhile, some of the most speculative tokens in the meme coin market were still experiencing a frenzy. According to tracker CoinGecko, Dogwifhat recorded a gain of more than a fifth of its value in the previous day. The aggregate market capitalization of meme coins has surpassed $60 billion, and the weekly trading volume of the most valuable meme coins has approached $80 billion, according to data from blockchain data firm Kaiko.

XRP Flat-Lines: Are Ripple Bulls Loading Preparing For $1?

Posted on March 14, 2024 by Dalmas Ngetich

The XRP price has remained relatively unchanged in the past trading day, even edging lower when writing. Multiple events might explain this development, including possible exhaustion. However, XRP prices have failed to steam higher even after the breakout on March 11.

In the past trading day, the coin is down 3% to $0.67. Even so, it is up 9% in the previous week of trading. Its market cap has fallen to $37 billion as prices contract, down roughly 1.5%. Overall, buyers are optimistic, but there needs to be conviction, confirming the demand of March 11.

Several news events might influence the coin in the coming sessions.

Some of them include:

Whale activity: After prices soared to as high as $0.74 on March 11, prices cooled off the spot rates. However, this does not prevent whales from moving huge amounts of the coin. On March 13, an unknown whale transferred 140 million XRP to an external wallet. The address still controls 169 million of XRP. Transfers to external, non-exchange wallets are often seen as bullish.
A community member has also refuted claims of Ripple manipulating XRP prices. Earlier, an executive said they stopped programmatic sales of XRP in 2019. With this, the coin’s price is driven by market forces.

XRP Price Analysis

[[XRP/USD]] prices remain in range, looking at the performance in the daily chart.

Technically, the uptrend remains, and the coin is trading within a bullish formation.

However, the failure of higher highs above the March 11 highs is negative.

Still, it may offer entries for aggressive longs above $0.66. So far, there are long lower wicks, suggesting demand and accumulation in lower time frames.

Better entries may be present above $0.74 once longs are confirmed. Targets can be $0.93 and later $1.

Forex Signals Brief March 14: Slow Markets Ahead of US Data

Posted on March 14, 2024March 14, 2024 by Skerdian Meta

Yesterday, BOJ Governor Ueda provided no hints of an upcoming policy move next week, causing the yen to weaken further against the dollar, with USD/JPY rising to 148.06. UK January GDP data was released, but it held no surprises, resulting in minimal movement for the GBP throughout the day. Continue reading “Forex Signals Brief March 14: Slow Markets Ahead of US Data” →

Ethereum Price Muted Below $4,000 After Dencun: Sell The News Event?

Posted on March 14, 2024 by Dalmas Ngetich

Ethereum price is tethering close to $4,000. Even though the uptrend remains, there are hints of weakness, looking at price action on the last day. So far, the coin is down 2% on the last day but is up 6% over the previous week.

At spot valuation, ETH bulls are still optimistic. However, trading metrics are bleak. To illustrate, the coin’s market cap is down 1.5% to $478 billion in the last day. At the same time, it appears that trading activity is muted, and it is down to $22 billion, shrinking by 15%. Still, interest remains, but whether the coin will break higher in the sessions ahead depends on fundamental activities.

Traders are watching out for these Ethereum news events:

Dencun is now live on Ethereum. One of the key additions in this hard fork is EIP-4844 which introduces “proto-danksharding” via “Blobs”. With blobs, layer-2 platforms will benefit from even lower transaction fees. However, eight other EIPs went live in Dencun, making it one of the most prominent hard forks in Ethereum.
Coinbase has also secured the interest of its users after integrating the Blockaid security tool. The exchange said changes were made five months ago, preventing over 475 million worth of funds from being stolen.

Ethereum Price Analysis

The optimism around Dencun isn’t impacting [[ETH/USD]] prices, at least looking from events in the daily chart.

ETH prices remain flat, oscillating below March 11 highs of around $4,090. Since prices are still inside the bullish bar of March 11, buyers have a chance from an effort-versus-result perspective.

However, there must be sharp gains above $4,100 for trend continuation.

Support lies at around $3,700 and $3,800.

From the current price action, traders can wait for a comprehensive close in either direction before committing.

If buyers take charge, ETH may float to as high as $4,500.

Bitcoin Ready To Break $73,800: Charts Say Yes

Posted on March 14, 2024 by Dalmas Ngetich

Bitcoin continues to grind higher and is likely to surpass expectations today. At press time, BTC is changing hands above $73,400, and buyers are in charge. Even though the upside volatility has decreased as the coin charts new territory, the failure of bears to dent bulls’ confidence is massive for sentiment.

The coin is up 2% on the last day and up 12% in the previous week. The upswing in price and demand for the coin means its market cap is also up. It is at over $1.4 trillion, roughly up 1.45%. Even so, there is an unusual drop in trading volume. There are slightly over $48 billion of BTC changing hands over the last day, down 21%. This figure stood at over $60 billion in the early Asian session on March 13.

Important Bitcoin news to watch today include:

The NYSE has informed the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of plans to list and trade 7RCC spot Bitcoin and Carbon Credit Futures ETF shares. The product will trade under the ticker, BTCK. It aims to provide investors with exposure to digital assets alongside carbon credits.
In a recent interview, Peter Schiff, the Bitcoin critic, regretted why he never bought the coin “quietly.” Schiff said he never believed in the coin’s fundamentals. Late last year, Schiff said BTC was a “Ponzi scheme.”

Bitcoin Price Analysis

[[BTC/USD]] buyers are in the driving seat, and the trajectory remains upward.

The coin is up double digits in the last week, and bulls appear not to be slowing down.

The upside momentum is strong since bars are banding along the upper BB. Accordingly, buyers may consider looking for potential entries.

If prices pull back, support lies at around the $70,000 and $71,450 zone. Any breakout higher may propel the coin above $73,800 to over $75,000.

XRP Breaks Out: Why Is There Rejection At $0.74?

Posted on March 13, 2024 by Dalmas Ngetich

XRP is within a bullish formation, but the failure of buyers to extend gains should worry optimistic traders. The breakout on March 11 was with high trading volume, but prices ended up ranging inside the bull bar on March 12. Technically, this is bullish, but there must be a follow-through for confirmation.

XRP is steady on the past day but up 13% in the previous week. This signals strength despite the resistance for sharp higher highs. The coin’s market cap is also flat at over $37 billion. However, trading volume in the past day has shrunk by 57% to around $3.2 billion. This contraction could mean traders are exiting and adopting a wait-and-see approach.

Though the bull market is evident, XRP might see more tailwinds due to fundamental factors. Some of them include:

XRP Ledger and automated market maker development: Developers want to create a means for holders to supply liquidity and earn rewards via yield whenever they participate. This is bullish overall for XRP as it will lock up supply, possibly lifting prices.
Ripple versus United States Securities and Exchange (SEC) lawsuit: Attention is on the upcoming opening brief deadline in the protracted case pitting the blockchain company and the strict regulator. What transpires then will likely impact prices.

XRP Price Analysis

Currently, [[XRP/USD]] bulls are upbeat, expecting more price gains.

However, bulls have been slow to push higher, finding resistance at March 10 highs. Even so, since prices are inside the bull bar, the current formation favors buyers from an effort-versus-result perspective.

In the short-term, resistance is at $0.74, while support lies at $0.66—a key resistance in the previous range. As prices oscillate inside the March 10 bull bar, aggressive traders can look to add on dips, targeting $0.84 and later $0.93.

Conversely, opportunities can exist above $0.74 when this level is comprehensively broken.