Today saw a downturn of European and US stock markets, with declines extending over 2%, ending a strongly negative month of January, with losses that cancel out the excellent performance that had characterized them at the beginning of the year. As a result, equity markets took a sharp step backwards and returned to December 2019 levels.
By contrast, the cryptocurrency sector follows yesterday’s trend, with a perfect balance between positive and negative. But unlike yesterday, when the positive sign prevailed among the big ones, today it is the red signs that prevail. The gains since the beginning of the year, however, unlike the stock markets, are decidedly positive. The first 20 cryptocurrencies show double-digit gains since the beginning of the year.
Today the first 20 have a predominance of red signs, but this does not change the overall picture. Bitcoin is swinging around parity and is holding above $9,300 after having touched $9,600 in the last few hours, which it hadn’t seen since early November. Ethereum instead rises by 1%, trying to stabilize above $180, after rising to $185, which it had not seen since last November.
Among the best rises for the big ones, Litecoin (LTC) stands out, returning to review the $70, which it had abandoned in mid-September. Icon (ICX) continues to confirm its position, with a 20% jump.
On the opposite side, among the worst today, there are Bitcoin Satoshi Vision (BSV) that loses 8% and Ethereum Classic (ETC) which loses 7%. These are two cryptocurrencies that in recent weeks have performed very well and are among the best assets since the beginning of the year, with BSV gaining 200% and ETC gaining +150%. Dash is up +70%: these are among the best of the top 20 in 2020. They are joined by Zcash (ZEC) which earns 130%, confirming that privacy coins are attracting the attention of investors. Monero (XMR) also earns 50% since the beginning of the year.
The trend of these hours keeps the market cap above 255 billion dollars, levels that have not been recorded since mid-September. The volumes continue to remain decidedly well established, and indeed in the last 24 hours, they have risen to 115 billion dollars.
Bitcoin’s dominance remains over 66%. Ethereum’s dominance rises to 7.8%. Ripple recovers a bit from the lows of the last two days and earns two decimal fractions, returning to 4.2% of dominance. Ripple, however, contrary to what is happening to the other altcoins, is still restrained in terms of price.
Bitcoin (BTC)
In the last 24 hours, Bitcoin, after having reached the top in January in the area of $9,550-9,600, sees the prevalence of coverage and profit-taking with prices falling back to $9,300. The setup remains bullish and performance on a monthly basis is up 30%. The trend remains bullish and will not raise concerns with prices above $8,800 over the weekend.
Ethereum (ETH)
Ethereum is definitely better in terms of performance from the beginning of the year, earning 40%. After jumping over $186 in the last 24 hours, which it hadn’t seen since mid-November, Ethereum has seen short term profit taking prevail.
The bullish trend is evident with a rise almost perpendicular to the second decade of January. For Ethereum, the $175 holding would give a strong bullish signal that would open space for further climbs in the coming days. In case of a downward movement, it would be important not to go back below $160.
