BTC/USD takes another bullish swing, ETH/USD climbes up in less prominent fashion

BTC/USD

For BTC/USD, the Tuesday of 17th November was another day of massive gains on the pair's bullish path. The pair opened the day at 16.732 and after going up to $16,802 at the close of the first day's hour reversed downwards and travelled below 16,600 in the next three hours. Having opened the fourth hour with a downside slippage at 16,575, BTC/USD began retracing the day's early losses, while the market was getting the funds ready for the next motive wave of the uptrend.

From 4:00 till 10:00 UTC, the pair was mainly trading sideways, and starting from 10:00, began its upswing that lasted until 18:00 UTC. In those eight hours, the price managed to travel from 16,659 to 17,887 at the peak reached between 17:00 and 18:00 UTC in a consistently developing upside price action. Until the end of the day, nothing prominent happened and the price continued sideways within a small price range, closing Tuesday's trading session at $17,715.

Tuesday's rapid growth has brought 18,200 resistance level within stepping distance. Its attainment on Wednesday has already produced a strong bearish move toward 17,200. From the technical point of view, the pair's ascension towards its historic high at above 20,000 is currently pressured by the local resistance level at 18,200. Depending on who the situation develops, $20,000 for 1 BTC can be reached either at the end of 2020 or in the early 2021. Also the Fibonacci retracement stretched across the 2019 uptrend indicates that the 168% Fibo level at $20,462 will be the next target for the pair.

ETH/USD

Compared to Bitcoin's gains, those achieved by Ethereum on 17th November appear to be less prominent but nonetheless considerable. ETH/USD began the day's trading at 459.3 and made a considerable upside progress during the day's first hour, rising to 468 at the hour's close. From 2:00 to 5:00 UTC, the pair was trending down and retracing some of the considerable gains achieved in the day's first hour. The downswing was checked by traders at 461.50.

From 4:00 to 10:00 UTC, the ETH/USD cross rate was mainly edging sideways and closed the hourly candlestick between 10:00 and 11:00 UTC at 465.65. At 11:00 UTC, ETH/USD started breaking above the local intraday resistance level formed at 466. Having finished that hour at 466.4, the pair opened the twelfth hour with a tangible upside slippage at 467.7. And even though the pair managed to slip to 464.9 between 12:00 and 12:15 UTC, it finished the hour at 470.7, capitalising its stance above the intraday resistance level at 466.

The next intraday resistance was lying at 476.7. However, it proved no obstacle to ETH/USD and was breached as if there were no resistance at all. The day's most prominent gains were achieved by Ethereum between 16:00 and 17:00 UTC, when the price momentarily broke above $484 and closed the hour at $481.8. The candlestick of the seventeenth hour of the day opened with another considerable upside slippage but went straight down from the start, going as low as 475.5 and closing at 480. Later on, the pair continued its downward reversal, falling to 476, however, until the end of the day ETH/USD continued sideways and closed the session at 482.9.

On Wednesday, 18th November, the volatility in ETH/USD severely increased. First the pair broke above this year's high and reached 495, but pressured by the 488 resistance level, took a dramatic nosedive to 460 in less than the next 30 minutes. In the next five hours the ETH/USD cross rate managed to break back toward the area of Tuesday's close at 480.

The price dynamics remain mixed for Ether, creating lots of uncertainty for Ethereum supporters and holders. Even though the ETH price continues climbing higher, its bullish price action appears to be considerably limited by different factors, the primary one probably being the ongoing uncertainty around Ethereum 2.0, whose launch was expected to happen in October – November 2020. Right now, the genesis phase of Ethereum 2.0 is expected to take place in December 2020.

The attainment of 488 in ETH/USD has already triggered a massive selloff, showing the vulnerability of Ethereum's situation. It may now turn into a sideways trend or a substantial corrective move toward 462. Still, a breakthrough above 488 and capitalisation above the level may open further upside prospects for Ether and pave a way toward 792.5 in the middle to long term perspective. However, much of that will depend on the smoothness and timetable of Ethereum's transition from its current PoW blockchain to the new PoS one.