Altcoins retrace while Bitcoin Pauses

Unsurprisingly, cryptocurrencies took a break and had been losing steam and retracing all day, on a profit-taking day. The most bearish in the last 24 hours were Tron (-6.25%) and ATOM(-4.38%), followed by Litecoin (-2.85%) and Ripple (-2.82%). But that didn't mean there weren't advances. ZCash(+6.8%), Lisk (+15.35%), and, notably, Karma (+92.72%) were among the best climbers.

The Ethereum token section was mostly in the red, SNX(9%) being the worst performer. But there were also good looking assets such as MOF(+5.27%), QNT(+16.47%), and WAX(+28%).

The market capitalization of the sector fell 0.28 percent to $255.618 billion, and the volume traded in the last 24 hours was $41.236 billion (-16.5%). Finally, Bitcoin dominance is kept at 66.34%.

Hot News

According to cryptobriefing.com, on Jan 27, the US Securities and Exchange Commission filed three reports supporting its position that Telegram's Gram tokens represented a security. SEC's intention when presenting this report is to show that the investors who purchased Gram tokens were doing it with the expectations of profits. "It was unlikely that a reasonable purchaser would acquire Grams in order to purchase goods and services, because, among other reasons, there were no identifiable uses for Grams at the time."

MV Index Solutions (MVIS), leading Japanese firm Nomura Research Institute and Intelligent Unit (IU), partnered to launch NRI/IU, a cryptocurrency index for financial institutions. The NRI/IU crypto-index is the first crypto-asset benchmark for institutional investors in Japan. The NRI/IU index is composed of the following assets: BTC, ETH, BCH, LTC, and XRP.

Coinbase has launched Coinbase Custody International Inc. It is based in Dublin, Ireland, and offers institutional-grade crypto-asset custodial services.

Technical Analysis: Bitcoin

Bitcoin has been moving in a tight range for the last 24 hours, as expected. The price is now touching the ascending trendline and also the +1SD Bollinger line, which seems to act as a guide for the price. The only cautionary sign is the MACD crossover, which may indicate the correction is not over yet.

The level to watch is $9,436. A strong break of that level would signal a new impulse to the upside. $9,180 has behaved as good support in the last 24 hours, so a break below this level would create a more deep retracement.

Ripple

Ripple has lost its $24 level in his recent pullback, breaking the trendline and also the mid-Bollinger line. That is indicative of the nervousness of traders of this asset, as is well known that Ripple dumps new XRP's into the market when the price or circumstances seem suitable for them.

XRP has found support near $0.23, and now, after a strong bounce, is trying to conquer the $0.24 again. Currently, XRP is moving near the +1SD line; and the MACD, although it has made a bearish crossover, it seems temporary. With the price again above $0.24, buyers would be willing to join for a new leg up.

Ethereum

After touching $179, Ethereum has made an engulfing pattern that created a short retracement that carried the price down to $170, where it bounced off. The last candle is a large candle making a kind of morning star pattern on high volume and is approaching the $177 level again. Still, there is no higher high in this corrective move.

Technically, we see ETH moving near its +1SD Bollinger line, which is bullish, and the MACD currently in a bearish phase. Therefore, we need to see a higher high to be sure the correction is over. That means a break to the $177 level would initiate a new leg up.

Litecoin

Litecoin had a short retracement from $62.5 down to $58.4, but it is bouncing sharply up and now the price is touching that level again.

Technically, LTC is moving above the +1SD Bollinger line, making higher highs. It is also moving above its 20, 50 and 200-period SMA. All this shows it is in an upward trend. But, since currently, it is touching resistance levels, traders should wait for a break above $62.5 level to confirm the next move or wait for a new visit to its $58.4 support.

---

Try Secure Leveraged Trading with EagleFX!