Ethereum Price Analysis: ETH/USD bulls have to wait for another chance to test $240.00

• Ethereum (ETH) retreated from the short-term channel resistance.
•  A sustainable move $240.00 is needed for the upside to gain traction.

Ethereum (ETH) attempted a recovery above $239 during early Asian hours but retreated to $237.89 by press time. The second-largest coin is locked in a tight range with short-term bullish bias, which means the price may retest the intraday high ahead of the US opening. ETH, the second-largest digital asset with the current market capitalization of $26.6 billion, has gained 1.44% on a day-to-day basis and stayed unchanged since the beginning of the day.

ETH/USD: Technical picture

ETH/USD settled above the local support area created by 200-hour SMA at $237.17. This MA stopped the sell-off ahead of the European opening and may serve as a backstop later during the day. The next support comes at a 50-hour SMA at $236.00. Once it is broken, the sell-off may be extended towards $234.00 (1---hour SMA). The price will recover from this area, but strong upside momentum is unlikely at this stage as the intraday RSI stays flat in the neutral territory. 

From the longer-term perspective, a move below $230.00 will open up the way to 100-day SMA100 at $216 and the critical barrier is created by a 200-day simple moving average on approach to $200 level.

On the upside, the local resistance is created by the upper limit of the intraday consolidation channel at $239.00.  A sustainable move above this area is needed for the upside to gain traction towards psychological $240.00 and the upper line of the daily Bollinger Band at $248.50 followed by $260.00

ETH/USD 1-hour chart