It’s all about Ethereum for crypto traders on the day as Bitcoin faces crucial resistance and a slew of sellers lying in wait.
Bitcoin (BTC) hugged $22,000 on July 19 as macro conditions slowly turned to favor risk assets.
BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView
Stocks, crypto rise as dollar weakens
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD cooling volatility immediately below the crucial 200-week moving average (WMA).
The Wall Street open saw further gains for United States equities in the face of a declining U.S. dollar, which extended its retracement after hitting its latest two-decade peak.
The U.S. dollar index (DXY) stood at around 106.5 at the time of writing, down 2.6% from the high seen July 14.
For Bitcoin analysts, it was thus a case of wait and see as markets bided their time between buy and sell levels.
$BTC / $USD – Update
These are the options on #Bitcoin right .. If we can sustain above the $21,700 range high and gain momentum, we can pump for the wave 3 ..
However, if we die down i am looking for another corrective wave down .. pic.twitter.com/cLGVGdTivK
— Crypto Tony (@CryptoTony__) July 19, 2022
“Shared this chart before, but just like that the $DXY is tanking, resulting into risk-on assets showing some momentum,” Cointelegraph contributor Michaël van de Poppe tweeted in an update on the day alongside a DXY chart.
“Yields need to drop now too, but the weakness on the Dollar could put more strength on crypto and Bitcoin.”
U.S. dollar index (DXY) 1-hour candle chart. Source: TradingView
On-chain monitoring resource Material Indicators, meanwhile, flagged the difference in strength between “psychological” levels such as $21,000 and $22,000 and the 200 WMA closer to $23,000.
“IMO, resistance at $21k and $22k are psychological, whereas the 200 WMA serves as legit technical resistance. FireCharts shows more BTC bid liquidity coming in to support an R/S flip at $21k,” it told Twitter followers on the day publishing data from the Binance order book.
“Looking for more bid liquidity to challenge the ever important 200 WMA.”
BTC/USD order book data (Binance). Source: Material Indicators/ Twitter
The day belongs to Ethereum
Deja vu for altcoin traders, meanwhile, came in the form of outperformance from Ether (ETH) versus other major cryptocurrencies’ intraday gains.
Related: 100X Bitcoin energy use would mean ‘absurd’ $20M BTC price — developer
ETH/USD, already up 25% in a week, added to its momentum overnight, climbing another 20% in just over 24 hours to briefly pass $1,600.
Resistance in the form of the 2018 high at $1,530 posed little problem for bulls, with the level forming a support focus at the time of writing.
“Ethereum relative to Bitcoin has closed above a key resistance,” popular trading account Game of Traders forecast.
“Buckle up for some big moves.”
ETH/USD 1-day candle chart (Binance). Source: TradingView
The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.
