Despite the unemployment report published on Friday, October 7, that showed that U.S. employers added 263,000 jobs last month, the crypto and equity markets continued their bearish trend and moved further down. As a follow-up to last week’s article, this piece will go over the cryptocurrencies to watch this week: Bitcoin (BTC-USD), Ethereum (ETH-USD), Ripple (XRP-USD), and Litecoin (LTC-USD).
Bitcoin (BTC-USD)
At writing, the biggest cryptocurrency by market cap is trading at $19,200, roughly flat in the last seven days. As mentioned in last week’s market breakdown, the support, an area on the chart where buyers are stronger, is at $18,500. Although the selling pressure is still strong, the buyers are still unwilling to give up and are keeping the price above that level.
If the sellers keep pushing down this week and break below the support at $18,500, the next area of support sits at $17,500. However, on-chain data shows the hash rate to be very high. The hash rate is a key security metric, meaning that the more hashing (computing) power in the network, the greater its security and its overall resistance to attack. This may suggest that buyers are ready to come into the markets. If BTC’s price moves higher, its next resistance level is at $22,000.
Ethereum (ETH-USD)
As of now, Ethereum is showing a bit more strength than Bitcoin, as it is up almost 3% in the last seven days. By looking at the chart, it can be seen that the support area at $1,300 is still holding strong.
If selling pressure resumes this week, the next support area traders need to be aware of is at $1200. However, if buyers come into the markets and break above the “bear flag” shown on the chart, the next resistance area will be $1,450.
Ripple (XRP-USD)
XRP continues to be much stronger than the rest of the crypto market and is up more than 15% in the last seven days. As discussed in the previous articles, the major reason for this is the hope that an end to the ongoing trial with the SEC is just around the corner. Looking at the chart, XRP broke above the strong resistance at $0.5, which is now acting as support.
If the upside momentum continues, the next resistance area to tackle is at $0.65. However, if the news is bad and sellers regain control, a break below $0.5 could lead the cryptocurrency back to its previous area of support at around $0.4.
Litecoin (LTC-USD)
When Ethereum moved away from Proof of Work last month, previous ETH miners were forced to find a different cryptocurrency to mine, and many of them moved to Litecoin. Since the lows of around $40 seen in June 2022, Litecoin has managed to go up by an impressive 70% all the way to nearly $70 per token. Since then, the price has corrected slightly, and now, Litecoin is trading at $53.
The next major support area is very close, at $50. If sellers manage to break below that level, they can push the price all the way down to the next support at $42. However, if buyers do come into the markets, Litecoin is looking good to continue its upward movement toward the next resistance at $70.
Conclusion: Volatility is Benefiting Traders, but Investors May Start Accumulating
For day traders that trade in and out of the market, the recent few weeks have been amazing, the strong volatility offers plenty of opportunities to go in both short and long, simply trading from one zone to another, so long as the current market conditions continue and the market stays within the same range. This strategy seems to be the most efficient at the moment.
Nonetheless, for investors that are looking to buy and hold for a few years or so, the prices right now are very low compared to where the market was just a few months ago, so if you believe a certain project will do good in the long run, this may be a good time to start building your positions for the years to come.
