Ripple and Stellar Lead the Way as Crypto Market Shakes Off Rout
The cryptocurrency market is showing early signs of possible recovery, with Ripple and Stellar performing best among the top 10 currencies.
Jan 18, 2018 at 3:20 p.m. UTC:format(webp)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/coindesk/TZG6SQHWGVGJXDIDDTEWQLWXEA.jpg)
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Cryptocurrencies have witnessed a "V" shaped recovery in the last 24 hours, with Ripple (XRP) and Stellar (XLM) leading the way among top 10 currencies.
As of writing, XRP is trading at $1.57. The world's third-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization has appreciated by 56 percent in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap. More impressive has been XRP's 77 percent recovery from the 3.5 week low of $0.897797 hit yesterday.
However, the cryptocurrency is still down 17 percent on a weekly basis, while year-to-date, XRP has depreciated by 31 percent.
Meanwhile, Stellar's XLM token has appreciated by 53 percent in the last 24 hour. XLM was last seen changing hands at $0.535388. As of writing, prices are up 80 percent from yesterday's 2.5 week low of $0.305034.
That said, XLM is largely unchanged week-on-week. Also, on a year-to-date basis, the world's ninth largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization is up 48.41 percent.
Ripple 4-hour chart
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The above chart (prices as per Bitfinex) shows:
- The 50-day moving average (MA) carries a strong bearish bias (sloping downwards).
- A bearish crossover between 50-MA and 100-MA (long-term average cuts short-term average from above).
- The 200-day MA has shed bullish bias and is currently neutral (flatlined).
- XRP is trading above the head-and-shoulders neckline.
- The descending trend line is still intact.
View
- Lower highs as represented by descending trend line and bearish MA indicate the bears are still in the game.
- A quick move above $2.25 (right shoulder high) would add credence to the sharp recovery from $0.85 and turn the tide in favor of the bulls.
- On the other hand, a failure to hold above the head-and-shoulders neckline, followed by a break below $1.20, could yield a deeper sell-off to $0.60 levels. A violation there would expose $0.30 (head-and-shoulders breakdown target).
Stellar chart
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The above chart (prices calculated by TradingView) shows:
- Descending channel (price action contained between two downward sloping lines) is intact.
- Bearish 50-day and 100-day MA crossover.
- 50-day MA carries a strong bearish bias (sloping downwards).
- 100-day and 200-day MA have topped out, but are neutral (flat).
View
- Despite the recovery from the low of $0.29, the outlook for Stellar remains bearish as indicated by above technical points.
- Only a multiple 4-hour closes above $0.60 (upside break of descending channel) would abort the bearish view and open thedoors for $0.90–$1.00.
- Meanwhile, the sell-off could resume if prices drop below $0.40. In such a scenario, prices could drop to $0.24 (falling channel support).
Disclosure: CoinDesk is a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which has an ownership stake in Ripple.
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