BTC/USD keeps on pushing to 50,000, ETH/USD goes sideways under 1,800

BTC/USD

BTC/USD started the trading session of 16th February at 47,900 and dropped to 47,100, recording a hanging-man candlestick in the first hour. Right after the close of the first hourly candlestick, the trading pair began an upswing to 49,600 that took the next three hours. Between 04:00 and 05:00 UTC, BTC/USD rocketed to above 50,000, reaching 50,230 as per the CEX.IO exchange rate, but finished the hour below the open with a high upper wick.

BTC/USD fell once more between 05:00 and 07:00 UTC, reaching 49,200, but bounced back to 49,322 between 07:00 and 09:00 UTC. Another downside corrective price move between 09:00 and 12:00 UTC took the pair to 48,000. That was followed by another spike between 12:00 and 13:00 UTC accompanied by increased trading volumes to the day’s high at 50,662. But BTC/USD was still pressured by the local resistance level at 49,600 and closed the hour at 49,637, which triggered a downside retracement between 13:00 and 14:00 UTC.

Between 14:00 and 16:00 UTC, the BTC/USD became slightly less volatile, trading between 48,750 and 49,500. But a big bearish candlestick in the hour between 16:00 and 17:00 UTC broke below the 50-period hourly simple moving average and closed at 48,131. Until 20:00 UTC, BTC/USD was mainly staying between 47,800 and 48,750.

The day’s price action shows that the buying sentiment remains dominant in BTC/USD, as the pair kept on testing 50,000 and showed the highest hourly volumes in the hour of the surge to the day’s high, which also happened to be the latest all-time high for BTC/USD. There is some local downside pressure at 49,600, but it will not be much of a challenge for continued BTC/USD price growth beyond 50,000.

In our estimation, BTC/USD will continue rising high, with the next target level set well above 50,000. The corporate and institutional demand for Bitcoin is going to continue being a key fundamental factor in supporting the bullish price dynamics in the BTC/USD trading pair.

ETH/USD

ETH/USD opened the trading session of 16th February at 1,781.8. After a dip to 1,750 in the first hour, the trading pair continued upwards in the next four hours, reaching 1,824.75 as per the CEX.IO exchange rate. But after the shooting-star hourly candlestick between 04:00 and 05:00 UTC, the pair began edging down, being pressured by the local resistance at 1,820 and the selling impulse produced by the shooting star. 

ETH/USD slipped down steeply between 06:00 and 06:15, breaching the 50-period hourly simple moving average and reaching 1,782, but still closed the hour of 06:00 UTC at the level of the SMA, which prevented the pair from closing below it in the next three hours. A breakdown below the moving average happened between 10:00 and 11:00 UTC, and ETH/USD briefly reached 1,780 in the following hour, continuing the downside dynamics. However, the sharp rebound between 12:00 and 13:00 UTC with a peak at 1,820 sent the pair back above the 50-period hourly SMA. But the local resistance level at 1,820 once again proved its selling force, sending the pair lower at the close of the hour and triggering a downside retracement one hour later.

Between 14:00 and 17:00 UTC, the pair slipped lower to 1.750 and was mainly keeping within the boundaries of the price range between 1,728 and 1,765 until 22:00 UTC. ETH/USD also closed the 4-hour candlestick between 12:00 and 16:00 UTC at the level of the 4-hour 50-period SMA. And the next 4-hour candlestick closed below the moving average, indicating a probable continuation of the downside dynamics.

The downswing to 1,750 in ETH/USD brings closer the event of a downside convergence of the 50-period 4-hour SMA by the 20-period one, which will be a selling signal for ETH/USD. However, it will be presently fair to assume that the pair is trading within a flat channel between 1,812.5 and 1,1710. As long as it is not broken, we can consider this a sideways corrective move that may generate new liquidity for the next upswing that will bring ETH/USD to above 1,800.

Presently, the shrinking trading range on the 4-hour channel in symmetric triangle pattern starting to take shape on the 4-hour timeframe is signaling a possible soon breakout outside the triangle. If that happens, it will most likely be a bullish one since the trading pair is in a bullish daily trend. Thus, we can see ETH/USD attempt to capitalise above 1,800 in the close future.