BTC/USD rises above 32,000, ETH/USD bounces off 20-day SMA to above 1,300

BTC/USD

BTC/USD opened the trading session 28th January at 30,472 as per the exchange rate on CEX.IO. The trading pair produced the first hourly candlestick looking rather like a long-legged doji with a long lower wick. This generated some bullish impetus for the following few hours upon which the trading pair was up until 06:00 UTC and rose to 31,847, thus breaking above the 50-period hourly SMA.

BTC/USD subsequently underwent a slight correction between 06:00 and 09:00 UTC, reaching 31,200 and getting under the 50-period hourly SMA. After that BTC/USD was enjoying a steadily going ascension through to 20:00 UTC, which took the trading pair close to 32,800 and above the 50-period 4-hour SMA.

This upside recovery came rather unexpectedly after a breakdown below the 2.618 Fibonacci retracement level at 31,000, once again proving the unpredictability of financial markets. Depending on how the price behaves at 32,900, it may reverse down back to 31,000 or break through and try to reach 34,650 once again. 

However, a continuation of bearish price action remains more probable than an uptrend reversal. Therefore 32,900 and the local support level at 34,967 could be good entry points for short positions.

ETH/USD

ETH/USD opened the trading session of 28th January at 1,240.8 as per the exchange rate on CEX.IO and right at the 20-day SMA. The pair was going upwards the most of the day, having unsuccessfully tried testing the 20-day SMA in the first hour of the day. 

ETH/USD was on a tear through to 07:00 UTC, having reached above 1,320 between 06:00 and 07:00 UTC, but eventually finished the hour in a shooting star, which produced downside momentum that lasted for the next two hours.

Starting at 1,275 at 09:00 UTC, the pair continued the ascension and had risen to 1,350 by 16:00 UTC. Then ETH/USD pared the gains a little between 16:00 and 18:00 UTC and continued sideways until 20:00 UTC.

ETH/USD has been recently growing quite rapidly compared to the modest growth of BTC/USD. The sudden increase in bullish price action in ETH/USD may be the result of the anticipated transition to Ethereum 2.0, which will have staking instead of mining. Therefore, tokens are getting an additional value as passive income generators, which might be growing the demand for Ether. And it might only increase in the future as the completion of Ethereum 2.0 phase 2 is getting closer.

Considering the ETH/USD price action of 28th January,  it will be fair to conclude that the local resistance level at 1,233.1 and the 20-day SMA played their roles in the reversal, but the BTC/USD bullish price action was positive for the rebound as well. Presently, ETH/USD remains locked within a rather large margin of 1,140.5 – 1,432.1. However, from the graphic point of view the uptrend on the daily timeframe is yet going forward. The next rise to 1,392.2, if it happens soon, may be a key event that will define the ETH/USD price action for the near-to-medium term.