The cryptocurrency market update: Bitcoin bears have an upper hand

Bitcoin (BTC) recovers from the recent low, still under pressure.
Altcoins retain downside bias during early Asian hours.

Tanya Abrosimova Independent Analyst

The cryptocurrency market has settled down after a sharp sell-off on Thursday. Bitcoin and all major altcoins are nursing losses on a day-to-day basis with ta notable exception of Tezos (XTZ). The coin has gained over 5%, building on the recovery of the week. The total cryptocurrency market capitalization crashed to $208 billion, from $220 billion this time on Thursday; an average daily trading volume is increased to $81 billion. Bitcoin's market share settled at 66.1%.

Top-3 coins price overview

BTC/USD recovered from Thursday low of $7,393 and settled down in a new range limited by $7,700 on the upside and $7,500 on the downside. At the time of writing, BTC/USD is changing hands at $7,580, down nearly 5% on a day-to-day basis and unchanged since the beginning of the day.

BTC/USD, 1-hour chart

Ethereum, the second-largest digital asset with the current market capitalization of $17.4 billion, has settled above $160.00 after a sharp sell-off towards $156.22 on Thursday evening. The recovery is capped by the middle line of 1-hour Bollinger Band 1-hour currently at $162.50. Once it is out of the way, the upside is likely to gain traction with the next focus on psychological $170.00 reinforced by SMA50 (Simple Moving Average) and the upper line of 1-hour Bollinger Band. At the time of writing, ETH/USD down 8.5% on a day-to-day basis and unchanged since the beginning of the day.

ETH/USD, 1-hour chart

Ripple’s XRP returned to $0.2400 on Friday after a short-lived dip to $0.2357. The third-largest digital asset with the current market value of $10.4 billion has lost 3.6% of its value in recent 24 hours, unable to develop a sustainable recovery. The initial barrier is created by $0.2460 (the upper line of 1-hour Bollinger Band) followed by SMA50 1-hour at $0.2470.