Bitcoin Drops, Litecoin Back in Downtrend

Petar Kotevski -

Both bitcoin and litecoin lost ground since our last update. The percentage of the drop differed greatly however. While BTC/USD fell by $192 dollars or close to 3 percent, LTC/USD declined by a much larger 6.8 percent. This put LTC back in a downtrend.

Bitcoin Still in Larger Range

With the sizeable drop on October 29th Bitcoin broke out of the smaller trading range, marked with a yellow rectangle on the chart below. We are currently quoted at $6,326 dollars, close to the most recent low at $6,295 dollars.

Despite this smaller breakout however BTC prices are still well within the the larger range on the daily charts. The top of this range is at $6,825 dollars while the bottom is at $6,116 dollars. A breakout above/below these bounds could lead to a new uptrend/downtrend. As noted in previous articles, during times of market stress (like the recent Tether panic) it’s better to get an average price from the major exchanges like Bitstamp and Coinbase instead of relying on a single price provider. This smooths out the noise that could come from an exchange with internal problems not related to the general bitcoin ecosystem.

In the past week the ‘gap’ between the Tether and USD-based exchanges shrunk further. The troubled stablecoin is currently trading at 99 cents on the dollar.  The implied gap measured by the difference between bitcoin prices on Tether and USD exchanges is at $70 dollars or 1.1 percent. On the longer-term charts the picture is unchanged, we’re slightly bearish on the weeklies and slightly bullish on the monthlies.

Litecoin Back in Downtrend

Unlike BTC, the drop in Litecoin was enough to push the coin back in a downtrend. We are quoted at $49.33 dollars right now, down by 6.8 percent compared to last Wednesday.

Prices traded as low as $47.92 dollars on October 29th, nearly matching this year’s low at $47.03 dollars. A decisive breakdown below here could lead to extended losses for LTC/USD. Higher up the bulls need a break above the $54.24 swing high to end the bear market on the daily charts. Litecoin is also looking bearish on the weekly charts. The monthlies are not showing a clear trend as of yet.