Global Bitcoin prices seem to be pulled higher by the continuing problems at Bitfinex. One coin is selling for $1,390 right now, a gain of $150 compared to one week ago. Litecoin is up too albeit at a smaller clip.
Bitcoin Gains on Bitfinex Problems?
Bitcoin continues to gain ground, currently quoted at $1,390 dollars. This is a gain of 12 percent since last Tuesday. Prices on troubled exchange Bitfinex are trading at $1,577 dollars right now. Most USA-based exchanges are quoting BTC/USD around $1,470 dollars. On a side note, Chinese exchanges are still well below USD sites at $1,270 dollars per coin.
For us though, the USD market matters more. Prices lagging behind on FXOpen / BTC-E crypto currency trading platforms is something that tends to happen during large jumps in prices like we had in the past two days. A contributing factor to the BTC rally has been the large sell-off in altcoins yesterday. Ether, bitcoin’s largest competitor, was down by over 16 percent at one point.
Technically BTC/USD remains in an uptrend. To end it the bears will have to push prices below $1,200 round figure. A break below the $1,156 swing low is needed to start a new BTC downtrend. Note that these levels are based off Fxopen charts.
With prices at an all-time high, no previous resistance levels can be seen, except the obvious round figures at $1,400, $1,500 etc… On the lower end, we have support at $1,200 followed by $1,156 and the $1,000 round level. A major level of support remains around the $900 figure. A breakdown below here would exacerbate the losses.
Litecoin Mostly Stable
After the deal with miners, Segwit was successfully locked in on LTC and will activate in the next two weeks. Litecoin prices are trading mostly stable around the $15 dollars level. This means that most if not all of the Segwit gains have been priced in.
Similarly to BTC, Litecoin remains in rally mode. A breakdown below $11.70 is needed to end the bullish bias. On the long-term charts, LTC/USD is looking bullish on both the weeklies and the monthlies.
Below current prices we have support at the $13.33 swing low, followed by the former resistance around $12.55 to $12.83 dollars per coin. Like we said above, below $11.70 the uptrend will be broken. A move below the $10 round figure would switch the current trend to down. On the upper end, we have resistance around $15.80 – $15.90 dollars. A breakout above this resistance area could lead to more LTC gains.
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