Bitcoin Retraces, Altcoins Still Unable to Rally

Since our last update, bitcoin had a healthy retracement of $25 dollars after its bounce at $300 dollars. This led us to a low of $274 per coin, a down move of over 8 percent. While altcoins have failed to keep up with the BTC/USD rally, they had no problem following big brother lower. Peercoin went down by 7%, Namecoin by 9% and Litecoin by 6 percent during bitcoin’s retracement. Most coins have retraced some of the those losses however, with both Bitcoin and Litecoin getting close to its previous highs.

Bitcoin Nears $300 Again

After a sizable 8 percent retracement, bitcoin is getting close to the $300 figure again. We are currently quoted at $288 dollars per coin, just 4 percent away from this important round number. As the daily chart below shows, $300 has held up 3 previous rallies. The BTC move up on January 7th stopped at $301.01. The rally on January 26th ended at $303.30, while the most recent bounce last week stopped at $298.999.

With each subsequent test of this level, the odds increase that we will see a breakout higher. If that happens, we may see a move up towards the previous swing high at $334 per coin. Higher up, notable resistance levels include $350 and $370. To end the current rally, the bears will need to take prices below $266.

Litecoin Yet to Break $2.05

Alternative cryptocurrency Litecoin has yet to clear the $2 dollars resistance figure and break its previous high at $2.05. The crypto may be waiting for bitcoin to take out $300 dollars before following along.

We are currently trading just 2.5 percent below the mark at $2.006. With both BTC and LTC trading so close to their potential breakout points, if you’re bullish on Litecoin it may be better to wait for Bitcoin to break $300 first. Big brother is only 4 percent away from this round figure, so if a LTC rally happens, you probably wont miss much of the move by waiting.

Beyond $2 dollars the first important resistance level for Litecoin can be found at the previous swing high at $2.40. This number ended the January rally in LTC/USD. Higher up, we have notable resistance levels at $2.70, $3 dollars and $3.40 per coin. Since Litecoin is yet to breakout from its range, a clearing of the low of this congestion area at $1.66 dollars may spark a downtrend in prices. Important support levels below include $1.50 and $1.05.

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