Not much change for bitcoin and litecoin during the past week. Bitcoin is up by 2.6 percent since last Tuesday while LTC is down by 4.7 percent. Given previous crypto volatility, these are relatively small price movements.

Bitcoin Slightly Up

Bitcoin prices had a wild ride last week but ultimately ended up not far from where they started. Buying one BTC will cost you $14,287 dollars right now, compared to $13,929 last week.

The technical picture on the daily charts hasn’t changed. We’re still in a range. To end it we need a move below the $10,680 swing low. A breakout below here could start a new downtrend. Higher up the hurdle to more gains is set at $17,231. A clearing of this resistance could start a new uptrend and open the door to the $20,000 round figure.

For now we remain in wait and see mode. On the weekly and monthly charts the picture is unchanged as well with both charts keeping the bullish bias.

On the news front we got two bearish items but the market seems to have largely shrugged them off, at least for now. Reuters reports that two prospective bitcoin ETFs got shelved by their proponents. The reason cited are concerns the SEC (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) is having with the liquidity and valuation of the futures contracts on which the ETFs are based on. A large reason for the BTC/USD rally in the lead up of the CME/CBOE futures listing in December was hope that they will lead to an ETF. This in turn would’ve led to unlocking some retirement and investment money, which can not ‘buy in’ now due to regulatory obstacles. At least that’s how the narrative goes.

The second negative news item was China planning to shut down crypto-currency mining in the country. A large majority of bitcoin mining is concentrated in China right now. According to the leaked documents, authorities were instructed to force mining operations out of business using measures linked to electricity pricing, land use, tax and environmental protection.

Litecoin Mostly Flat

Similarly to BTC/USD, litecoin too is trading little changed. We are quoted right below the $245 dollars figure at the moment, down from $257 dollars last Tuesday.

Unlike bitcoin however, LTC/USD managed to tentatively keep its bullish bias on the dailies. To end it the bears will need to push us below the $200 round figure. A breakdown below the $162.22 swing low is needed to start a new downtrend. You can see some of the support and resistance levels on the chart above. On the weekly and monthly charts litecoin is looking bullish as well.

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