Cryptocurrencies are getting close to their lows for this year. Bitcoin’s fall during the last two days reverberated in the cryptocurrency arena. In the early part of today’s trading session, BTC/USD broke the $339 support level and fell to a low of $332.51. At the same time, Litecoin broke $3.40 per coin and is nearing $3.05. Both cryptos have since recovered the losses. Namecoin is trading at the $0.85 mark, just 10 cents above its 2014 low.

Litecoin Breaks Important Support at $3.40

Today Litecoin broke the important $3.40 support level. The move lower sent LTC prices to $3.34 before a recovery rally reversed the losses.

Despite the full recovery, prices are likely to continue the downtrend. The odds for this increase if big brother bitcoin continues its foray lower. The $3.40 level held up three previous onslaughts by the bears in the past 4 months. While today’s break should open the way to the yearly low at $3.05, it would be prudent to wait for a retest of today’s low at $3.34. The bearish scenario could be negated if Litecoin climbs back above the $4 dollars per coin. Similarly, a bitcoin move back above $360 may embolden the LTC bulls.

Namecoin Breaks Out of Wedge

Namecoin broke out of the wedge mentioned in our article on December 2^nd. The initial move lower led to losses of around 4 percent but NMC soon stabilized around the $0.85 figure.

Namecoin has a lot of support below 85 cents. The first weak support stands at the November 21^st swing low at $0.821. This is followed by the $0.80 round figure and the important October 5^th swing low at $0.783. The 2014 low for Namecoin stands at $0.751. While the momentum is unmistakably down, the NMC/USD chart doesn’t look as weak, especially compared to LTC/USD. With no technical break like Litecoin’s $3.40 and no fundamental Namecoin news, the pair will count on big brother bitcoin for price catalysts.

Bitcoin Fundamentals Weighing on Sentiment

Bitcoin fundamentals are weighing on investor sentiment. According to BitPay, this year’s Bitcoin Black Friday saw a 82% increase in the number of merchants with completed transactions. But the bitcoin payment processor refrained from publishing overall volume sales data, like they did for 2013, indicating that this year’s event was likely a disappointment. Traders are speculating that the second bitcoin auction was another disappointment, gathering bids below the market price.

In some positive news for bitcoin, Microsoft decided to add BTC payments for mobile content and Xbox games. The news sparked a $20 dollar reversal in bitcoin prices, from $335 to $355 per coin. Litecoin moved up from $3.34 to $3.46. If you are bearish on bitcoin or litecoin, it would be prudent to wait for a break of today’s lows at $332 and $3.34 respectively.

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