Not much has changed in cryptoland since our last update. As BTC prices stay stuck in a range, volatility continues to decline. Bitcoin’s daily range shrunk to only $6 dollars yesterday and the effect can be left across all altcoins.

Peercoin Calms Down After Wild Ride

Alternative cryptocurrency Peercoin had a wild ride on Tuesday as prices first rallied 50 percent to a high of $0.475, then fell 31% to a low of $0.324 before eventually stabilizing around 36 cents per coin. But even PPC has calmed down as bitcoin volatility shrinks to levels not seen since the Christmas holidays season.

Despite the massive swings few days ago, PPC/USD didn’t breach any of the important technical levels mentioned in our roundup last week. On the upside, prices hit a high of $0.475, just below the half-parity level at $0.50. If the bulls can clear this important mark going forward, we are looking at the December 29th swing high near $0.60. Higher still, the previous support area between $0.70 and $0.73 may now turn to resistance on the way up. This area is marked with a yellow rectangle on the chart above. On the lower end, the important figure to watch is 24 cents. A move below $0.24 could lead to a resumption of the downtrend.

Namecoin Still Between $0.44 and $0.50

Namecoin is still trading in a range between a low of $0.44 and a high of $0.50. During the past week price extremes reached as high as $0.511 and as low as $0.436 but ultimately NMC pulled back inside the bounds.

As we said last week: ”Treat any breakouts with caution until the range matures.”  However, the important levels at $0.55 on the upside and $0.379 on the downside haven’t been broken. If Namecoin bulls can rally past $0.55, we are looking at the January 26th swing high near $0.65. Higher up, $0.70 and $0.75 may act as resistance levels. On the downside, we have weak support at $0.40. This is followed by this year’s low at $0.379. A NMC break below $0.379 could lead to more losses.

Keep an Eye on Bitcoin

As usual, whenever trading altcoins you should keep one eye on big brother bitcoin. As we can see on the chart below, volatility as measured by the 14 day Average True Range has been falling since peeking at $28 dollars on January 26th. Yesterday we dipped below $12 dollars. We haven’t traded this low since a low of $11.38 on January 1st. Previous periods of low volatility were followed by explosion in the daily ranges coupled with price breakouts.

On January 3rd BTC/USD fell by $23 dollars and the daily range expanded to $27 dollars. The two important figures for BTC are $250 and $192, a move beyond either of these price extremes may spark a breakout higher/lower.

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