Peercoin, Namecoin Lag Behind as Bitcoin Surges

Bitcoin surged higher on Tuesday, breaking the $400 handle and hitting $421.59 dollars at its peak. From here we retraced somewhat but BTC/USD is still trading almost 6 percent higher since our last update, currently at $414 dollars per coin. However alternative cryptocurrencies Namecoin and Peercoin are lagging behind at +2.1% and +3% since the start of trading on Tuesday.

Peercoin Rally Still Underway

Peercoin is quoted at $0.418 right now, 2.4 cents or 6% higher since last Thursday. But when compared to big brother Peercoin underperformed, bitcoin gained $59 dollars or 16.6 percent since December 3rd.

Despite the smaller gains during the past 60 hours, PPC is still in rally mode. To end it, the bears will need to make a decisive push below the $0.378 cents swing low. A break above the $0.477 high is needed to renew the lost momentum higher. Resistance above here can be found at the $0.50 round figure, followed by the November 4th swing high at $0.579 dollars.

On the lower end, a break of $0.35 would start a new PPC downtrend. Below here we find several weaker support levels at at $0.333, $0.324 and $0.321. Breaking this cluster could open the door to the round 30 cents level.

Namecoin Continues Range

Alternative cryptocurrency Namecoin is continuing to linger inside a congestion area, despite an on-going BTC rally. The number to ”beat” is still the 54 cents level. A decisive break above this previous swing high could start a new NMC rally. Higher up, resistance can be found at $0.666, followed by the July swing high at $0.717 dollars per coin.

On the downside, a move below the $0.359 swing low may start a new downtrend in prices. Below 35 cents the next support can be found at the double bottom formation near 33 cents. This level is followed by the $0.306 August lows and the round $0.30 figure. A clearing of this support area may take us to the yearly low for Namecoin at $0.274. A clean break below here would intensify the losses.

Look at Bitcoin Levels

Since altcoins usually take their cues from big brother bitcoin, let’s take a look at some of its important levels as well. On the upside, the first weak resistance stands at yesterday’s high near $422 dollars. This is followed by a stronger resistance level at the round $450 figure and this year’s high for BTC on FxOpen at $459.20. The 2015 high on most other exchanges was around $500 dollars, so note down this level as well.

On the bottom, support can be found at the $400 round figure, followed by $380 dollars. But to end the current rally, the bears will need to push bitcoin below $345 dollars per coin.