Bitcoin, Ether, and XRP Weekly Market Update December 23, 2019
The total crypto market cap added $6.5 billion to its value over the last seven days and now, at time of writing, stands at $199.2 billion. The top 10 currencies were all in red for the same time frame with Ripple (XRP) and Cardano (ADA) being the worst performers with 9.8 and 6.1 percent of loses respectively. By the time of writing bitcoin (BTC) is trading at $7,561 while ether (ETH) dropped further to $132. Ripple’s XRP is trading at $0.196.
BTC/USD
Bitcoin successfully rebounded from the $7,000 level on Sunday, December 15, and closed the day in the green at $7,113. Still, it was 5.5 percent down on a weekly basis. The most popular cryptocurrency opened the new trading period with a huge drop on Monday, falling as low as $6,878 losing 3.3 percent of its value.
On Tuesday the BTC/USD pair continued to slide to $6,600. It erased another 4.1 percent and reached territories not seen since May 2019.
The mid-week session on Wednesday brought some positive vibes to the market as the coin managed to recover to $6,884 midday and then moved above the mid-term downtrend channel and closed at $7,292 in the evening, adding 9.3 percent.
On Thursday, December 19, it made a correction to $7,141, but not before hitting the $7k once again.
We saw bitcoin trading as low as $7,073 on the last day of the work week, just to close with a small gain to $7,192.
The BTC/USD pair was not able to establish a definitive trend and this was even more obvious during the weekend sessions. It first moved to down to $7,148 on Saturday, erasing all winnings from the previous day. Then, on Sunday, December 22, it skyrocketed to $7,504, closing the week with a solid green candle and a 5 percent increase for the period.
ETH/USD
The Ethereum Project token ETH closed the week at $142 after moving in the $144 -$139 range during the session on Sunday, December 15. It was 5.9 percent down for the seven-day period.
Bulls were unable to break above the downtrend line which resulted in further losses. The leading altcoin fell off a cliff on Monday and lost 7 percent to close at $132.
On Tuesday, December 17, bears pushed price down to $121 or 8 percent lower compared to the previous session. The last time we saw the ether trading this low was in February 2019.
Wednesday was somehow more positive for the whole crypto community as the major coins managed to regain some of their positions. The ETH/USD pair moved up to $133, but not before touching $116 during intraday. It was 10 percent up on a daily basis.
The trading day on Thursday, December 19, saw ether dropping below $130 as it was not able to confirm the bull reversal and climb above the downtrend channel. It closed with a red candle to $128.
On Friday, the Ethereum token remained flat for the day after trading in the $129-$125 range.
The weekend started with another drop, this time to $127 on Saturday, December 21. It was followed by a very positive session on the last day of the week. The ether climbed up to $132 registering a 4 percent increase. Still, it lost 7 percent for the last seven days.
XRP/USD
The Ripple company token, XRP, rebounded from the lower end of the $0.214 -$0.218 support corridor on Sunday, December 15, and climbed up to $0.216. It closed the seven-day period with a 5.6 percent loss.
XRP/USD opened trading on Monday with a huge drop to $0.205, losing 5 percent of its value after being rejected around $0.217.
The popular altcoin continued to slide on Tuesday, December 17, dropping to $0.182 in one of its worst sessions this year. Bears managed to erase another 11 percent of the XRP price. The last time we saw the XRP token trading that low was in October 2017.
The mid-week session on Wednesday was quite volatile, still, it brought some relive for bulls. After trading in the wide-area between $0.175-$0.20, the “ripple” closed with a green candle to $0.195.
On Thursday, December 19, we could not see a continuation of the good performance and the coin once again corrected its price, this time to $0.187.
The last day of the workweek brought another positive session for buyers as neither they nor bears were able to establish a trend. The XRP/USD pair closed at $0.194, right in the middle of the $0.20 -$0.19 support zone.
The weekend of December 21-22 started with a small correction to $0.192 on Saturday, which was followed by a winning session on Sunday.
The XRP moved up to $0.197 and ended the week 8.7 percent lowered compared to the previous trading period.
Altcoin of the Week
Our Altcoin of the week is a less known token by the name of Blockstack (STX). It made a huge impression during the last seven days by adding 54 percent to its value.
As per the official website of the company, the Blockstack project is building a decentralized computing network and app ecosystem, which is mainly focused on providing blockchain-based security and encryption for its users. It allows developers to build their own blockchain-based applications in less than an hour by using 100% Javascript.
The coin peaked at $0.219 on Sunday, December 22 and is currently ranked at #67 on the CoinGecko Top 100 list with a total market capitalization of approximately $59 million. It is 33 percent up for the two-week period.
As of the time of writing, the STX is trading at 0.0000168 against Bitcoin on the Binance daily chart.