ETH Suddenly Explodes Higher, BTC Follows

The weekend’s rather inexplicable fall in crypto values fuelled an already negative sentiment following the reversal of the early year rally. With this in mind, it made Monday’s moves all the more surprising. Ethereum (ETH), which I personally feel has been leading the broader market for the past month, suddenly explodes higher, rallying from $116.80 to $131.40 in under 30 minutes. Bitcoin (BTC) follows, jumping from $3,540 to $3,705 in equally short order. But why? Why such a sharp move? Was it the announcement by the Bakkt Exchange (which has yet to launch) that they have acquired some parts of Rosenthal Collins’ business? Maybe the announcement by HSBC that they have processed over $250 billion of trades via distributed ledger technology? Or perhaps some last minute ‘Ethereum Euphoria’ ahead of the much-publicized Constantinople fork? Take your pick or pick all three, but in the blink of an eye, sentiment has turned once again.

Technical Analysis

After today’s rally, I could just re-post yesterday’s ETH chart and once again highlight the band of support in the $111.50 – $112.35 window. That level is now even stronger given today’s rejection. However, I shall resist and turn attention back to BTC. Charts are all about interpretation. And the following hourly BTC chart shows that after the first few days of the rally from December’s lows, we have in fact been in a shallow down-channel. Even with the width of the channel being $700, it’s worth keeping an eye on the bigger picture, as investors will trade a break. Throw in an RSI reading for good measure and we are actually showing to be in overbought territory – not what the average Bitcoin holder wants to see at $3,675!