The cryptocurrency market started last week pretty flat and unchanged. However, following the Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s Wednesday speech, prices have recovered, and most major cryptocurrencies closed the trading week green. Powell stated that December would bring smaller interest rate hikes.
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Some cryptocurrencies saw impressive rallies, including Uniswap (UNI) up 14%, Apecoin (APE)—up 12%, while Doge (DOGE) continued its strong momentum, up 17%.
As a follow-up to last week’s article, this piece will go over the cryptocurrencies to watch this week: Bitcoin (BTC-USD), Ethereum (ETH-USD), Ripple (XRP-USD), and Litecoin (LTC-USD).
Bitcoin (BTC-USD)
The biggest cryptocurrency by market cap managed to keep above the $17,000 support last week, and at writing, Bitcoin is up 3.5% in the last seven days.
As Bitcoin starts its fourth week within the tight consolidation range mentioned in last week’s breakdown, it would be beneficial for traders to keep a close eye on whether or not this bullish momentum continues this week. As long as the price remains above the resistance at $17,000, the next resistance level to watch for is $20,000. However, if the negative sentiment caused by the FTX scandal continues to spread fear across the market, the next support for Bitcoin is around $11,800.
Ethereum (ETH-USD)
Ethereum continued to be slightly stronger than Bitcoin last week as the cryptocurrency is up 4.5%, with traders regaining confidence in the markets after the FTX collapse.
As of now, Ethereum is also in a consolidation pattern, and it can be clearly seen on the daily chart that the current resistance is at $1,300 while support is at $1,000.
The $1,000 support level is extremely important for Ethereum, as not only is it a strong support area, but it’s also a round number that has strong psychological effects on traders.
The second-biggest crypto by market cap is trading at around $1,270. This is just a few dollars away from the resistance at $1,300. If there is a continuation of the recent move higher, with a potential break over $1,300, the next resistance level will be at $1,400. However, if sellers regain control and drop the price below the $1,000 support, the price could fall to the $700 support level.
Ripple (XRP-USD)
On Friday, December 2, Ripple made its final submission defending itself to the court in the ongoing trial with the SEC. Ripple argued that the SEC has been unable to prove its case against XRP.
The company wrote, “After nearly two years of pleadings, discovery, and motion practice, the SEC still cannot identify the alleged “common enterprise,” cannot explain how XRP holders can meaningfully expect profits from Ripples Efforts, and cannot respond to the point that many XRP recipients invested no money at all.”
From a technical perspective, XRP is currently trading within a range between the support at $0.36 and the resistance at $0.40. Traders might want to wait for a break above or below that consolidation area for any clues as to where the price might be heading next.
In the event of a break above that area, the next resistance should be around $0.45. However, if this consolidation phase ends up breaking lower, the next support to watch out for is $0.34.
Litecoin (LTC-USD)
After two strong weeks for Litecoin, where buyers continued to push the price higher and higher, the last week was very slow for Bitcoin’s younger brother. At the moment, LTC is trading at ~$76 and up 0.2% in the last seven days.
Should the price remain above the $76 area, the next resistance to watch out for should be around $80. However, if sellers regain control and push lower, the next support area to pay attention to should be around $65.
Conclusion: Is a Santa Claus Rally Possible This Year?
As we enter the final month of the year, which is considered historically good for high-risk assets, traders should keep a close eye on the federal reserve’s rate meeting, which is scheduled for next week. In the event that rates remain relatively low and risk appetite comes back to the market, we should see a nice rally to close the year in the crypto space.
