Ethereum has hit a two and a half week high this morning of nearly $2,400, but Bitcoin has again failed to sustain a move over US$35,000.
At 12.15 am AEST, Ether was trading for US$2,276, up 3.0 per cent from Sunday, while BTC was changing hands for US$34,695, basically flat from yesterday.
Bitcoin broke through US$35,000 a little after 3pm on Sunday, but then dropped back under that level around 9 this morning after a run to US$36,000 was rejected.
“There’s a lot of bullish momentum and optimism across the entire market right now that is good, but we’re not out of the woods yet,” tweeted Bitcoin Charts.
Being below the daily liquidity level at $36,500 to $37,500 is very bearish, the account wrote. As long as BTC is trading below that level, there’s a chance of further downside. And the demand zone of $30,000 to $31,000 has been tested as support so many times that a test of it again would very likely lose it.
“The next move whether up or down, I think will be pretty explosive, and it’s right around the corner.”
Other analysts were more optimistic.
Bitcoin experienced the biggest difficulty drop in its history on Saturday, falling 27.9 per cent after a crackdown on Bitcoin mining in China caused a huge drop in hashpower.
The protocol automatically recalibrates roughly every two weeks to maintain a 10-minute average interval between blocks. Initial signs were indicating that BTC’s difficulty will drop further, by between 2.8 and 11.9 per cent, at the next adjustment point on July 20.
Ethereum meanwhile is gaining ahead of its London hard fork, set to go into effect late this month. The protocol upgrade is set to be deployed on the third Ethereum testnet, Rinkeby, in the middle of this week.
Overall the crypto market was up 0.9 per cent from yesterday to US$1.49 trillion.
Synthetix was the biggest gainer in the top 100, up 21.3 per cent to $US8.58. The project is still down 70 per cent from its all-time high set in February, but up from around 3.5c in January 2019.
Synethetix’s Australian founder, Sydney-based Kain Warwick, bought a $12 million home in Bronte for his parents in May, the Australian Financial Review reported this morning.
Compound was the second-biggest gainer and the only other token up by double digits. It had risen by 18.8 per cent.
Decred was the biggest loser, falling 8.1 per cent.