Bitcoin is currently consolidating below its all-time high, with analysts predicting a wait of "several more weeks" before a significant price increase.
Altcoins are showing strong momentum, led by Ethereum. A breakout above $1.2 trillion in total market cap could trigger a period of altcoin dominance.
Ethereum is surging and is up 30% in a week. ETH might also be breaking above $4,000 soon, which would fuel an altcoin season.
Increased trading volume and a bullish divergence also suggest that Ethereum might be benefiting from a post-ETF launch pump.
Despite individual movements, the overall market direction remains uncertain.
At this point, nobody really knows what the market is up to.
For example, Bitcoin is currently nursing a meagre 2.95% weekly decline. Ethereum on the other hand, is up by around 1.2% in the same timeframe, after spending the previous week in a massive 30% rally.
Bitcoin versus Ethereum
The altcoin market is responding more to Ethereum’s influence than Bitcoin’s, but the general lack of direction is still pretty evident.
Here are three of the major things to keep in mind with Bitcoin, Ethereum and the altcoins, to understand what’s been going on, and what to expect from these niches over the coming weeks.
Investors looking for a sudden Bitcoin rally and break above the $70,000 zone might have to wait for a few more weeks—at least according to analysts.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin is currently consolidating below its new all-time high of $73,800, despite making an attempt to break above last week but being rejected around $72,000.
As of 26 May, Bitcoin was clinging successfully to the $69,000 zone. However, at the time of writing, Bitcoin is slipping further down and now trades at $67,800.
Liquidity zones to keep an eye out for
According to the latest insights from Daan Crypto Trades, Bitcoin’s current consolidation is seeing liquidity build up on either side, most notably around $68.3K and $69.8K.
To put things simply, these are the major price levels to watch because a break in either direction is set to determine where the pioneering cryptocurrency goes next.
So far, Bitcoin is struggling with staying above $68,300 and might be more at risk of a flash crash, if the bulls fail to get their game up soon.
Per insights from analyst, Trader Tardigrade, the altcoin market has gained quite some momentum as of late, while being led by Ethereum.
Because of this, investors are starting to have renewed hopes for an incoming “altseason”, where the altcoins beat Bitcoin soundly in terms of performance.
“inverse head-and-shoulders pattern” on the altcoins
Trader Tardigrade notes that the current altcoin total market cap currently stands at approximately $1.16 trillion.
The interesting thing about this is that this metric has increased by around 15% over the last two weeks, and is now approaching levels last seen in mid-March when Bitcoin made its new all-time high and the altcoins followed.
In essence, Trader Tardigrade means that the altcoin market can surge significantly if it breaks above this $1.2 trillion mark, which is denoted by an "inverse head-and-shoulders pattern."
Trader Tardigrade expects this breakout to occur in the coming weeks, leading to the long-awaited altcoin season.
Renowned analyst, Michaël van de Poppe in a separate tweet, highlighted this as well.
Total market cap to $15 trillion
The analyst noted that the recent market correction from Bitcoin’s ATH has taken the cryptocurrency down by around 25%, but with a 50-70% correction for the altcoins.
In this cycle, he predicts that total market capitalization could reach $15 trillion, representing a gain of 450% from the current $2.7 trillion.
Ethereum is now dangerously close to breaking above the $4,000 zone, according to data from TradingView and CoinMarketCap.
Ethereum’s significant gains
The cryptocurrency rose by around 30% last week, reaching an intra-day high of around $3,950 on the hype around the long-awaited ETFs.
This makes Ethereum a better performer than Bitcoin about ten times over, within the one-week timeframe.
According to a recent tweet from analyst Matthew Hyland, ETH is currently in the middle of a bullish divergence and break of its previous downtrend, which is being spurred along by the current 70% increase in its trading volume.
In sum, Ethereum is in the middle of a post-ETF pump and is poised to continue further up from here, if, by chance, we see a break above the $4,000 zone.
This validates Trader Tardigrade’s outlook because a parabolic rally on Ethereum would force the market into an altcoin season, printing fresh green candlesticks on most altcoins for the next week or two.
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