Bitcoin(BTC) and Ethereum(ETH) disappoint with poor price action in 2023, but Altcoins gain BIG!

KEY TAKEAWAYS

1. Top crypto tokens by market cap – Bitcoin price is up 0.4% trading around $16,700, Ethereum price at about $1215, up about 1.2%.
2. Global crypto market cap is up about 0.9% in the past 24 hours, currently at about $805 billion.

CRYPTO MARKET TODAY AT A GLANCE

TOP CRYPTOS TODAY BY MARKET CAP

As is evident from the chart above, heavyweights in the market like Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and Binance Coin (BNB) have remained somewhat lacklustre in their performance in the past 24 hours, and even since the beginning of the year too. However, some other altcoins have managed to take everyone by surprise and made some serious gains. Altcoins like Litecoin (LTC) and Solana (SOL) have managed to gain the most in the past 24 hours.

Also, Litecoin has gained significantly in the past couple of days too, and thus has risen up the ranks in the top 15 cryptos by market cap to now stand at the 8th position as of writing. Even Solana has gained in double digit figures since the beginning of the year.

BITCOIN PRICE TODAY

BTC/USD | Source: Tradingview

Bitcoin price action over the course of the past two weeks or so has been very lacklustre. Even since the beginning of the year, the king coin did see a slight upward move, but that's next to negligible - all things considered. Ever since the collapse of the FTX crypto exchange in early November 2022, Bitcoin has been trading within a very right range between $15,600 to $17,300. Bitcoin had managed to make some gains in the early days of December but quickly lost all the steam post the announcement by the Fed that came in the same month.

Read all about the FTX fiasco here: FTX Collapse Explained

From a technical standpoint too, Bitcoin is standing on a very weak ledge. BTC price is practically at one of the lowest point in the past 26 months, just about $1000 from the lowest recorded level of $15,500. It is also below any and all critical support levels on the chart, and thus would face strong selling pressures whenever it tries to make a recovery. However, the Relative Strength Index is in a reasonably comfortable position but on the other hand - the 50 and the 200 day moving averages are far away from each other and would further add to selling pressures on the upside.

Read more: BTC Price Prediction 2023

ETH/USD | Source: Tradingview

Ethereum price performance too has been on the weaker side, much like Bitcoin's. ETH price has only managed to gain about 2.5% since the beginning of the year, however, thanks to its rally back in the month of July and August 2022 ahead of the highly anticipated Ethereum Merge, its subsequent crash after the Merge has been less disastrous as compared to Bitcoin. Ethereum price is still above the lowest point of 2022.

Along with those factors, ETH price also happens to be very close to breaking out of its immediate resistance level (marked in black) and the 50 day moving average (marked in cyan), both of which happen to almost coincide as of writing. If in the days to come we see some recovery above these levels, the $1250 price level would serve as a strong region of support going forward for Ethereum.

Read more: Ethereum Price Prediction

ALTCOINS OUTSHINE HEAVYWEIGHTS!

While Bitcoin and Ethereum have not been able to provide any strong directional stimulus to the crypto market at large, there have been some other altcoins which have managed to gain significant amounts in the past couple of days, even since the beginning of the year 2023. One of the most prominent ones include Litecoin, as mentioned earlier which has jumped up several places on the top cryptos by market cap list and managed to feature on the 8th position as of writing this article. In the past two months, LTC price has managed to rally over 40% and in the past week alone has been able to scale 15%!

Even Solana, which has been one of the poorest performers in the past year amongst the top cryptos by market cap, has managed to make significant gains too. While SOL price had been falling continuously all through the past year, in the first three days of 2023, SOL price has managed to gain about 25%.

Prices as on 3 January, 2023.