Bitcoin (
$110,171.00 ) (BTC) hovered near $43,000 on Jan. 17 as its “boring” price action combined with signs that the market could be stabilizing.
BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView
Leverage comes off all-time highs
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD staying firmly within its established trading range between $40,000 and $45,000.
With few surprises expected thanks to the Wall Street holiday, traders took the opportunity to call for a level-headed approach on focus on altcoins.
Bitcoin ( $110,171.00 ) is down a few hundred dollars! Quick, someone come up with a narrative for this incredible crash and spread it around the media and twitter!
(This is sarcasm, nothing is happening, Bitcoin ( $110,171.00 ) is sideways and boring)
— The Wolf Of All Streets (@scottmelker) January 17, 2022
Popular analyst William Clemente, meanwhile, highlighted Bitcoin ( $110,171.00 ) bouncing along an ascending trendline this month, this soon to approach a turning point as part of a wedge construction.
“Should be an interesting week,” he forecast.
Beyond spot price, data showed that market composition still employed near all-time high leverage, this only just beginning to reduce in week two of January.
Such leverage prevalence previously sparked concerns that a liquidity cascade could be made all the more real, with a significant move up or down hitting traders.
“The highly increased leverage ratio of Bitcoin ( $110,171.00 ) that since some days remains at an all-time high is showing concerns that a massive volatility increase will follow up,” commentator Vince Prince warned on the day.
“Technically if Bitcoin ( $110,171.00 ) breaks the $40,000 level this will trigger a big chunk of stop-losses.” Bitcoin ( $110,171.00 ) leverage ratio chart. Source: CryptoQuant
Cardano (
$0.42 ) stands out among altcoins
On the topic of altcoins, meanwhile, some moves diverged from the flat performance seen more broadly.
Related: BTC ‘likely’ to repeat Q4 2020 move — 5 things to watch in Bitcoin ( $110,171.00 ) this week
The top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap were led by Cardano ( $0.42 ) (ADA), which conspicuously bucked the sideways trend to post daily gains of almost 9% at the time of writing. This placed ADA/USD at a three-week high.
“Crucially, the market psychology is working on ADA again,” Cointelegraph contributor Michaël van de Poppe summarized.
“Last weeks the sentiment was comparable to a graveyard and expectations were that it would go south. Now, the sentiment is switching and the hype is getting back in.”ADA/USD 1-day candle chart (Coinbase). Source: TradingView
Further down, Litecoin (
$56.48 ) (LTC) managed 4.5% gains in some brief respite for hodlers.
$LTC / $BTC
Litecoin ( $56.48 ) ’s friend intervened, told him life was worth living and said “think of your family.”
Litecoin ( $56.48 ) said “NOT TODAY” and stepped back from the ledge.
Another bounce at strong support. A break of the blue resistance should send this flying. Not there yet. https://t.co/CvJtodHwNB pic.twitter.com/VOC5psrUhF
— The Wolf Of All Streets (@scottmelker) January 17, 2022
“Another bounce at strong support. A break of the blue resistance should send this flying. Not there yet,” trader, analyst and podcast host Scott Melker added about the LTC/USD pair.
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