The market remains soft as traders wait for the statement of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on the size and timing of the next interest-rate hike.
The market consensus at the moment is for a 0.75 bps rate increase, while a small number of analysts believe that 1% would be the best.
Stocks are also in the red as the Dow fell 0.75%, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq registered a loss of 0.79% and 0.64 respectively. While Bitcoin ( BTC) is still fighting what appears to be losing battle at the $19,000 mark while Ether ( ETH_) dug deeper into its post Merge dip by hitting an intra-day low of $1,329.
Although BTC, ETH, and altcoins have not made any noteworthy moves to defy current downtrend there are some interesting developments from the perspective market structure and technical analysis.
Although Lido (LDO), has corrected along with Ethereum now that the Merge trade fervor has subsided but the asset currently trades under what many would call a bull flag, Although traders and bulls in ETH might have made profits from their Ether long positions, the Merge was a huge success. However, validators and stakers still get yield from the altcoin, and the fundamentals that made investors bullish on Ether are still present.
If Ether’s Decentralized Applications (DApps) and active users continue expanding, then in an otherwise downmarket, yield should be considered a capital magnet.
LDO/USDT 1-day chart. Source: TradingView
Ripple ( XRP) is interesting from a market structure perspective. There’s been lots of Twitter chatter about it lately. XRP Army members have suggested that if XRP wins its SEC case, and is not deemed a security by the SEC, then the price could “moon.”
Solid fundamentals, signs of growth via new addresses, and a product that is in demand should drive investments. However, in the absence thereof, the market structure can be interesting.
XRP/USDT 1-day chart. Source: TradingView
The pre-bull market precedent is that there was a long consolidation phase in a rounding top. This is similar to what we have seen over the past 137 days. Volumes are rising, price broke through a long term descending trendline which has historically been resistance. From the perspective of XRP’s HTF market structure one might conclude that a price top has been reached.
However, be aware that hype and expectation can cause volume surges. XRP could be deemed a security by the SEC, but investor excitement could still wane. The price could trade in the same range forever or until the next bull market.
Similar: Price analysis 9/19: BTC. ETH. BNB. XRP. ADA. SOL. DOGE. DOT. MATIC. SHIB.
ALGO/USDT 2-day chart. Source: TradingView
Interesting is Algorand’s ( ALGO ) market structure. The bull market rally was fully retraced by price and it now trades within the same range in 2019 and 2020. Although occasional buy volume spikes have not been sustained long enough to break the $0.40 mark, things could heat up if there are a few daily closes above that zone and a test at the 200-MA at 0.48.
If the market consolidates and ALGO volume continues to grow, flipping this moving mean to support could see an upside of $0.69. Daily closes above $0.80 would set an even higher high, which would confirm a trend reversal.
These charts are not meant to be a complete list of assets. Large caps such as BTC and ETH continue to struggle for bottoms.
The Federal Reserve is ultimately responsible for deciding what happens to risk assets such as crypto. Take these snapshots with a grain-of-salt and exercise caution.
These views and opinions are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect those of Cointelegraph.com. You should do your research before making any investment or trading decision.
