Cryptocurrencies have experienced a sell-off, taking major cryptos below recent short-term support lines. A stronger dollar against major currencies and a desire to lock in profits triggered a strong but relatively even sell-off overnight. The cryptocurrency market capitalisation collapsed 7.5% over the past 24 hours to $2.66 trillion, breaking a long consolidation.
The cryptocurrency fear and greed index has so far failed to react to yesterday’s spill in the sector, ending up at 71, still in greed territory, which bears little resemblance to the sentiment in the markets as of this morning. Bitcoin lost 7.8% to $60.7K and is 11% below levels a week ago.
Bitcoin has rolled back to the previous local support line, and one should watch the price closely to see if we see a break or a short-term shakeout. The $57.50-60K area focuses on the 50-day moving average and the 61.8% retracement level from the rise since late September. If Bitcoin does not get solid buying support in this area, it could open the road down to $52K.
Ether is down 8.4% to $4300, bringing its 7-day loss to 10.5%. At this stage, we can see the current pullback as a rally correction from the September lows with the first support area at current levels. A deeper target for the correction is seen at $4000. Besides being a psychologically important round number, it is also the area of the September highs, 61.8% of the rally and the 50-day average passes through here.
A day-end lock below $57K for BTC and $4K for ETH would mean a more profound and longer correction, where it makes sense for short-term buyers to wait for a better buying point: lower in price or when passions subside. Investors will have to figure out whether the latest round of crypto sell-off was triggered by a wave of dollar strength in the coming days. If these events are related, cryptocurrencies risk being struck as markets increasingly price in tighter monetary policy, raising the dollar’s appeal.
