Bitcoin lurks by $22K as US dollar falls from peak, Ethereum gains 20%

5d177d90 941e 4bac b9c4 f662e9db94df

Bitcoin (BTC) hugged $22,000 on July 19 as macro conditions slowly turned to favor risk assets. 

BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView

Stocks, crypto rise as dollar weakens

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD cooling volatility immediately below the crucial 200-week moving average (WMA).

The Wall Street open saw further gains for United States equities in the face of a declining U.S. dollar, which extended its retracement after hitting its latest two-decade peak.

The U.S. dollar index (DXY) stood at around 106.5 at the time of writing, down 2.6% from the high seen July 14.

For Bitcoin analysts, it was thus a case of wait and see as markets bided their time between buy and sell levels.

“Shared this chart before, but just like that the $DXY is tanking, resulting into risk-on assets showing some momentum,” Cointelegraph contributor Michaël van de Poppe tweeted in an update on the day alongside a DXY chart.

“Yields need to drop now too, but the weakness on the Dollar could put more strength on crypto and Bitcoin.”

98931f9c a09d 4c46 8aec a3d64b405cc3
U.S. dollar index (DXY) 1-hour candle chart. Source: TradingView

On-chain monitoring resource Material Indicators, meanwhile, flagged the difference in strength between “psychological” levels such as $21,000 and $22,000 and the 200 WMA closer to $23,000.

“IMO, resistance at $21k and $22k are psychological, whereas the 200 WMA serves as legit technical resistance. FireCharts shows more BTC bid liquidity coming in to support an R/S flip at $21k,” it told Twitter followers on the day publishing data from the Binance order book.

“Looking for more bid liquidity to challenge the ever important 200 WMA.”

d8551dbc 1db0 4536 a8cf 79231d9bab0e
BTC/USD order book data (Binance). Source: Material Indicators/ Twitter

The day belongs to Ethereum

Deja vu for altcoin traders, meanwhile, came in the form of outperformance from Ether (ETH) versus other major cryptocurrencies’ intraday gains.

Related: 100X Bitcoin energy use would mean ‘absurd’ $20M BTC price — developer

ETH/USD, already up 25% in a week, added to its momentum overnight, climbing another 20% in just over 24 hours to briefly pass $1,600.

Resistance in the form of the 2018 high at $1,530 posed little problem for bulls, with the level forming a support focus at the time of writing.

“Ethereum relative to Bitcoin has closed above a key resistance,” popular trading account Game of Traders forecast.

“Buckle up for some big moves.”

b88fba02 299a 4b37 9dd5 e20409453fce
ETH/USD 1-day candle chart (Binance). Source: TradingView

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.