Although most of the biggest cryptocurrencies barely moved during the last trading week of 2022, the news didn’t take a holiday break.
After being released on a $250 million bond, The Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX saga is far from being over. As reported by Cointelegraph, “a wallet address that started with 0x64e9 had received over 600 ETH from wallets that belonged to Alameda. According to on-chain transactional records, part of the funds were swapped to USDT while the other part of the transaction was sent to a mixing service.”
As a result, the crypto community is questioning whether or not Sam himself was moving these funds. In response, Sam tweeted on December 30 that he denied any involvement in the moving of these funds and that he no longer has access to these wallets.
Solana (SOL) suffered a double-digit percentage loss during the past seven days as FTX and Alameda were some of its biggest backers. The token fell at around 15%, hitting the strong $8 support level. Since then, it managed to bounce a bit, and at writing, SOL is trading just around $11 per token, down 94% in the past year.
Dogecoin (DOGE) was another loser last week, as this meme token often reacts to Elon Musk‘s behavior, which has been erratic of late. The token is down 5.2% in the last seven days and, at writing, is trading at $0.072
On the winning side in the past week was the OKB, the utility coin of the OKX Blockchain Foundation. The token is up 23% in the last seven days.
As a follow-up to the last article, this piece will go over the following cryptocurrencies to watch for this week: Bitcoin (BTC-USD), Ethereum (ETH-USD), Ripple (XRP-USD), and Litecoin (LTC-USD).
Bitcoin (BTC-USD)
At writing, Bitcoin is trading at around $16,700 while it starts its seventh week within the consolidation area. When looking at the daily chart, traders can see that Bitcoin is trading with a pennant pattern.
Usually, when a pennant pattern breaks in a clear direction, there’s potential for a strong move to follow. As of now, a break and close above the triangle can lead BTC into its next resistance at around $18,500.
Also, a break below the lower band and support area at $15,000 may lead Bitcoin to a new low, and the next major support area is far away at around $12,000.
Ethereum (ETH-USD)
Ethereum is down 0.5% in the last seven days, continuing its strong correlation with Bitcoin; traders can see that their charts are very similar.
At the time of writing, Ethereum is trading at just above $1,200, just below the 200-day moving average (the white line on the chart). In the event that this area will hold as a resistance, the next key support area to watch is $1,000, which has acted as a support in the past.
However, in the event that the new year starts with bullish optimism and ETH breaks above $1,350, the next resistance level may be at $1,500.
Ripple (XRP-USD)
2022 has come to a close, and there’s still no closure for the Ripple vs. SEC case. The parties’ last action was to file for summary judgment with all the necessary oppositions and replies, filed under seal. The decision for the case is now expected within the first half of 2023, according to Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse.
From a technical perspective, if the market keeps pushing the price lower this week, the next area of support to watch for is $0.30. However, if the bulls come back into the markets, the next resistance to watch out for is $0.40. Only a break above that level may create a new uptrend for XRP.
Litecoin (LTC-USD)
Compared to its bigger rivals, Litecoin had a strong week, up by more than 7.9% in the last seven days. It climbed all the way up to the 12th place by market cap. The cryptocurrency keeps on gaining momentum as the network gets bigger and more miners join it.
Looking at its chart, LTC is now trading just below the resistance area at $75 and above the support area at $65. If buyers come in again to push higher, the next resistance level to watch should be $85. However, if the negative momentum continues across the crypto market, the next support area to keep an eye on is at $60
Conclusion: Capital Preservation is Key
The markets move in cycles. That’s the way it has always been, so there will come a time when the opportunities will again be in abundance. Until then, as the market conditions remain unclear, the most important thing for any trader or investor is to preserve capital so that when the bullish move happens, they will be ready to take full advantage.
