Ethereum price analysis: ETH/USD dangerously close to $200 as half a million ETH coins fled the market in a single day

• ETH/USD has lost nearly 4% since the beginning of Wednesday.
• The selling pressure may increase on $200 breakthrough.
• Trustnode reports biggest ETH withdrawal.

Ethereum, the second largest coin by market value, is trading at $209 with a    downside bias. ETH has lost over 4% since the beginning of Wednesday and about 5% on a day-to-day basis, moving further away from the critical resistance at $250, that remained unconquered during the recent bullish run.

Ethereum’s current market value is $21.5B, while the average daily trading volume is registered at $2B. Both trading volumes and volatility are subdued during early Asian hours, though the situation may change once the European players join the market.

Half a million coins fled the market

Meanwhile, cryptocurrency traders sent about 200,000 Ethereum coins to crypto exchanges and withdrew about 735,000 coins on September 24, Trustnode reports. This is the biggest spike in withdrawals since February and potentially the catalyst behind ETH sell-off.

“Except for a considerable spike on the 22nd of February when 1.8 million eth was withdrawn, which may have been related to Circle’s acquisition of Poloniex, there has never been a day when more eth was withdrawn than yesterday, at least for the past year,” the report says.

Ethereum’s technical picture

From the intraday perspective, ETH/USD broke below $220 – a strong technical level created by a confluence of 38.2% Fibo retracement for the downside movement from September 1 high, SMA50 (4-hour chart), and the short-term upside trendline from September 12 low, which may be interpreted as a bearish signal. The price managed to recover from Tuesday’s low of $203, but the bearish sentiments prevail as long as the coin stays below $220.00. Once it is cleared, the recovery will gather pace with the first bullish target set at $235    handle (50.0% Fibo retracement).

On the downside, the critical hurdle is created by $200. This strong psychological level is likely to attract new buyers and mitigate the bearish pressure, but once it is broken, the sell-off may continue towards $192 (September 17 low) and to $167.

ETH/USD, 4-hour chart