Ethereum   price analysis: ETH/USD stuck under $230, unmoved by Abra’s new crypto token launch

• ETH/USD is capped by $230, momentum is too weak to break the resistance.
• Abra’s crypto token is tied to an index fund focused on top-10 coins.

Ethereum, the second largest coin by market value, regained ground above technically important $220 handle to trad at $225 by press time. The coin is nearly 3% higher on day-on-day basis, staying close to Asian high of $226. Ethereum’s current market value is $23.1B, while the average daily trading volume is registered at $1.6B, in line with long-term average figures.  

What’s going on

Crypto wallet provider Abra creates a token tied to an investment fund focused on top 10 digital assets by market value. The project is developed in partnership with  Bitwise Asset Management and based on  Bitwise 10 Crypto Index Token (Bit10) that track such coins as  Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin and EOS among others. Traders will be able to invest in top-10 coins by purchasing  Bit10 token.

Abra CEO Bill Barhydt explained, that token is build on Bitcoin protocol, and it is not a fund itself, however, it is similar to ETF in that it allows investors to gain exposure to  Bitwise’s index fund.

“The Bit10 token is 100 percent bitcoin based. It is a single bitcoin collateralized multi-sig wallet. The amount of bitcoin the consumer is holding in the Bit10 token’s wallet is automatically adjusted to reflect the USD value of the Bit10 index. Abra is the counterparty to the contract and hedges away counterparty risk on all of its contracts. This is exactly how all of the other synthetic assets in Abra function,” he added in the interview with Coindesk.

Ethereum’s technical picture

From the intraday perspective, ETH/USD might find it difficult to drive the price above $230 handle as it is guarded by a few technical indicators including a cluster of 4-hour SMAs, 61.8% Fibo retracement level (weekly) and broken trendline. Once this hurdle is cleared, the upside may be extended towards $235.40   handle (50.0% Fibo retracement and October 1 high).

On the downside, the first support is created by $215 (Asian low). If it is broken, the sell-off will gain traction and take the price to psychological $200.

ETH/USD, 1-hour chart