The cryptocurrency market update: Bitcoin bears have an upper hand

• Bitcoin (BTC) recovers from the recent low, still under pressure.
• Altcoins retain downside bias during early Asian hours.

The cryptocurrency market has settled down after a sharp sell-off on Thursday. Bitcoin and all major altcoins are nursing losses on a day-to-day basis with ta notable exception of Tezos (XTZ). The coin has gained over 5%, building on the recovery of the week. The total cryptocurrency market capitalization crashed to $208 billion, from $220 billion this time on Thursday; an average daily trading volume is increased to $81 billion. Bitcoin’s market share settled at 66.1%.

Top-3 coins price overview  

BTC/USD recovered from Thursday low of  $7,393 and settled down in a new range limited by $7,700 on the upside and $7,500 on the downside. At the time of writing, BTC/USD is changing hands at $7,580, down nearly 5% on a day-to-day basis and unchanged since the beginning of the day.  

BTC/USD, 1-hour chart

 
Ethereum, the second-largest digital asset with the current market capitalization of $17.4 billion, has settled above $160.00 after a sharp sell-off towards $156.22 on Thursday evening. The recovery is capped by the middle line of 1-hour Bollinger Band 1-hour currently at $162.50. Once it is out of the way, the upside is likely to gain traction with the next focus on  psychological $170.00 reinforced by SMA50 (Simple Moving Average) and the upper line of 1-hour Bollinger Band. At the time of writing, ETH/USD down 8.5% on a day-to-day basis and unchanged since the beginning of the day.

ETH/USD, 1-hour chart

   
Ripple’s XRP returned to $0.2400 on Friday after a short-lived dip to $0.2357. The third-largest digital asset with the current market value of $10.4 billion has lost 3.6% of its value in recent 24 hours, unable to develop a sustainable recovery. The initial barrier is created by $0.2460 (the upper line of 1-hour Bollinger Band) followed by SMA50 1-hour at $0.2470.

XRP/USD, 1-hour chart