Crypto Frontline

BTCUSD (Coinbase)

Bitcoin managed to exceed $100k last week and after touching $104k, a wave of liquidations followed. You can see how the price slumped more than 10% within hours, which calls for caution, even when the market seems exuberant at first glance.

Volatility is seen compressing, something normal considering the holidays are close. The price chops around the key $100k area and we think that should be the norm in the upcoming days. We will have news events that may impact risk sentiment, but overall, this market should stay upbeat until 2025 kicks in.

We advise traders to keep things simple and look for price action formations around key areas and trend lines. We share some of them in the chart above. Above $100k, we will shift attention to $105k. Renewed weakness will expose the $93k support again.

Since we are up substantially for the year, profit-taking will likely occur from time to time, leading to unexpected drops. Liquidity is also thinning, so that can exacerbate moves on both sides. Although BTC can still rise from here, we believe gains should be limited in size.

ETHUSD (Kraken)

There’s more activity in Ether, as the rotation out of Bitcoin into altcoins continues. The bearish trend line has finally been broken last week and that’s a positive development for buyers. As we anticipated, the $4k area is an important resistance and some profit-taking is now leading the price lower.

Still, it doesn’t mean the market has topped. A pullback to the broken trend line + the daily 20 EMA will be a buying opportunity. As long as the market stays above the $3,500 zone, we believe the short-term upside is intact.

A fall below $3,400 might dent sentiment further and in that scenario, we’ll shift our attention to $3,100. That’s the least likely scenario since we expect ETH to grind higher into year-end. We have some major releases this week and the next one (US Inflation, ECB and Fed policy meetings) and those could stir things up a bit. After that, volatility should compress again.

LINKUSD (Kraken)

Chainlink managed to break above $22.8, a key resistance zone and that means the buyers are heavily in control. Despite the choppy activity seen during the last couple of days, we think the coin has some upside left to exploit. The $28 and $30 levels are noteworthy and sellers might intervene there.

As things stand, dips should act as buying opportunities. A retracement towards $22.8, now a key role reversal level, will be met by bull support. Little below that follows the daily 20 EMA. The RSI is a little overbought, but keep in mind it could stay that way for weeks in a row.

Our mid-term upside target is $35. We think the market can reach that zone, given the strong bullish sentiment. It might take a couple of weeks to get there if the holiday activity drops and the coin will post low volatility. Either way, it’s a market dominated by buyers, until the price action changes.