Cryptocurrencies Rally as Bitcoin Moves Above $4,000 for First Time Since Plummeting

The cryptocurrency markets have rallied, halting their persisting downturn and possibly establishing their recent lows as a bottom. Despite this, a bottom will only be validated contingent upon whether or not the markets, and Bitcoin in particular, can sustain their current rally long-term.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading up 13% at its current price of $4,200, significantly outperforming most major altcoins. Bitcoin appears to have established $3,600 as a temporary bottom, as this price level has held as support on multiple occasions since it was first tested on November 25th.

Before Bitcoin fell to its 2018 low of $3,600 earlier this week, it has established the $4,200 region as a level of support that was unable to hold, so traders should watch to see if BTC is able to decisively break above this level, or if greater buying volume is needed in order to propel Bitcoin’s price higher.

Alexander Kuptsikevich, a markets analyst at FX Pro Insights, recently spoke to MarketWatch about Bitcoin’s recent price action, explaining that how Bitcoin responds to the $3,500 region now, and in the future, is an important sign, especially considering that this region is where Bitcoin began its meteoric upwards rise in September of 2017.

“It is worth paying attention to the market behavior near $3,500. This is an area that saw drastic increase back in September 2017, so technical analysis urges us to track the price dynamics near these levels,” he said.

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Altcoins Pump, Many Underperform Bitcoin

Bitcoin’s incredibly positive performance this morning has led the general cryptocurrency markets to surge, with most altcoins trading up over 10%, while generally underperforming Bitcoin, which is currently up 13%.

At the time of writing, XRP is trading up 10.6% at its current price of $0.385, up significantly from its recent lows of $0.32. XRP is still sitting well above its 2018 lows of $0.24, and this is likely due to the increasing real-world adoption the cryptocurrency is seeing through products like Ripple’s xRapid settlement system and Coil’s internet-based rewards program.

Ethereum has seen relatively large gains today and is currently trading up over 12% at its current price of $118 and is currently sitting 18% higher than its 2018 low of just under $100. Many analysts have speculated that Ethereum’s recent price plunge was perpetuated by ICO projects that sold off their ETH, although there is little conclusive evidence to support this claim.

Litecoin (LTC) is one of today’s best performing cryptocurrencies and is currently trading up over 16% at its current price of $34.30, up significantly from its recent 2018 lows of $27.

Whether or not this rally is sustained long-term will likely signal whether the markets have established a bottom at their recent lows. If the markets continue their drop in the days to come, $3,600 will likely act as the first major support level for Bitcoin.

Featured image from Shutterstock.