Ethereum
The cost of air for the week from May 17 to May 24 increased by 20%. Most of the growth occurred on Monday, May 20, when the second largest cryptocurrency by capitalization immediately added 19.25%. Following the results of seven days, the ether reached its maximum price values in two months.
Source: tradingview.com
Despite all the skepticism, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved immediately eight applications on exchange-traded ether funds from different companies. The list includes almost the same players of the American stock market that applied for spot bitcoin ETFs: VanEck, Fidelity, Franklin, Grayscale, Bitwise, ARK Invest and 21Shares, Invesco and Galaxy and BlackRock.
All new crypto funds will be listed on three American platforms: Nasdaq, NYSE Arca and Cboe BZX Exchange. The approval process has actually just begun and will be completed after all representatives of all ETFs agree on the S-1 form (filled out by publicly traded companies) with the SEC.
At the same time, Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin presented a roadmap for the development of the project. After the Dencun update in March 2024, which introduced blobs into blocks, the next steps on the development path should be The Verge and The Spurge. The main feature of the first one will be the introduction of Verkle trees. The innovation will reduce the cost of maintaining the node, reduce the amount of data stored, and tenfold increase the gas limit for the first level, which, the developers believe, will potentially result in cheaper transactions. The task is to improve the efficiency of the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EMV). It is planned to achieve this by removing a number of functions, for example, the operation code SELFDESTRUCT.
From the point of view of technical analysis, the situation has changed: now bulls rule the ball among ethereum investors. The indicator readings speak in favor of this: the price has risen above the 50-day moving average (marked in blue), and the RSI is above 50. If the trend continues, then in the near future we can expect an increase in the price of ether to the resistance levels of $4,095.4 (the maximum of 2024) and $4,868.8 (the historical maximum). The support level is $3,355.
Source: tradingview.com
Bitcoin
The price of bitcoin has hardly changed from May 17 to May 24, 2024. It is worth noting that at the maximum over the past seven days, BTC was worth almost $ 72,000. However, four consecutive trading sessions negated the growth of the beginning of the week.
Source: tradingview.com
The main source of positivity for bitcoin at the beginning of the week was the anticipation of finalizing the issue from spot ether ETFs. In addition, their own exchange-traded funds did not disappoint. On May 23, it became known that BTC-ETFs hold a record 850,000 BTC. The largest holders: Grayscale Foundation with $20 billion and the BlackRock fund with $19.6 billion.
On Wednesday, May 22, Bitcoin Pizza Day was held. The conditional holiday is timed to coincide with the purchase by American programmer Laszlo Hanyecz of two Papa John's pizzas for 10,000 BTC. According to the exchange rate on May 24, a simple lunch cost $ 660 million. Some large crypto exchanges have held a number of special contests on the occasion of the 14th anniversary of the high-profile purchase.
From the point of view of technical analysis, bulls prevail among bitcoin investors. The first cryptocurrency by capitalization is trading above the 50-day moving average (marked in blue). Volatility has been falling for more than a month, as evidenced by the decrease in the ATR indicator. Support and resistance levels: $65,513 and $73,794, respectively.
Source: tradingview.com
Index fear and greed It has not changed compared to last week. Its value is still 74, which indicates the predominance of greed over fear among bitcoin investors.
Avalanche
The value of Avalanche cryptocurrency has added slightly more than 3.5% over the past seven days. Most of the week was spent in the red zone. The growth is explained by one successful trading session on Monday, May 20, when the cryptocurrency immediately grew by almost 13%.
Source: tradingview.com
Although Avalanche is not experiencing rapid growth, the news about the project is quite positive. Last week, the largest American crypto exchange Coinbase announced that AVA staking will be available to customers. The annual return will be 4.47%. Thus, Coinbase is trying to expand its dominant position in the market. Choice in favor of Avalanche is explained by the fact that this cryptocurrency is widely known (ranks 11th in capitalization), and also boasts the speed of the blockchain (the number of transactions per second reaches 4,500, while bitcoin has only 7).
Ava Labs itself has announced cooperation with the Gamestarter gaming Web3 ecosystem. During the interaction, GameChain, a first–level platform for creating games on the blockchain, will be built. A secure, open and efficient ecosystem for gaming transactions is promised. There are already more than 50 projects Ready to launch on GameChain.
The situation, from the point of view of technical analysis, is ambiguous for AVA. Last week, Avalanche managed to rise above $41.5 for the first time since April 12. However, it was not possible to stay higher. Moreover, the price fell below the resistance level of $39.9. The situation can rather be interpreted as a "bull trap".
It is worth noting the situation with the indicators. The Avalanche price seems to be above the 50-day moving average (indicated in blue), but a "death cross" has practically formed on the chart. This is a situation where a fast moving average crosses a slow one from top to bottom. The last one is the 200-day moving average (indicated in orange). Support and resistance levels: $29.5 and $39.5 respectively.
Source: tradingview.com
Conclusion
The first half of the week, from May 17 to 24, was held for cryptocurrencies under the green flag, but the second half was under the red flag. The expected approval by crypto investors of spot ETFs for ether did not lead to an increase in quotations. However, it's too early to panic. If we recall a similar situation with exchange-traded funds for bitcoin, then at first cryptocurrencies also became cheaper, but after some time they began to become more expensive.
This material and the information in it do not constitute an individual or other investment recommendation. The editorial board's opinion may not coincide with the opinions of the author, analytical portals and experts.