Wed. Dec 18th, 2024

Bitcoin continued to trade below $20,000 on Friday, as market sentiment remained mostly unchanged heading into the weekend. The world’s largest cryptocurrency attempted to climb towards this milestone, but declined as it encountered a hurdle on the relative strength index (RSI). Ethereum was also largely unchanged, as markets prepared for the release of U.S. consumer data.

Bitcoin

Bitcoin (BTC) prices continued to consolidate on Friday, as market sentiment remained largely unchanged heading to the weekend.

The token continued to climb towards $20,000 in today’s session, hitting a peak of $19,632.98 in the process.

Today’s turbulence comes ahead of the latest U.S. consumer sentiment report, which is expected to show an increase in confidence.

Looking at the chart, BTC/USD has also stalled after hitting a ceiling on the 14-day relative strength index (RSI).

As of writing, the index is tracking at 46.45, as price strength continues to fall away from its recent ceiling of 49.00.

Bulls will still likely make another run towards the $20,000 price point, however, we will likely not see this reached until the aforementioned resistance is broken.

Ethereum

Ethereum (ETH) was once again trading near a key support point on Friday, as prices of the token also consolidated.

Since hitting a peak of $1,346.13 earlier in the day, ETH/USD has fallen, as price uncertainty continues to remain high.

As of writing, the world’s second largest cryptocurrency is trading at $1,332.67, which is marginally above its $1,330 floor.

Like with bitcoin, the 14-day RSI is also hovering below a ceiling, in this instance the level of 42.00, which has been in place for the past fortnight.

This has contributed to the sideways trajectory of the token, which appears to be stabilizing, following the recent Merge event.

This afternoon’s consumer sentiment report could act as a trigger to end this spell of consolidation, should the data be greater than markets had initially forecasted.

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What do you believe is causing ethereum to consolidate? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.