Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Ripple, Stellar, Litecoin, Cardano, NEO, EOS: Price Analysis, April 25

A survey by Thomson Reuters shows that one in five financial institutions is planning to start cryptocurrency trading within the next 12 months. The survey included large banks, hedge funds and asset managers. This will probably mean a huge flood of fresh money will vie for the limited number of digital cryptocurrencies.

Goldman Sachs has already made the first move as it has hired a crypto trader, Justin Schmidt, to head its digital asset markets division. As soon as one investment bank enters this space, the others will also take the plunge.

Investor Tim Draper has said that Bitcoin is bigger than the internet, the industrial revolution, the Renaissance and the Iron Age.

The exchanges are also recognizing the need to strengthen their services. 16 exchanges in Japan registered with the government’s Financial Services Agency have formed an association, Nihon Kasotsuka Kokangyo Kyokai (Japan cryptocurrency exchange association) to impose self-regulation and improve security.

All these steps point to a market that is maturing and will offer numerous opportunities in the future. So, when the long-term picture is so good, why do we trade instead of just buy and “hodl”?

While the long-term picture is impressive, the short-term volatility remains. We attempt to use the volatility to our benefit and increase our trading capital.

BTC/USD
Bitcoin rallied close to the $10,000 mark with profit booking. We had suggested booking partial profits at $9,200 levels in our previous analysis and keeping the stops on the rest at breakeven.

The cryptocurrencies are volatile by nature and tend to give up their gains very quickly. That’s why we prefer to book partial profits at resistances and trail the stops higher.

The trendline has failed to offer support. The BTC/USD pair can now slide to the 20-day EMA.

If the moving average also doesn’t show any support, the slide can extend to $8,000. Therefore, we suggest retaining the stops on the remaining position at breakeven.

Why are we not raising the stops on the complete position higher?

The moving averages have completed a bullish crossover. We anticipate some buying to happen at the $8,770 mark. If our expectation is proven correct, the virtual currency should again attempt to break out of $10,000 and rally to $12,000 levels. Therefore, we have given some wriggle room by keeping the stops at breakeven.

ETH/USD
We had been waiting for a move to $745 but Ethereum turned down from $712 on April 24. It is currently taking support at $600 levels.

If the support holds, we should see another attempt to rally to $745 levels.

But, if the support zone between $600 and the trendline breaks, the ETH/USD pair can slide to the 20-day EMA.

We don’t have any positions in the cryptocurrency because we never got a low-risk entry opportunity. We shall wait for a new setup to develop to initiate any long positions.
BCH/USD
Bitcoin Cash came very close to our third target objective of $1,600 when it reached an intraday high of $1,590.7825 on April 24. We had mentioned that the digital currency has a history of vertical rallies and sharp plunges. Hopefully, the traders would have protected their gains with a trailing stop loss.

The BCH/USD pair is currently taking support at the $1,200 levels. If this level holds, we should see a consolidation between $1,200 and $1,600. The next leg of the up move will commence after a break out above $1,600.

If the $1,200 level fails to stem the decline, the virtual currency can slide to the 20-day EMA at $1,000. Having closed out our position, we shall wait for a new buy setup to emerge before recommending fresh long positions.

XRP/USD
Ripple attempted to resume its up move on April 24 but failed. Along with the other cryptocurrencies it has also given up ground today. Currently, it is trying to hold the trendline support. If the support holds, we should see another attempt to rally to $1.08 levels.

If the XRP/USD pair breaks below $0.78, it can slide to the 20-day EMA at $0.73. Below this, the next support is at the 50-day SMA.

The traders should have booked profits by trailing their stops higher, as advised in our previous analysis. If not, maintain the stops at breakeven on the remaining positions.