Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin and Ripple Daily Analysis – 20/12/17

Bitcoin Cash Breaks the $3,000 Barrier and Climbing

What a week for Bitcoin Cash and it’s just got better this morning, with gains of 20.3% to hit $3,211 at the time of writing.

It’s all about Bitcoin and investors are searching for alternatives, with the Bitcoin futures markets having done little by way of support to Bitcoin Cash’s big brother.

Bitcoin’s woes have certainly fuelled the Bitcoin Cash fire and we could be seeing a changing of the guards, with prominent members of the cryptoworld continuing to talk down Bitcoin’s outlook.

As we saw last week, Bitcoin’s network has seen some instability of late. Concerns over transaction speeds have done their rounds and with it has come an increased acceptance of Bitcoin Cash across the leading cryptocurrency exchanges.

The very fact that the crypto exchanges are changing their stance on Bitcoin Cash, with many exchanges having held back from allowing Bitcoin Cash trading following the August fork, suggests that the demand is now there.

For Bitcoin Cash to really put some pressure on big brother, there’s going to need to be increased attention from miners that are needed to verify the transactions, with Bitcoin Cash also needing to see a shift in acceptance as an alternative payment system within the business community.

With such heavy gains in the early part of the day, the rising interest in Bitcoin Cash could see more investors switching out of Bitcoin, providing further upside, with $3.500 the next target for Bitcoin Cash to then have a run towards $4,000 levels.

Comparing hashrates between Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash this week, while Bitcoin hashrates continue to sit well above that of Bitcoin Cash, there has been some convergence, with miners looking for earnings potential. We are some way off the 12^th November hashrate switch that saw Bitcoin Cash hashrates surpass Bitcoin’s, but a narrowing will provide further evidence that there has been a shift in sentiment of late.

Litecoin in Retreat

It’s been a bad start to the day for Litecoin, with the recent volatility in Bitcoin seeming to have weighed on sentiment towards Bitcoin’s other competitor in the cryptoworld.

Investors can be quite unforgiving and with Bitcoin Cash the headline grabber this week, there’s just cause for many to be locking in recent Litecoin gains as the search continues for the cryptocurrency that can deliver 15,000 plus returns for next year

Litecoin’s failure to recapture $400 levels this week has contributed to the softer prices, though it’s too early to be completely writing off Litecoin.

On the price front, Litecoin is down 4.88% to 333.56, with Litecoin managing to recover from an intraday low $275.01. For the day ahead, while we expect support at sub-$300 levels, another move towards today’s intraday low could see Litecoin struggle to recover losses for a 2^nd time. We’re going to need to see $380 levels for investors to expect another run at $400, which hasn’t been touched for a week now.

Litecoin Chart by Trading View

Ripple’s fall from Grace

Ripple’s start to the day has not been much better this morning, with prices having tumbled to an intraday low $0.63437 before a partial recovery.

There’s been little incentive for the markets to jump back into Ripple, following the escrow move by the Ripple team that saw prices hit $0.88. Announcements of seasoned financiers joining the Ripple board have also provided little upside, as the markets continue to consolidate on recent gains and find rallies elsewhere in the crypto world.

At the time of writing, Ripple was down 5.30% at $0.6946 and things could get a lot worse should sub-$0.68 support levels be tested for a 2^nd time today. With only Bitcoin Cash in positive territory amongst the top 5 cryptocurrencies, one wonders how much of an impact the ever-increasing number of cryptocurrencies is having on the likes of Ripple.

Ripple Chart by Trading View