The cryptocurrency market added $4 billion to its market cap during the last seven days and now stands at $811 billion. The market top 10 coins were all in red for the same period with Dogecoin (DOGE) and Binance Coin (BNB) being the worst performer with 3.9 and 3.3 percent of losses respectively. Bitcoin (BTC) is currently trading at $16,857 while Ethereum (ETH) is at 1,220.

BTC/USD

Bitcoin closed the trading market week of December 12-18 at $16,730 after a fake breakout to the $18,500 local horizontal resistance and a drop below the 21-day EMA and the $17,000 horizontal support.

The better-than-expected CPI data from the United States combined with an in-line with the expected interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve did not help risk assets much. BTC in particular closed the seven-day period with a 2 percent loss.

On Monday, December 19, the BTC/USDT pair dropped further down to touch $16,278 intraday before stopping at $16,440 at the daily candle close. The move resulted in another 1.8 percent being erased from its valuation.

Surprisingly, on Tuesday, December 20, we saw a nice reversal to the upside in a bullish engulfing that took the price to re-test the previously-mentioned short-term EMA. Bitcoin was testing the previous support range of around $17,000. It is still to be seen if it has turned into resistance.

The mid-week session on Wednesday came with a pullback to $16,836 in a potential consolidation below the dynamic resistance line.

The trading day on Thursday, December 22 was marked by low volatility as BTC remained flat around $16,800 after recovering from a short-lived pullback to $18,500 earlier in the session.

On Friday, the BTC/USDT pair briefly touched the 21-day EMA, but the price action remained undecisive in terms of direction.

The Christmas weekend of December 24-25 started with a small green candle to $16,850 on Saturday, which was followed by another low-volume day on Sunday.

What we are seeing midday on Monday is no different as the leading cryptocurrency remained caught in the extremely narrow range between $16,950 – $16,800.

BTC continues to trade above the long-term diagonal support and the price is still in a Bullish divergence with the Relative Strength Indicator. The last month of range trading, however, was marked by declining trading volumes.

ETH/USD

The Ethereum Project ETH has been trading above the psychological level of $1,000 since early July. It comes as no surprise that it was also the most stable asset on the Top 10 list for the period.

During the week of December 12-18, however, it lost more than 6 percent after suffering a rejection in the $1,270-$1,300 region – a major resistance on both daily and weekly timeframes.

On Monday, December 19, the ether hit $1,150 early in the morning but managed to partially recover in the second part of the session ending the day at $1,168.

The Tuesday session was slightly different and the coin rallied all the way up to $1,217 or 4 percent higher. Recapturing $1,200 is a good start given the importance of that area in recent weeks and months.

The third day of the workweek came with slow trading, and possible consolidation before the next leg up.

On Thursday, December 22, the ETH/USDT pair was a lot more volatile. It was trading in the $1,180-$1,240 range before closing the daily candle almost flat.

The last working day before the Christmas holidays just confirmed the price action stagnation before the end of the year. The ether remained below the 21-day EMA, but still above the important $1,200 mark.

Nothing changed during the weekend as neither bulls nor bears were able to take over control of the price action, so it remained caught in a narrow range.

The situation remains the same early on Monday as of the time of writing this market update.

Looking at the weekly chart we can clearly see declining prices since mid-August combined with declining volumes and raising RSI – all of which usually suggest exhaustion of the downtrend.

Additionally, the ETH/USDT pair continues to be caught between the mid-term diagonal resistances and long-term diagonal supports and a few potential S/R zones in between.

Leading Majors

• Litecoin (LTC)

Litecoin continues to be one of the best-performing legacy altcoins. And it is no surprise given the fact investors and traders usually choose to go to coins like LTC or XRP in turbulent times mainly because they have been tested in similar conditions in the past.

Additionally, there is an upcoming halving on the Litecoin blockchain in mid-2023 which is seen by many as an opportunity to accumulate and cash out later, hopefully after a pre-halving uptrend.

LTC successfully broke above the diagonal downtrends against both USDT and BTC and is now looking to consolidate above the 21-EMA, close to the range high on the LTCUSDT chart in the 1-week timeframe.

Support in the $63-$65 area. The closest resistance is at $75.