Analytics as of 01/02/2018

Post-New Year analysis of cryptocurrency pairs Ripple/USD and Bitcoin/USD

XRP/USD

I would like to start my first analysis of the new year with the XRP/USD pair. This is the only pair that gained weight over the holiday weekend and, despite the sluggish sideways, and even obvious downtrends of the cryptocurrency flagships, showed an increase in price from 0.800 to 2,400 dollars per coin, taking second place in capitalization, exceeding the mark of 100 billion US dollars. 

Recall that Ripple is the only cryptocurrency that is not “mined” by miners and is not decentralized in the usual sense. It is focused on serving the banking sector with instant cross-border transfers and global exchange of “everything for everything.”

Currently, RippleNet technology is being tested by large Japanese and South Korean banks to make fast payments with minimal commission costs, and if tested successfully, the system can compete with the existing monopolist - the SWIFT system. 

Thus, many analysts directly associate the growth of Ripple’s capitalization with the investments made by banking monsters to create a new system of global transactions. But is Ripple a full-fledged cryptocurrency, a tool that was intended to replace the bank transfer system with a decentralized payment system? Of course not. Is it possible to make money trading XRP/USD? Of course yes. The main thing is to understand the place of each altcoin in the cryptocurrency ecosystem.  

The nearest forecast for the price of XRP/USD assumes an increase to the next maximum at around 2.500 and looks approximately as shown in the figure.

BTC/USD

On the eve of the New Year holidays, the price of Bitcoin broke through a significant support level 23.6% fib, setting a local minimum at 11690.00, after which it recovered into the green corridor, but was unable to overcome the resistance of 38.2% fib, continuing consolidation in this corridor. Many traders saw a head-and-shoulders pattern on the price chart, and a breakdown of the neck level, which is located at 12900, will be regarded as a movement along the downtrend with a target level of $10,000.00 per cue ball.. This scenario is quite likely, given that since the new year a gradual redistribution of investments in bitcoin began, some of the funds flowed into alternative cryptocurrencies, and some were transferred to fiat. Bitcoin's capitalization has dropped to $235 billion, although it still ranks first in terms of capitalization.  

If a breakdown of the neck level does not occur, then it is likely that the price will recover to sixteen thousand dollars for Bitcoin.