The week has ended with reclamation of five figure prices by bitcoin. Some of the altcoins have been marginally dragged up with it, but many including Ethereum are still looking extremely weak.

Bitcoin Back Over $10k

The past five instances bitcoin has dropped into four figures have been brief encounters. There is clearly a mass of buyers waiting in the upper $9,000 price zone to keep the digital asset from falling further. Yesterday, analysts were leaning towards a bearish stance predicting further declines, even into the $8k region.

The lowest price tapped by BTC was $9,750 according to Tradingview.com. During today’s Asian trading session it returned to $10,250 and has started to consolidate around there, currently trading at 00.

BTC prices 1 hour chart – Tradingview.com

The market chop has continued and there is no sign of clear direction at the moment which makes the fear and panic totally superfluous. Yesterday the bitcoin fear and greed index dropped to its lowest level for over a year hitting 5, today it is back up to 33. Crypto warlord John McAfee called for a halt to this unnecessary panic:

Bitcoin jitters? Just stop it! Short term fluctuations are meaningless. Bitcoin is still up almost 300% from 6 month’s ago. Every time there’s a dip I have to calm people in replies, DMs, etc. GET A GRIP! You know in your heart Bitcoin cannot lose. Relax!

Bitcoin jitters? Just stop it! Short term fluctuations are meaningless. Bitcoin is still up almost 300% from 6 month’s ago. Everytime there’s a dip I have to calm people in replies, DMs, etc. GET A GRIP! You know in your heart Bitcoin cannot lose.

Relax!

— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) August 22, 2019

Ethereum Not Out Of The Woods

The same cannot be said for Ethereum however, and there appears to be greater reason to be concerned for anyone holding large amounts of it at the moment. ETH has made a 3.5% gain on the day to recover to $193 but it is still looking extremely weak. Some may see this as a greater risk/reward opportunity but popular crypto analyst Josh Rager remains bearish.

$ETH will surely increase in value but has been outperformed by $BTC ever since the ICO boom busted. I wouldn’t compare ’19 ETH to pre-euphoria ATH BTC. If BTC breaks down to $8ks, ETH will follow with a break under $150. ETH chart is ugly. Not the time to accumulate ETH IMO.

$ETH will surely increase in value but has been outperformed by $BTC ever since the ICO boom busted

I wouldn’t compare ’19 ETH to pre-euphoria ATH BTC

If BTC breaks down to $8ks, ETH will follow with a break under $150

ETH chart is ugly

Not the time to accumulate ETH IMO https://t.co/KxJlIcOPpl

— Josh Rager (@Josh_Rager) August 22, 2019

Ethereum market share has dropped to just below 8% which is its lowest level for over two years. All of the altcoins have been battered though so ETH is not alone in its suffering. The network is still healthy and new improvements are constantly being made. The upcoming two phase Istanbul hard fork will bring in a number enhancements on the road to ETH 2.0 so it is only a matter of time before the world’s second largest crypto asset starts to recover.

Will Ethereum make a recovery this year? Add your thoughts below.

Images via Shutterstock, Twitter @Josh_Rager, @officialmcafee, BTC/USD chart by Tradingview

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