Bitcoin hogged the limelight in the cryptocurrency markets last week as it fell to one-month lows below $8,000.
Yet, while the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization suffered a 3.6 percent week-on-week drop in prices, it still outclassed other major names like bitcoin cash (BCH) and EOS, which both reported double-digit losses.
Meanwhile, the previous week’s winner zilliqa (ZIL) fell almost 20 percent to become the biggest loser among the top 25 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization.
On the plus side, privacy-focused zcash rallied 50 percent and topped the list of winners as investors cheered a new exchange listing.
Top 3 losers (May 11–18)
Zilliqa (ZIL)
Weekly performance: -19.82 percent
All-time high: $0.2306
Closing price on May 11: $0.1677
Current market price: $0.1455
Rank as per market capitalization: 25
Zilliqa dropped close to 20 percent in the week ended May 18, having rallied 13.8 percent in the previous week. However, the cryptocurrency was overdue for a healthy correction after a solid rally to record high of $0.2306 on May 10.
While the investor community is keenly eyeing a Singapore meetup at which the zilliqa developers will give a preview of its new smart contract language Scilla, the pre-event excitement has not put a bid under the token.
ZIL/BTC daily chart
A break below the May 18 low of 0.00001608 BTC would establish a lower highs and lower lows (bearish setup) pattern and allow a deeper drop to 0.00001430 BTC (50 percent Fibonacci retracement). The 10-day moving average is trending south in favor of the bears.
EOS
Weekly performance: -15.77 percent
All-time high: $22.89
Closing price on May 11: $14.90
Current market price: $13.60
Rank as per market capitalization: 5
EOS fell to three-week lows below $12 last week, according to Bitfinex, indicating the excitement surrounding the coming mainnet launch is no longer boosting its price. However, the cryptocurrency did defend the 50-day moving average (MA) and moved back above $13.00 as seen in the chart below.
Daily chart
Notably, the ascending trendline (in red) is still intact, and EOS is trading well above the 50-day, 100-day and 200-day moving averages, suggesting the long-run technical outlook remains bullish.
A high volume break above the descending trendline resistance, currently at $15.62, would allow a re-test of record highs around $23.00. On the downside, acceptance below the rising trendline would signal a bearish trend reversal – i.e. the rally from the March 18 low of $3.87 has ended.
Bitcoin cash
Weekly performance: -14.36 percent
All-time high: $4,330
Closing price on May 11: $1,372
Current market price: $1,250
Rank as per market capitalization: 4
Bitcoin cash (BCH) ran into offers around $1,500 on May 13/14 and fell to a low of $1,128 on Bitfinex on Friday – the lowest level since April 22.
A planned software upgrade (or hard fork) to introduce new features came into effect on May 15 as expected, but around 20 percent of nodes have still not upgraded – perhaps negating any potential price boost from the news.
Subsequently, the weekend’s rally in bitcoin prices seems to have had a positive impact and BCH did regain bid tone, but it failed to cut through the key moving average, as seen in the chart below.
4-hour chart
BCH is now back below the head-and-shoulders neckline, having faced rejection at the descending (bearish) 50-candle moving average hurdle. As a result, the recent low of $1,128 could again be put to test.
A daily close below that level would mean the rally from the April low of $600 has ended and could yield a drop to levels below the $1,000 mark.
However, a move above $1,500 (last week’s high) would put the bulls back in the driver’s seat.
Roller coaster image via Shutterstock