Bitcoin’s Support at $88.8K in Focus After Trendline Break; XRP Eyes Death Cross

This is a daily technical analysis by CoinDesk analyst and Chartered Market Technician Omkar Godbole.

Bitcoin’s (BTC) weekend price movement has brought attention to the $88,800 support level, while XRP, the payments-focused cryptocurrency, seems close to confirming a bearish chart pattern known as the “death cross.”

BTC fell 1.5% on Sunday (UTC), diving out of a trendline connecting lows reached on April 9 and April 20, according to charts sourced from TradingView.

The breakdown of the rising trendline, a demand zone, indicates that the recovery rally from April 9 lows under $75,000 may have run its course, suggesting potential for a renewed price swoon. Prices crossing below the Ichimoku cloud on the hourly chart, a momentum indicator, also suggests the same.

On the downside, $88,800 could serve as a key support level, having previously capped upward moves on March 24 and April 2, which suggests it may act as a critical price point if tested again.

The bearish hourly chart set up risks invalidation on renewed above the Ichimoku cloud, which would reinstate the bullish outlook for rise to $100K.

XRP death cross

XRP’s recovery from April 7 lows has run out of steam, too, with prices falling back below the 50-day simple moving average (SMA).

More importantly, the 50-day SMA appears on track to cross below the 200-day SMA in what is known as the death cross long-term bearish indicator.

The impending death cross, against the backdrop of the overall downward trend since mid-January, raises the risk of a deeper sell-off. Note, however, that the death cross’ record in predicting price trends has been mixed in both bitcoin and traditional markets.