(Kitco News) – The recent correlation seen between stock prices and the crypto market diverged on Wednesday as cryptocurrencies fell under pressure while the major stock market indices broke higher, helping to lift the sentiment on Wall Street.
As a result of the positive day for stocks, the S&P, Dow and Nasdaq all closed the day well into the green, up 1.49%, 1.60%, and 1.54%, respectively.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin (BTC) continued with more of the same sideways price action that it has displayed since early November when the FTX drama began. Data from TradingView shows that the top crypto limped lower throughout the trading day on Wednesday, sliding from a high of $16,919 to a low of $16,730 and trading at a price of $16,770 at the time of writing.
BTC/USD 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView
A similar price action observation was made by Kitco senior technical analyst Jim Wyckoff, who noted that “trading has been sideways and choppy this week” in his morning Bitcoin update.
As a result of the flat market, “Neither the bulls nor the bears have any near-term technical advantage, which suggests more of the same, sideways trading action into the end of the year—barring any major fundamental shock to the marketplace,” Wyckoff said.
Bitcoin downtrend on the 4-hour chart
Additional analysis was provided in the most recent Trade Letter from Eight Global, which highlighted that Bitcoin is now in a downtrend on the 4-hour chart following a sweep of the high of $18,200 on Dec. 14.
The analysts noted that as it stands now, “the market shows us that we are in a discounted area within the price range between the high and low after the structure break on the 4-hour.”
BTC/USD 4-hour chart. Source: Eight Global
Zooming in a bit further to the 1-hour chart, the analysts indicated that the chart is showing a classic AMD setup, which stands for accumulation, manipulation and distribution.
BTC/USD 1-hour chart. Source: Eight Global
“Two out of the three phases are already completed,” the analysts said. “We had the accumulation period and we had the manipulation move with the quick move downwards.”
When it comes to capitalizing on the next expansion move that happens in the market, Eight Global said “You will probably have the best chances to play it like a little swingtrade. We had a bullish break of structure and we are now consolidating. An area where you could be interested in a potential long is the 1h breaker. This is an area where you could look out for longs when you have the right confirmations.”
BTC/USD 1-hour chart. Source: Eight Global
Based on the above chart that accompanied the analysis, the area to look to open a potential long is located between $16,520 and $16,630.
Altcoins trend down while HNT spikes higher
The wider altcoin market likewise suffered slight losses in trading on Wednesday as declines in the market’s total 24-hour volume indicates diminishing interest in buying crypto at these levels.
Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360
The one breakout star for the day was Helium (HNT), which put on a gain of 34.1% amid a 1,145% spike in its 24-hour trading volume from $1.43 million to $18 million.
The overall cryptocurrency market cap now stands at $808 billion, and Bitcoin’s dominance rate is 40%.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.