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Lido DAO: Ethereum’s biggest Merge staker just jumped 30% — will LDO rally into September?

LDO price is up roughly 30% over the past day, gaining approximately 500% since mid-June.

Lido DAO (LDO) price edged higher on Aug. 3, primarily due to similar upside moves elsewhere in the crypto market and a rising euphoria around Ethereum's network upgrade in September.

On the daily chart, LDO's price reached an intraday high of $2.40 a day after bottoming out locally at $1.84. The sharp upside reversal amounted to nearly 30% gains in a day, suggesting traders' strengthening bullish bias for Lido DAO.

LDO/USD daily price chart. Source: TradingView

Lido DAO is a liquid staking solution for Ethereum by total value deposited. In other words, it allows users to participate in the running of Ethereum's upcoming proof-of-stake (PoS) chain in exchange for daily rewards. 

Ethereum's Ether token (ETH) has rallied by more than 90% since mid-June in part due to buzz around its blockchain's PoS upgrade called the Merge, expected in September. 

Lido DAO, the biggest Merge staking serve provider, has benefited from the craze simultaneously, with LDO, its governance token, rallying nearly 500% in the same period.

Notably, the total number of Ether staked into the Merge smart contract—also called ETH 2.0—via Lido has surged from 3.38 million on June 13 to 4.16 million on Aug. 3, according to DeFi Llama.

Total ETH deposited into Ethereum Merge contract via Lido DAO. Source: DeFi Llama

Charts hint at LDO price rally ahead

Furthermore, LDO's technicals appear skewed to the upside due to its "bull flag." This technical pattern typically appears during an uptrend, when the price consolidates lower inside a descending channel after a strong upside move.

LDO has been forming a similar pattern. On the daily chart, the token's price has been reversing course after undergoing a strong uptrend that topped at around $2.66 on July 28.

LDO/USD daily price chart featuring 'bull flag' setup. Source: TradingView

As a result, the Lido DAO token now eyes a break above its current descending channel range, similar to the upside move that followed its bull pennant formation in July.

As a rule, the bull flag's profit target comes to be at length equal to the size of the previous uptrend, called "flagpole," or $4 by September, up 65% from today's price.

Bull flag failure scenario

On the flip side, a bull flag's potential to reach its upside target stands at around 67%, according to research conducted by Samurai Trading Academy. Therefore, LDO's bull flag could fail if its price breaks below the pattern's lower trendline.

Related: ETH may consolidate as Merge excitement wears off, says expert

The trendline coincides with a support confluence made up of $1.91‚ which capped LDO's upside moves in late July, and the 20-day exponential moving average (20-day EMA; the green wave in the chart below) at around $1.80.

LDO/USD daily price chart. Source: TradingView

Thus, a bear flag breakdown, or a break below the support confluence, could have LDO eye the 50-day EMA (the red wave) near $1.43 as its downside target.

This level coincides with the 0.236 Fib line around $1.42, which served as a price floor in February and May.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

Bitcoin Technical Analysis: BTC Consolidation Points to Potential Shifts Ahead

Ethereum bulls retain hopes of $10K despite ETH price chart bear flag

Ethereum risks dropping to $3,200 as its latest ETH price decline triggers a classic bearish setup.

Ethereum's native token Ether (ETH) looks poised to extend its selloff this week as it wobbles near a key support level of $4,000.

ETH price dropped by over 5.50% on Dec. 6 to an intraday low at $3,913. In doing so, it slipped through upward sloping support that constituted an Ascending Channel that — more or less — appears like a Bear Flag, a bearish continuation setup.

ETH/USD daily price chart featuring Bear Flag setup. Source: TradingView

Conservative traders typically spot Bear Flags when an instrument consolidates higher inside a parallel channel after a considerable price drop (called Flagpole). They anticipate the price to break below the Flag's lower trendline. And when it does, traders set their profit target by measuring the Flagpole's height and subtracting it from the breakout level.

Applying the Bull Flag strategy to Ether's ongoing price trends, one can expect the cryptocurrency to drop towards $3,200 in the sessions ahead. Interestingly, the level is also near the 0.5 Fib line (~$3,264) of the Fibonacci retracement graph drawn from the $720-swing low to the $4,808-swing high.

More confirmation needed

While the Bear Flag setup hints at more pain for Ether ahead, some analysts believe the Ethereum token still has more room to run to the upside.

For instance, PostyXBT, an independent market analyst, asked his massive follower-base on Twitter to turn attention to Ether's deep price wick from Saturday, underscoring how the cryptocurrency's sudden crash from near $4,240 to as low as $3,575 (data from Coinbase) was met by traders with an aggressive buying response.

"The weekly close above $4k means that ETH is one of the strongest looking coins out there," the pseudonymous analyst noted, adding that not many held the structure "despite the wick."

ETH/USD weekly perpetual futures contract chart. Source: TradingView

Meanwhile, another popular analyst Crypto FOMO also referred to the Saturday rebound as a reason to stay bullish on Ether. In an analysis published Monday, the analyst said that the cryptocurrency's ability to hold its rising channel support (the Bear Flag structure) might prompt bulls to push its value to $10,000.

"That is also because Ethereum is crashing a lot lesser than other cryptos, which is very bullish," the channel noted while highlighting Ether's growing strength against Bitcoin (BTC).

Top ten cryptocurrencies' performance against USD and BTC in the last 30 days. Source: Messari

On its weekly chart, Ether looks to have been eyeing a move toward $6,500 after breaking out of its Ascending Triangle.

In detail, the ETH price left the Triangle range in the week ending Oct. 25 after consolidating inside it for a little over four months. Nonetheless, traders returned to test the structure's upper trendline as support, as is common across bullish continuation setups.

ETH/USD weekly price chart featuring Ascending Triangle setup. Source: TradingView

As long the price holds itself above the Triangle's upper trendline, its likelihood of continuing its rally upwards remains higher — by as much as the structure's maximum height, as shown in the chart above.

On the other hand, a decisive break below the Triangle's lower trendline risked invalidating the bullish setup.

Strong fundamentals

James Wo, CEO/Founder of DFG Group — a Singapore-based venture capital firm, blamed Ether's consistently positive correlation with Bitcoin behind its latest price corrections, noting that a spot market selloff in the BTC market, led by the ongoing Omicron FUD, has had exchanges liquidate $2 billion worth of traders' margined positions, hurting ETH in tandem.

Related: BTC sentiment ‘comparable to a funeral’ — 5 things to watch in Bitcoin this week

But the analyst, too, anticipated a price rebound for ETH based on its successful adoption across the emerging nonfungible token (NFT), decentralized finance (DeFi), and metaverse space.

Top five DeFi chains based on total-volume locked. Source: Defi Llama 

"The levels of open interest levels seen up to this correction for both BTC and ETH were an important indicator that a bearish scenario was highly probable," Wo explained, adding:

"We still believe that fundamentals are strong and long-term valuations are still very low based on the technological advancements and contributions we are witnessing from this industry."

ETH/USD was trading at $4,050 at the time of this writing.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

Bitcoin Technical Analysis: BTC Consolidation Points to Potential Shifts Ahead

Traders say ATOM could eventually do an AVAX-like surge to $100

Fractals, bullish technical analysis patterns and the fact that 67% of the total supply is staked are key reasons why analysts expect ATOM to hit new highs shortly.

Cosmos (ATOM) has the potential to record major gains in the upcoming weeks primarily because its longer-timeframe chart is showing a bullish continuation pattern. 

Dubbed "bull flag," the structure appears as the asset trends lower while bouncing between two downward sloping trendlines. However, it eventually breaks out of the range, in the direction of its previous trend, with a profit target at length equal to the size of its previous uptrend which is also known as the flagpole.

ATOM/USD weekly price chart featuring Bull Flag setup. Source: TradingView

Therefore, in a "perfect" world, if ATOM is to break above the flag's upper trendline (with a rise in trading volume), it may rise by as much as the flagpole's height around $35. This sets a price target near $65 as when measured from the current potential breakout point.

Nearly 64% of ATOM's total supply is staked

The bullish setup in ATOM appeared as the token rose over 330% from its June low at $7.82 to this weeks swing high near near $32.

Circulating token scarcity could be playing a role in driving buyers into the market. Data fetched by Messari showed that nearly 64% of the current ATOM supply is staked.

ATOM staking data. Source: Messari

According to data, Cosmos investors have staked over 180 million ATOM tokens to become validators on its 'Cosmos Hub,' a proof-of-stake blockchain that constitutes one of many hubs on the network. In return, users receive a portion of the network transaction fees and block rewards.

Pentoshi, an independent market analyst, noted that the rising number of staked ATOM tokens have been instrumental in pushing its price upward.

The pseudonymous Twitterati added that ATOM sellers have been losing momentum, citing two corrections during the fourth quarter that got stopped midway due to a higher buying pressure near the token's previous all-time high levels.

ATOM/USD daily price chart by Pentoshi. Source: TradingView

According to the analyst, ATOM is seeing clear:

"Signs of absorption"

Related: Price analysis 12/1: BTC, ETH, BNB, SOL, ADA, XRP, DOT, DOGE, AVAX, SHIB

Avalanche fractal highlights ATOM's potential

Another analyst, known by the pseudonym 'Bluntz,' anticipated that ATOM would continue its rally upward based on similar gains posted by one of its top blockchain rivals, Avalanche (AVAX), earlier this year.

Like Pentoshi, Bluntz views ATOM's chance of revisiting its previous record-high as a base to continue its bull run. In a similar setup, AVAX rallied by nearly 250% after finding a solid footing inside the $50 to $60 support area.

ATOM/USD vs AVAX/USD daily price chart by Bluntz. Source: TradingView

According to Bluntz, ATOM could easily hit $100 in the medium-term.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

Bitcoin Technical Analysis: BTC Consolidation Points to Potential Shifts Ahead

Ethereum drops more than Bitcoin as China escalates crypto ban, ETH/BTC at 3-week low

The second-largest cryptocurrency falls 13.30% versus Bitcoin's 9.38% decline as China's move scares investors away.

The price of Ethereum's native token Ether (ETH) crept lower Friday after China extended its crackdown on cryptocurrencies by deeming their transactions as "illegal."

"Financial institutions and non-bank payment institutions cannot offer services to activities and operations related to virtual currencies," the People's Bank of China said in a statement on its website Friday, adding that online crypto services to Chinese residents offered by offshore exchanges are also "illegal financial activities."

Bids for the ETH/USD pair dropped by up to 13.30% to $2,735 in response. At its week-to-date (WTD) high, traders paid as much as $3,346 for a single Ether token but fell to as low as $2,651 after a tumult in China's heavily indebted property sector hit crypto markets.

ETH/USD daily price chart. Source: TradingView.com

As a result, Bitcoin, the world's leading cryptocurrency, also fell from its WTD high of $47,358 to as low as $2,651. Meanwhile, its prices fell by 9.38% on Friday—a massive intraday decline but lower than Ether's drop in the same period.

So it appears, traders decided to dump the digital assets that posted better long-term profits than Bitcoin. For instance, even after the latest declines, ETH/USD's year-to-date (YTD) gains came out to be above 280%. In contrast, Bitcoin's YTD profits were a little over 40%.

ETH/BTC falls to multi-week lows

Ether also underperformed directly against Bitcoin, with the ETH/BTC pair falling to 0.066 BTC for the first time in more than three weeks. At its yearly high, the pair traded at 0.079 BTC.

ETH/BTC daily price chart. Source: TradingView.com

Nonetheless, Ethereum charts suggest that Ether would grow stronger against Bitcoin in the coming sessions. That is mainly due to a Bull Flag formation in ETH/BTC market, a bullish continuation pattern that surfaces when prices consolidate lower/sideways (FLAG) following a strong uptrend (FLAGPOLE).

A Bull Flag typically sets its profit targets at length equal to the Flagpole's size if the price breaks above its channel's upper trendline. That said, ETH/BTC may undergo a bullish breakout to eye its previous local high of 0.0824 BTC.

Bullish fundamentals persist

Meanwhile, the Ethereum token also expects to surge overall because of its growth in the emerging decentralized finance (DeFi) sector. As Cointelegraph reported earlier, the total value locked (TVL) across the decentralized applications (dapp) industry reached $142 billion in August 2021, out of which 68% was concentrated on the Ethereum network.

Related: Ethereum forming a double top? ETH price loses 12.5% amid Evergrande contagion fears

That ensures more demand for Ether tokens for its ability to power smart contracts that back dapps. On the other hand, its active supply across the board anticipates declines as holders continue to lock their ETH holdings into Ethereum's proof-of-stake smart contract.

The total value staked into the Ethereum PoS smart contract has jumped from 11,616 ETH to 7.76 million ETH in nine months. Source: CryptoQuant

More supply expects to go out of circulation as the Ethereum network continues to burn a portion of its daily 13,000 ETH issuance following its Aug. 5 London Hard Fork upgrade. According to WatchTheBurn, the network has burned 358,616 ETH worth over $1 billion.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

Bitcoin Technical Analysis: BTC Consolidation Points to Potential Shifts Ahead