Critical technical levels cryptos need to overcome after the summer slide

• Cryptocurrencies have been on the back foot and extend their losses.
• Digital coins need to break above critical levels to resume the rally.
• Here are the next levels to watch according to the Confluence Detector.

Late August is vacation time in the northern hemisphere – and cryptocurrency bulls may be at the beach as well. Tuesday’s slide in prices lacks clear triggers and perhaps shows some fatigue or profit-taking. 

Mike Pompeo, the US Secretary of State, wants to regulate Bitcoin like any other electronic transaction. Regulation is also a hot topic in Europe, where the EU is looking into Facebook’s Libra project. In the meantime, the social media behemoth has announced it will launch digital payments in Indonesia via WhatsApp. Earlier this week, Binance announced its Venus project – a potential competitor of Libra.

All these developments are of interest and certainly fail to justify the recent slide. Moving to the technical side, what levels should we watch?

This is what the Crypto Confluence Detector shows in its latest update:

BTC/USD must surpass $10,820

Bitcoin has been able to hold onto the psychologically important $10,000 and it has support before that line, at $10,080, which is the convergence of the Bollinger Band 4h-Lower, the BB 1h-Lower, and the Fibonacci 23.6% one-month. 

If it loses that line, the next noteworthy cushion is only at $9,030, which is where last month’s low hit the price. 

Looking up, BTC/USD faces initial resistance at $10,664, where we see a confluence of levels including the Fibonacci 38.2% one-month, the Fibonacci 23.6% one-day, the Simple Moving Average 10-4h, and the SMA 200-15m.

The most significant level is $10,820, where the all-important Fibonacci 61.8% one-week, the SMA 50-1d, and the Fibonacci 61.8% one-day converge.

ETH/USD must recapture $191

Ethereum has been struggling and some say it is now facing a “big bear market.” In order to reverse this notion, Vitalik Buterin’s brainchild needs to overcome $191, which is a cluster of lines including the SMA 10-1h, the Fibonacci 38.2% one-week, the previous monthly low, and the previous 4h-high.

The next hurdle is close – $194. This is the convergence of the Pivot Point one-day Support 1, the SMA 100-1h, the SMA 5-1d, the BB 1h-Middle, the SMA 200-1h, the SMA 5-4h, and the SMA 50-4h.

ETH/USD may then run to $210, where the PP 1w-R1 and the BB 1d-Middle meet.

Weak support awaits at $184, where the BB 4h-Lower and the PP 1d-S3 converge. 

More robust support awaits only at $167, which is the confluence of the PP 1m-S1 and the PP 1w-S1.

XRP/USD has room to recover

Ripple enjoys a more favorable technical picture. It has support at $0.2630, which is the convergence of the PP one-month S1, the BB 4h-Lower, and the PP 1d-S2.

Further support awaits at $0.2560, where we see the Fibonacci 23.6% one-week, the BB 1d-Lower, and the PP 1d-S3 meet the price.

Looking up, some resistance awaits at $0.2700, where the SMA 50-15m and the previous daily low converge. 

It is closely followed by $0.2755, where the SMA 10-4h, the Fibonacci 38.2% one-day, the SMA 100-1h, the SMA 200-1h, and the SMA 50-4h.

The most significant cap awaits at $0.2838, where we see the confluence of the previous day’s high and the previous monthly low.

See all the cryptocurrency technical levels.