@$23713: BTC and ETH Consolidate at Key Levels, Calm Before the Storm? (Market Watch)

The past 24 hours saw Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other major cryptocurrencies consolidate around important levels, and their performance around them is likely to determine the direction going forward.

Bitcoin Flirting With $24,000

The price of BTC is the same as it was 24 hours ago, as the cryptocurrency remains flat at the $24K level, which is an important barrier. Should a break above it take place, this might clear the way for further gains.

Despite the relative calmness, the market saw almost $200 million worth of liquidated long and short positions, but the leader in this department was ETH with $77 million, followed by BTC with $27 million.

Source: TradingView

The chart perfectly visualizes the range Bitcoin has been trading within during the past weeks and the importance of the $24K level.

Polkadot Soars 8%, Altcoins Largely Flat

The majority of the altcoins are trading flat over the past 24 hours, much like Bitcoin. Ethereum is at the same price as it was yesterday, and the same can be said for many majors – as seen in the image below.

Source: Quantify Crypto

That said, Polkadot’s DOT is the most obvious outlier and exception from the above. The cryptocurrency soared by a considerable 8% in the past day and scored itself a place in the top 10 by means of total market capitalization, according to CoinGecko.

The general market sentiment is also steadily improving. The crypto fear and greed index – the most commonly used metric to gauge the sentiment – currently sits at 42 points which is indicative of fear but not as bad as it was a couple of weeks ago when it clocked in around 10.