Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin Santa Rally Held Back By Anticipated 'Last Hammer' Drop From China — Is That Set To Change With A New Year?

Ethereum’s ETH/USD 24-hour gains outstripped those of the apex coin Sunday evening as the global cryptocurrency market cap fell 1.7% to $2.2 trillion.

What Happened: ETH traded 1.2% higher at $3,813.87 over 24 hours. For the week, the second-largest cryptocurrency has fallen 6.1%.

Bitcoin BTC/USD was down 1% at $47,197.64 over 24 hours. Over a seven-day trailing period, it has dropped 6.8%.

Meme cryptocurrency Dogecoin DOGE/USD inched up 0.4% to $0.17 over 24 hours. It has declined 8.4% for the week.

DOGE rival Shiba Inu (SHIB), fell marginally by 0.3% to $0.000034. Over a seven-day period, it plunged 10.5%.

Coins that saw significant gains over 24 hours included XDC Network (XDC), Monero (XMR), and IOTA (MIOTA), according to data from CoinMarketCap.

XDC spiked 14.1% to $0.092, XMR was up 5.9% to $220.40, while MIOTA rose 4.25% to $1.51 in the period.

See Also: How To Buy Bitcoin (BTC)

Why It Matters: Ballet Crypto CEO Bobby Lee tweeted Sunday that the “hotly anticipated year end bull market” hasn’t taken off as the market was anticipating the last hammer to drop in China.

Lee was referring to delayed enforcement of China’s cryptocurrency ban as major exchanges had until December to fully de-register Chinese clients, which would, in turn, lead to forced withdrawal of coins from trading platforms.

Some analysts are expecting a bounce up for Bitcoin as it tests key levels. Pseudonymous cryptocurrency analysis Twitter account Kaleo noted accumulation could lead to a “leg up” for BTC.

Amsterdam-based trader Michaël van de Poppe said $48,000 and $49,400 were the two levels he found important for Bitcoin. 

Van de Poppe said ETH is “showing more strength” than BTC. He said on Twitter that there is a “clear confirmation” of a break above the $4,100 level for the second-largest coin by market cap.

Marcus Sotiriou, an analyst at United Kingdom-based asset broker GlobalBlock, wrote in a recently emailed note that institutions “may re-allocate to the crypto space” in the first quarter of 2022.

Sotiriou pointed to Coinglass data that suggests that nearly 10,000 BTC left Coinbase’s exchange over 24 hours preceding Dec. 31. He said this typically happens when investors (usually institutions) buy large amounts of Bitcoin.

“Trading firm QCP Capital predict a “flippening” in the investor sphere from retail to institutional in 2022 with institutions having a much larger participation. I am not sure a flippening will happen as early as 2022, but I expect the tide to shift dramatically,” the analyst noted.

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