Bitcoin, Ethereum Lag Behind As Dogecoin Becomes Top Gainer — Why One Analyst Thinks 'Things Could Get Ugly' Soon

Bitcoin and Ethereum traded in negative territory Tuesday evening as the global cryptocurrency market cap fell 0.7% to $1.14 trillion.

See Also: How To Get Free Crypto

Why It Matters: Even as the two largest coins struggled to gain upwards momentum, Dogecoin (DOGE), the bellwether meme coin with the 10th largest market cap, shot up over 13% to emerge as the top intraday gainer.

Whale activity in altcoins picked up steam this week, according to Santiment. The market intelligence platform said by counting the amount of $100,000+ transactions it is possible to see that coins like DOGE, The Sandbox (SAND), and Chilliz (CHZ) have “increased their large transaction frequencies.”

Whale activity on #altcoin networks is picking up steam in a hurry this week. By counting the amount of $100k+ valued transactions happening daily, we can see that $HEX, $DOGE, $SAND, and $CHZ have increased their large transaction frequencies. https://t.co/8ttXvhSzi4 pic.twitter.com/VTLPy1DqDw

— Santiment (@santimentfeed) August 16, 2022

Among the two top coins, Ethereum is “acting significantly stronger” than Bitcoin on account of the upcoming Merge — the shift of Ethereum from a proof-of-work to a proof-of-stake network, said Michaël van de Poppe.

The cryptocurrency trader said the crucial area to hold for ETH is $1,780 to $1,800. If that holds, then according to Van de Poppe investors could buy the “dip season” to $2,300 or $2,700.

Meanwhile, the amount of staked Ethereum rose to a new all-time high of 13.29 million ETH across 415,314 validators as of Aug. 16, said Delphi Digital. 

Cumulative ETH Staked on the 'Beacon' Chain — Courtesy Delphi Digital 

The independent research boutique said the amount of staked ETH has doubled over the past year despite the price of the second-largest coin falling by 43% in the same period.

On the Bitcoin side, “things could get ugly” if the S&P 500 decides to test the 3,400 pre-COVID-19 high, tweeted Justin Bennett. The cryptocurrency trader said it was “more than likely” that the U.S. benchmark index could do so. 

The biggest concern for #crypto is the deviation from #stocks since June.$BTC and $SPX were locked together before that.

Things could get ugly for #Bitcoin if the S&P 500 decides to test the 3,400 pre-COVID high, which I think is more than likely. pic.twitter.com/2RDNsG3pS0

— Justin Bennett (@JustinBennettFX) August 16, 2022

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 closed 0.2% higher at 4,305.20, while Nasdaq was down 0.2% at 13,102.55.

“Bitcoin can’t yet break above the $25,000 level, but it seems to be maintaining a bullish trajectory here,” said Edward Moya, a senior market analyst at OANDA.

“It appears the institutional money is mostly behind this recent rebound, which suggests it could have a better chance of lasting.”

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