Crypto analyst Nicholas Merten says that the performance of Cardano (ADA), Binance Coin (BNB) and two other altcoins are proof that the digital asset markets are not yet in bear territory.
In a new strategy session, Merten says that one of the main hallmarks of a crypto bear winter is when altcoins start bleeding against Ethereum (ETH).
He points out that over the past month or so, Cardano in its Ethereum pair (ADA/ETH) has rallied over 30%, signaling healthy investor appetite for altcoins even as price action looks uncertain.
“We can see that since back in December, about a month ago, ADA/ETH has made about a 33% move here… You can see here, generally speaking about a 30% move up against Ethereum. So that’s kind of interesting… You’d generally think that ADA would be bleeding heavier than Ethereum.
We’re not here to follow the crowd. The crowd was extremely bullish on ADA back here a couple of months ago. Now we’ve got a discount, and it’s starting to trend higher. That’s something that interests me.”
Merten says Binance Coin is telling the same story in its Ethereum pair (BNB/ETH).
“If we get back above [resistance at 0.16 ETH or $521] we could really start to see a move higher. We’re not seeing any major bleeding against Ethereum, as we should see.”
The analyst says that despite already putting in major gains over the past year, smart contract platform Avalanche (AVAX) still looks bullish against Ethereum (AVAX/ETH), which bodes well for the crypto markets at large.
“To be fair, the chart doesn’t look bad. I mean we’ve got higher lows here, consistent historical resistant range. If you pop up above this range [0.03 ETH or $97], I think with a nice solid weekly close, AVAX could continue rallying big time against Ethereum.”
Ethereum competitor Solana (SOL) is also putting up a good fight against ETH, according to Merten. He says that SOL/ETH looks resilient, which could be a sign that Solana has a chance to ignite another leg up in its bull cycle.
“Momentum has rolled over there. It’s been stagnant since back here in September against ETH. Nonetheless, we’re not seeing a major sell-off. Not in the slightest. So it’s just a matter of seeing, does it break below the lows at 0.038 ETH ($123) or does it get up here at 0.06 ETH ($195) and start to trend higher. I wouldn’t be absolutely panicking right now if I was a Solana holder… It’s still holding pretty good.”