The crypto rally hit a major bump in the road since our last update. Litecoin had a blowout top on July 10th, first rallying to a high of $8.67 before falling 60 percent to a low of 3.61. Namecoin fell 56% from its high at $1.30 and Peercoin declined by 46 percent before recovering somewhat. But let’s start with big brother first.

Bitcoin Falls on Greek Deal

Unlike the rest of the crypto market, bitcoin hit its bump on the road two days alter, on July 13th. While the altcoin market was going belly up, BTC/USD broke the important resistance at $270 dollars and surged to a high of $310.22 on July 12th. This put everyone’s favorite cryptocurrency within $8 dollars of its 2015 high. But soon after the highs were reached news broke that Greece reached a deal with its creditors. This caused a major BTC correction of $40 dollars as prices traded back down to the $270 dollars mark.

As expected, this important resistance turned to support on the way down. The bounce at $270 lead to some consolidation in prices and we are currently trading at $290 dollars per coin. This is still $20 dollars below the highs however.

So what’s next for bitcoin? While the trend remains to the upside, the sharp correction killed the momentum higher. To restart it, the bulls will need to break above this year’s high at $318 dollars. Notable resistance  levels above can be found at the July 12th high at $310 and $334 dollars per coin. On the lower end, while a move below $270 dollars should worry the bears, the trend will technically remain in place until $250 dollars gives way.

Litecoin Falls 60 Percent

Litecoin had a major crash of 60 percent last week. The decline was precipitated by a large rally that took prices from $5.95 to $8.64 in about 30 hours. This 45 percent surge was quickly followed by heavy selling that brought down LTC to a low of $3.61 dollars on July 11th. Since then litecoin prices have recovered somewhat. One coin is selling for $4.77 dollars at the moment.

But the effects of the large crash will likely remain. The decline from $8.64 to $3.61 means that, on a technical basis, the rally has been broken. To restart it, the bulls will need to push prices above the $8.64 high. This seems like a low odds scenario unless LTC can get some help from a bitcoin rally in the coming days. On the downside, a decisive break below the $3.61 swing low would be one more confirmation that the LTC rally is dead.

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