Price analysis 2/24: BTC, ETH, BNB, XRP, ADA, DOGE, MATIC, SOL, DOT, SHIB

cointelegraph.com:

Bitcoin (BTC) is struggling to stay above $23,000 as the weekend approaches. The selling pressure increased after the personal consumption expenditures excluding food and energy rose 0.6% in January and 4.7% over the year, above market expectations of an increase of 0.5% and 4.4% respectively. 

This could trigger fears that the United States Federal Reserve may have to continue its rate hikes to bring inflation under control. Expectations of a rate hike could strengthen the U.S. dollar index further, which is already near a seven-week high, and that may put pressure on the cryptocurrency markets in the near term.

A drop in the cryptocurrency markets may start a discussion that the rally in January may have been a bull trap. However, the price action in Bitcoin and several altcoins show that a bottoming formation may have begun. The next dip may form a higher low before attempting a move higher.

What are the important support levels in Bitcoin and altcoins? Let’s study the charts of the top-10 cryptocurrencies to find out.

Buyers successfully held the 20-day exponential moving average ($23,440) for the past two days but the failure to sustain the rebound attracted strong selling on Feb. 24.

The negative divergence on the relative strength index (RSI) suggests that the bullish momentum is weakening. The BTC/USDT pair has reached immediate support at $22,800.

A break below this level could retest the crucial support zone between the 50-day simple moving average ($22,052) and $21,480.

Alternatively, if the price fails to sustain below the 20-day EMA, it will indicate that bulls are buying the dips as they anticipate a move higher. A break and close above $25,250 may start the next leg of the uptrend.

Ether (ETH) slipped below the