ETH slips below $1,500 as the broader market retraces

The cryptocurrency market has cooled down after rallying over the past couple of days.

The cryptocurrency market is trading in the red zone for the first time in nearly a week. The market has lost more than 3% of its total value over the past 24 hours, but the total market cap remains above the $1 trillion mark.

Bitcoin climbed above the $23k resistance level on Wednesday but has lost 3.5% of its value since then. At press time, BTC is trading around $22,800 per coin.

Ether, the native coin of the Ethereum ecosystem, is one of the best performers over the past seven days. ETH has added more than 35% to its value over the last seven days, thanks to the announcement about Ethereum Merge. 

However, ETH is down by more than 5% over the last 24 hours and is currently trading below $1,500 per coin.

The market might resume its upward trend in the short term, and if that happens, Ether could rally higher soon.

Key levels to watch

The ETH/USD 4-hour chart is still bullish despite Ether underperforming over the last 24 hours. The technical indicators show that Ether remains on a bullish path and could merely be retracing before surging higher.

The MACD line remains above the neutral zone, indicating bullish momentum. The MACD currently reads 80 and would take a long bearish performance to take it into the negative zone.

The 14-day relative strength index of 56 shows that ETH is no longer in the overbought region. The bulls will need to regain control to push it higher in the short term.

At press time, ETH is trading at $1,483 per coin. If the bearish trend continues, ETH could slip below the $1,382 support level. However, ETH should comfortably defend its position above the $1,300 support level.

If the bulls regain control, ETH could rally past yesterday’s top of $1,599 and trade above $1,600 for the first time in more than two months.