From the Desk of Louis Sykes @haumicharts

Over the last month, we've been developing a variety of market breadth tools to use in crypto capital markets.

After working out a few technical kinks, we're happy to bring forward more of this analysis.

We recommend you read these two notes on crypto breadth to better understand our approach:

• Considerations for Using Market Breadth in Cryptocurrencies
• Crypto Market Breadth Is Here

Here's a quick rundown on what this analysis seeks to achieve.

It's impossible to ignore legacy markets when evaluating cryptocurrencies.

The two are so intertwined that correlation analysis almost trumps our traditional price analysis.

I hate to say it, but if you want to understand where Bitcoin's going, study the S&P 500 and the US dollar, not the Bitcoin chart.

Late last week, we argued that short-term caution was warranted.

With equities pressing against key supply zones and the dollar beginning to reassert strength, we made the case for patience.

And, over the weekend, we've seen risk-off action persist.

Is Ethereum going to be worth more than Bitcoin one day?

Yea probably.

I think so.

And remember, I really don't care either way. I would just like to be on the right side of the trend, that's all.

In this world of crypto, especially in Bitcoin and Ethereum, people are very passionate about their opinions.

At Allstarcharts we are not.

All I know is that Bitcoin is now worth around $400B in market cap while Ethereum is closer to $200B. So ETH has some work to do.

And when I look down at this base, in my experience, this is precisely the work that it's needed to be doing...

This is the video recording of our August 19, 2022, All Star Charts Crypto Weekly Strategy Session.

One of the big characteristics that often separates great traders from mediocre ones is the willingness and ability to sit on the sidelines when it's necessary.

A brief adage we often mention is the distinction between seeing a setup and looking for one. Be patient, prepare your perfect swing, and the setups will come to you.

From the Desk of Louis Sykes @haumicharts

One of the common criticisms of technical analysis is that it's all self-fulfilling prophecy.

Its proponents argue that technical analysis doesn't work by understanding underlying supply and demand dynamics.

Rather, it operates on a single dimension, where market events are caused either directly or indirectly by a preceding prediction by technician that it was going to perform a certain way.

An intuitive example of the self-fulfilling prophecy hypothesis (SFP) is the classic technical analysis principle of support and resistance.

Those who favor SFP argue that markets only sell off at resistance and bottom at support because other traders identified these levels and acted according to technical analysis principles.

After all, a self-fulfilling prophecy is defined as a person or a group's expectation for the behavior of another group bringing about the expected behavior.

From the Desk of Louis Sykes @haumicharts

There's lots of chatter about the Ethereum $ETH merge, and rightfully so.

It's a significant development for the entire space and is paving an ideological divide in the community from proponents of proof-of-work (PoW) to that of proof-of-stake (PoS).

But when it comes to our job as technicians -- that is, following money flow -- we like to sweep the narrative aside and see what's really happening.

And we like to tell it like it is.

Broadly speaking, risk assets have caught a well-received bid over the last few weeks. This recent period has proven to be an incredibly risk-on tape.

When it comes to crypto, the big narrative driving capital markets seems to be the upcoming Ethereum $ETH merge. This update will see the network move away from proof-of-work (PoW) to a proof-of-stake (PoS) framework.

Of course, as technicians, we naturally follow money flow as opposed to getting stuck in the weeds of narratives. It's quite clear to see traders are bidding Ethereum leading into the merge in what looks like a "buy the rumor, sells the news" event.

This is the video recording of our August 12, 2022, All Star Charts Crypto Weekly Strategy Session.

From the Desk of Louis Sykes @haumicharts

In recent weeks, we've found ourselves revisiting the following question: Is Ethereum outperforming Bitcoin a bullish characteristic for the asset class?

We addressed this question a year ago. The conclusion we reached back then was that, while ETH outperforming BTC is not a necessary condition for a bull market, it’s always an encouraging sign when we see it.

In light of the recent disparity in performance between ETH and BTC, we thought we'd re-examine this topic.

Let's get to it.

The cryptocurrency market has certainly seen a nice relief bounce over the last few weeks; the average coin is up a notable 60% off its lows.

With this short-term regime in bull territory, let's evaluate how we're approaching this tape from a tactical perspective.