Top Gainers Today: Maker Jumps 12%, eCash And IOTA Make Prominent Strides

• Positive fundamentals push Maker 12% higher to trade above $1,684 on Tuesday.
• eCash’s rising trading volume bolsters XEC 10% higher to $0.00004810.
• IOTA needed to hold above $0.34 to sustain its recovery.

Although cryptocurrencies are in a downtrend, the bear market rally has offered short-term trading opportunities for some altcoins. This, coupled with the recent on-chain developments, has seen Maker (MKR) record double-digit gains in the last 24 hours. eCash (XEC) and IOTA (MIOTA) are also among today’s top gainers.

Maker Rallies 12%

MakerDAO and Maker Protocol’s governance token MKR appears unstoppable as it continued to rise on Tuesday. MKR is up 12% on the day and 37% over the past week.

One of the biggest drivers of this uptick was Maker’s May 9 announcement that one of its vaults would be used to finance a shipment of Australian beef to Hong Kong. The announcement revealed that the transaction was executed in partnership with Centrifuge – a protocol that allows users to finance real-world business activities with DAI.

While this marks growth in its real-world utility, the main driving force behind MKR’s upward price trajectory is the collapse of its main rival, Terra’s LUNA.

At press time, Maker was hovering around $1,684 after bouncing off the psychological support at $1,000 on May 10. This was an indication that bulls were aggressively defending this level. The token pushed to the 50-day Simple Moving Average (SMA) at $1,736 on May 13, but the upper long wick on the day’s candlestick shows strong selling at higher levels.

However, the bulls did not give up as they tried to push it back to the 50 SMA again on Tuesday. The 50-day SMA has started to face up and the Relative Strength Index (RSI) is moving upwards to the overbought region, suggesting a great advantage to buyers.

If the uptrend is sustained, Maker may rise above the 50-day SMA. If this happens, it would clear the path for a possible rally to the 200-day SMA, currently sitting at $2,171.

MKR/USD Daily Chart

Alternatively, if the price turns down from the current level or the 50-day SMA, it would suggest strong selling at higher levels. The bullish momentum could further weaken if the bears sustain the price below the $1,500 psychological level.

XEC Gains 10% As Investors Flock To the eCash Network

The eCash network, formerly Bitcoin ABC, is a Bitcoin fork that successfully underwent its most recent network upgrade over the weekend. This has caused eCash to continue stealing the spotlight and drawing interest from buyers. Indeed, with approximately $26 million worth of XEC exchanging hands, the coin has seen a 50% increase in trading volume over the past 24 hours.

XEC successfully held strong support at $0.000040 in the past few days. Although bears pulled the price below this support on May 13 and 14, they could not sustain the lower levels. This indicates strong demand from the bulls.

eCash may now rise to the $0.000059 resistance level. This level acted as a strong foothold during previous pullbacks this year. Therefore, the bulls would be required to reclaim this support to secure a run-up to the $0.000080 psychological level, where the 50-day and 100-day SMA’s appeared to merge.

XEC/USD Daily Chart

On the other hand, the first sign of weakness would be a break and a close below $0.000040. That could open the door for a retest of the crucial support area at $0.00003138. A break below this level could indicate the resumption of the downtrend.

IOTA Continues To Defy The Odds

MIOTA has been in a strong uptrend for the past several days. The token rallied 35% between May 13 and 17. IOTA is up 13% on the day with a trading volume of $42,904,704, up 21% over the same period.

The bulls will now attempt a climb to the $0.50 psychological level. If they succeed, it would result in a recovery to the 50-day SMA, which currently sits at $0.60. The RSI was facing upwards away from the oversold territory, an indication that the buyers had returned to the scene.

IOTA/USD Daily Chart

On the other hand, if the bears sell on the rallies, the price could turn down sharply.  The sellers would again try to retest the support at $0.29. A break and close below this level could indicate the resumption of the downtrend. MIOTA could then extend its decline to the psychological level of $0.2300.