Polkadot jumps more than 16% as parachain launch date approaches

Key Takeaways:

• Polkadot prices are trying to move upwards after nine days of decline.
• Parachains would go live on Polkadot mainnet on Dec 18.

NEW DELHI (CoinChapter.com) — Polkadot, the 9^th largest cryptocurrency with a market cap of $29.1 billion, registered 16.2% gains between Saturday’s low ($25.7) and Sunday’s high ($29.9). The blockchain-based distributed computing platform’s native token DOT fell as the wider crypto market lost momentum as it entered Dec.

As the crypto market rose during the weekend, Polkadot started moving upwards as well. DOT gained nearly 5% on Saturday, challenging the $29 price level before pulling back. The Polkadot token rose above $29 on Dec 12, going above its 200-Day MA line, making DOT bullish in the long-term.

DOT prices are currently trading at levels last seen in late Sept-early Oct. Additionally, it has immediate resistance at $31. DOT needs to consolidate above immediate resistance before challenging the $33 resistance level near its 20-day EMA line.

The Polkadot token is currently bearish across the mid and long-term time horizons.

Meanwhile, immediate support for DOT comes from the $27 price level. If prices fall further, a key support level at $25 comes into play. The $25 support remains unbroken despite repeated DOT testing it multiple times since Aug 31. The relative strength index for Polkadot is neutral, clocking 38.68 on the daily charts.

Also Read: Polkadot, not Bitcoin the most commonly held crypto across institutional portfolios.

In addition, the RSI trendline is moving upwards after rebounding from oversold levels on Dec 10.

Trend-based momentum oscillator MACD continues to be bearish for DOT. However, bars on the MACD histogram are contracting, indicating the MACD line (difference between 12-day and 26-day EMA) is moving upwards towards its signal line (9-day EMA of MACD).

When the MACD line moves above its signal line, it makes a bullish crossover, marking an end to bearish momentum for an asset.

Parachains Launching on Polkadot Mainnet

Parachains on the Polkadot network will go live on its mainnet on Dec 18, ringing in a new milestone for the interoperability platform. At first, only five parachains would go live, with more to come soon. The first four parachains would include Acala Network, Moonbeam Network, Astar Network, and Parallel Finance projects.

The fifth parachain slot winner is yet to be announced.

Related: DOT picked up 5%, as the first Polkadot parachain auction went live.

Parachains are diverse Layer-1 (L1) blockchains that run parallel to Polkadot, connected to the Polkadot relay chain. The relay chain provides security to the parachain network but does not support application functionality. In comparison, L1 blockchains like Solana support dApps directly on the base layer.

They [Parachains] represent the final piece of core technology outlined in the Polkadot Whitepaper, and their launch marks the last stage of Polkadot’s multi-phase launch process, which began on May 26th, 2020

Excerpt from Polkadot’s announcement regarding parachain auctions

Polkadot is hosting a virtual Polkadot Parachain Party on Dec 18 to mark the launch of its parachains. Although parachains are already live on Kusama, Polkadot’s canary network, this is the first time parachains would be live on the Polkadot network’s mainnet.

Although DOT gained a little over the weekend, the overall crypto market’s price action remained relatively flat. However, low cap cryptos like Oasis Network (ROSE), Harmony (ONE), The Sandbox (SAND), etc., registered impressive gains over the last 24 hours, at press time.

At the time of writing, DOT was trading at $29.3, up 5.36% on the day.