Avalanche's AVAX token has declined 3.61% over the past 24 hours, falling from $14.08 down to $13.57 at the time of writing. This drop has brought AVAX's market cap down to $4.83 billion, ranking it #17 overall.

Let's analyze the critical data points behind this latest AVAX price movement:

Momentum Shifting to the Bears

In the last hour alone, AVAX has already lost 3.02%, signaling growing downside momentum. Trading volume remains substantial at $139.07 million over the past day.

Breakdown from Local Highs

AVAX reached a local high of $15.34 just five days ago on July 18th. Since then, the price has plunged 11.45% over this short period, creating a pattern of lower highs and lower lows.

Slicing Through Support Levels

Yesterday, AVAX broke down through the 50-day moving average around $14.25. Today, it has declined even further below the key $14.00 psychological support. With AVAX trading well underneath these critical levels, the path of least resistance seems to the downside.

Uptrend Still Intact on Longer Timeframes

Looking at the 6-month timeframe, AVAX is still up 10.25% for the month and nearly 200% for the year. While the short-term trend is bearish, the longer-term uptrend remains firmly intact for now. The key bull market support to watch is around $11.

Opinion: Bargain Hunters Likely to Spark Relief Rally

In my view, this latest selloff looks overextended and due for a bounce. With AVAX testing important support levels, bargain hunters will likely step in soon, fueling a relief rally back up to $14.50.

However, if selling pressure persists and AVAX breaks below $11, it would signal a deeper downtrend ahead, potentially sinking as low as $9.50. Traders should watch for a break of these critical levels.

Is AVAX's Long-Term Growth Sustainable?

With AVAX up over 200% in the past year, some wonder whether its growth is sustainable long-term. Here are two key factors to consider:

Firstly, Avalanche is attracting significant developer activity due to its high speed and low fees. Over 350 projects have launched on Avalanche, and TVL has surpassed $2 billion. This growing ecosystem supports AVAX's value.

Secondly, L1 platforms like Avalanche still have room to grow relative to L2 scaling solutions. As demand for decentralized apps increases, Avalanche can capture more market share.

That said, competition is rising from alternative L1s and rollups. But with strong fundamentals, AVAX looks poised for sustainable long-term growth.

How Does AVAX Compare to Competitors Like Solana?

As Ethereum alternatives, both AVAX and SOL aim to deliver speed and scalability. But how do they compare?

On transaction speeds, AVAX and SOL are quite comparable - delivering 2-4 second finality times. For fees, AVAX is marginally cheaper.

However, Solana still has significantly higher adoption, with over 5x the total value locked compared to Avalanche.

Importantly though, AVAX has a more decentralized architecture with over 1,000 validator nodes. Meanwhile, SOL is more centralized with less than 300 validators.

Overall, while Solana is ahead in terms of current usage, Avalanche offers technical advantages that could help it close the gap over time. But Solana's developer network effects can't be ignored either.

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