Category: Markethive

Markethive

Looking Ahead To $20,000 Bitcoin

Looking Ahead To $20,000 Bitcoin

Looking Ahead To $20,000 Bitcoin

In last week’s Investor Alert, our investment team shared with you a report from Morgan Stanley that says Bitcoin’s price decline since December mimics the Nasdaq tech bubble in the late 1990s. This isn’t earth-shattering news in and of itself. The main difference is that the bitcoin rout happened at 15 times the rate as the tech bubble.

Morgan Stanley has some good news for Bitcoin bulls, however: The 70 percent decline is “nothing out of the ordinary,” and what’s more, such corrections “have historically preceded rallies.” Just as the Nasdaq gained back much of what it lost in the subsequent years—before the financial crisis pared losses even further—bitcoin could similarly be ready to stage a strong recovery.

One research firm, in fact, believes Bitcoin and other digital coins, or “alt-coins,” have likely found a bottom. New York-based Fundstrat, headed by strategist Thomas Lee, issued a statement to investors last week saying that, though a cryptocurrency bull market isn’t necessarily underway, the worst of the pain could be “largely over.”

Fundstrat research shows that periods of cryptocurrency consolidation, or “purgation,” generally last 70 to 231 days. Bitcoin hit its all-time high in mid-December, almost 70 days ago as of March 26. Taking into consideration Fundstrat’s estimates, then, it’s possible the bear market could conclude sometime between now and early August.
 

In the meantime, Lee writes, alt-coin investors should stick with larger-cap cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple.

 

Take the Long-Term View

It’s helpful to compare Bitcoin with Nasdaq, as Morgan Stanley did, but what about comparing the current cycle with one from the past?

In June 2011, Bitcoin peaked at nearly $30 and found a bottom of $2.02 five months later, in November. It would be an additional 15 months before it returned to its former high. This might seem like a long time to some, but investors who managed to get in at the bottom would have seen their position grow more than 1,300%.

So can Bitcoin do the same today? Obviously no one can say for sure, but what I can say with certainty is that Bitcoin, like all digital coins, is highly volatile. Plus, there’s not quite 10 years’ worth of data, meaning it’s been difficult to identify trends.

Cryptocurrencies are also currently facing tougher oversight from several world governments and central banks, not to mention Facebook and Twitter’s bans on ads promoting them—obstacles they didn’t have to contend with back in 2011 and 2012.

But I remain bullish. Cryptocurrencies are still in their very early stages. To return to the comparison with tech stocks, we don’t know at this point which digital coins will be tomorrow’s equivalent of Amazon, Google, Apple and Facebook. A long-term view is key.

Finally, I still believe in the power of Metcalfe’s law, which says that as more and more people adopt a new technology—cell phones, for instance, or Facebook—its value goes up geometrically. A poll conducted in February shows that just under 8% of American adults report ever owning or purchasing any cryptocurrencies. Market penetration, then, hasn’t been as pervasive as some might expect, but as people increasingly become more confident in dipping their toes in the space, demand could rise and, with it, prices.

 

Author Frank Holmes

 

Posted by David Ogden Entrepreneur
David ogden Cryptocurrency entrepreneur

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

Vitalik Wants You to Pay to Slow Ethereums Growth

Vitalik Wants You to Pay to Slow Ethereums Growth

Vitalik Wants You to Pay to Slow Ethereums Growth

Could adding a new fee help preserve ethereum in the long term?

It's a contentious statement in light of the debates ongoing across blockchains over how and when users should pay to support what amount to global computing networks. However, the concept is now gaining notable momentum on ethereum, most recently from the creator of the world's second-largest blockchain himself, Vitalik Buterin.

Buterin's concept, described in a recent blog post, revolves around so-called "rent fees," whereby users would be asked to pay to use the network based on how long they'd like their data to remain accessible on the blockchain.

The idea has recently seen interest generally, as ethereum developers have sought to cope with the platform's increased adoption, and, in turn, the increased amount of data being added that all network nodes need to store.

In short, it's a tragedy of the commons issue — if too many people use the resource for free, the network starts taking on the costs itself. And there's plenty of evidence to suggest that there is already reason to worry.

With rising use spurred by popular apps and ICOs, notable developers, including ethereum researchers Vlad Zamfir and Phil Daian, believe the problem needs to be addressed now.

"No one likes talking about rent, but we need to have this conversation," ethereum developer and Thiel fellow Raul Johnson recently tweeted.

"Core developers need to relay this information to the smart contract developer community ASAP to get their opinions on the matter," he continued, adding:

"The current system as it stands is unsustainable."
 

Fees, explored

Still, Buterin's backing could be a sign that momentum might build around the idea.

So far, he has broached the idea with a pair of proposals on the subject, including a succinct possible solution he calls "a simple and principled way to compute rent fees." And Buterin's first proposal is as simple as its title suggests.

The idea is to compute fees based on a long-term limit on the "state," a slice of special ethereum data that node operators need to store, which tracks who owns the current information about all apps (including user balances, who has posted so much data in, say, a Twitter replacement app and so on).

Under the proposal, state data stored in a node computer's RAM — now about 5GB — will never be allowed to exceed 500 GB. To ensure this, users will have to pay fees based on how long their data is stored. In this way, data is kept in check, since fees will grow if storage creeps toward that limit.

One notable part of Buterin's proposal is that he tries to incorporate a scaling change that ethereum developers have long wanted to add to the platform.

Although the most recent roadmap claims deployment is still years away, "sharding," as it's known, could potentially boost the amount of resources a database can handle by splitting up the data. In ethereum, the idea is, each node wouldn't have to store all of ethereum's historical data — just a slice of it.

"With sharding, the maximum acceptable state size would be per-shard, so the above fees would be decreased by a factor of 100," Buterin said.

Buterin also tries to address another key problem with rent: its bad user-experience. Most rent proposals today would require users to know how long their data will need to live ahead of time, which would be prone to error.

His second proposal explores a way of quashing this annoying guessing game by letting users use their state even after it has expired. Essentially, they would prove that their state existed at a previous point in time, with the help of a cryptographic technique called a "Merkle proof."
 

Deep-rooted problem

One problem with all this, though, is that fees, kind of like taxes, are never popular.

Bitcoin's years-long debate, for example, mostly centered on fees and the trade-offs associated with them. If fees are increased, less data will be stored, making full nodes easier to run. The downside, of course, is it would make the cryptocurrency more expensive to use.

One question is whether ethereum users and developers will react the same way, arguing "the rent is too damn high." In this way, Johnson worries that suddenly adding extra fees would alarm developers who have already deployed apps on ethereum.

Johnson argues for changes that aren't so knee-jerk and should be phased in slowly to give developers time to adjust.

Not to mention, some believe a similar rent needs to be applied to all cryptocurrencies. Indeed, scaling problems — and the associated fees — are a problem across blockchains.

Daian went as far as to argue that bitcoin needs to apply the same model. Like ethereum, bitcoin currently doesn't charge for the lifetime of a coin.

"Bitcoin is not free of these issues," he said, arguing that its simpler model incentivizes state bloat in a variety of ways, "exposing users to a variety of other consequences of mispriced storage."

Pricing resources to the right degree is such an important area of research, that Daian, a smart contract researcher at IC3, and others at the institute have set up an initiative called Project Chicago dedicated to the effort.

Even if this is a lesser-explored area and researchers haven't yet found a concrete solution, he's optimistic.

Daian concluded:

"No cryptocurrency has figured out good models for pricing these resources thus far, and ethereum's storage rent represents a step in the right direction towards these goals.

 

Author: Alyssa Hertig Updated Mar 28, 2018 at 03:07 UTC

 

Posted by David Ogden Entrepreneur
David ogden Cryptocurrency Entrepreneur

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

Bitcoin Hovers Near $8,000 Level as Investors Weigh Twitter Ban

Bitcoin Hovers Near $8,000 Level as Investors Weigh Twitter Ban

Bitcoin Hovers Near $8,000 Level as Investors Weigh Twitter Ban

Bitcoin swung between gains and losses near the $8,000 level, paring an earlier rebound, as investors digested the decision by Twitter Inc. to ban advertisements for initial coin offerings and token sales on its service.

The largest cryptocurrency traded flat at $7,847.87 as of 11 a.m. in Hong Kong, according to consolidated Bloomberg pricing. The digital currency had earlier jumped as much as 4.8 percent, reversing an overnight decline that took Bitcoin down to about $7,850. Rival coins Ripple, Ether and Litecoin also erased gains. Bitcoin remains down 25 percent in March.

Twitter confirmed Monday it’s banning the advertisements on its platform due to concern the content is often related to deception and fraud, according to a company spokesperson. The decision comes after Facebook Inc. banned cryptocurrency ads in January and Alphabet Inc.’s Google said it would do the same starting in June.

Since Bitcoin reached a peak of almost $20,000 in mid-December at the height of the cryptocurrency frenzy, the digital currency has lost more than half of its value as investors weigh the future of the emerging space amid intensifying scrutiny from global regulators.

Cboe Global Markets Inc., which was the first U.S. exchange to list Bitcoin futures last year, continues to have plans to introduce more cryptocurrency-related products. The exchange operator prodded U.S. securities regulators Monday to consider approving crypto exchange-traded funds in a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

 

Author Eric Lamb

Updated on 27 March 2018, 04:04 BST

 

Posted By David Ogden Entrepreneur
David Ogden Cyrptocurrency Entrepreneur

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

Bitcoin, Ethereum, And Litecoin Are The Most Popular Cryptocurrency Investments Among Millennials

Bitcoin, Ethereum, And Litecoin Are The Most Popular Cryptocurrency Investments Among Millennials

Bitcoin, Ethereum, And Litecoin Are The Most Popular Cryptocurrency Investments Among Millennials

 

Millennials love cryptocurrencies. For a couple of reasons. One of them is the technology behind them that promises to modernize capitalism, and free it from the tight control of big governments and big banks. The other reason is the potential cryptocurrencies have to make investors rich quickly, provided that they continue to rise at an astronomical pace.

That’s why, among millennials, cryptocurrencies were a popular choice to invest $10,000 in, in a recent survey of 1000 Americans.

Specifically, the survey found that 9.19% of millennials (18-34) would invest the $10,000 in cryptocurrencies, compared to 4.04% of Generation Xers (35-54), and (3.08%) of Baby Boomers (55+).

What’s more interesting is that Bitcoin remains by far the most popular choice, followed by Ethereum, and Litecoin. Specifically, 76% of the millennials in the survey said that they would invest the $10,000 in Bitcoin, 12% in Ethereum, and 12% in Litecoin—see table 1.

 

Table1

 

In Which Cryptocurrencies Millennials Will Invest $10,000

Source: LendEDU

To a great extent, the survey results are as one might have expected. The survey rankings of major cryptocurrencies match their market capitalization rankings—see table 2. The only exception is Ripple, which is third in market capitalization, and nowhere to be found in the survey rankings.

That means Litecoin is more popular than Ripple.

Table 2

Cryptocurrencies by Market Capitalization

*As of Sunday March 25, 2018, at 11 a.m

Source: Coinranking.com
 

There are a couple explanations for that. One of them is that the survey sample is extremely small, and therefore could easily have missed those who could invest the $10,000 in Ripple. Another answer is that the rise of Ripple in market capitalization is fairly recent, and therefore has yet to capture the attention of the average millennial investor.

 

Contributor Panos Mourdoukoutas

 

Posted by David Ogden Entrepreneur
David Ogden Cryptocurrency Entrepreneur

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

Bitcoin Cash Price Weekly Analysis – BCH/USD Struggling to Recover

Bitcoin Cash Price Weekly Analysis — BCH/USD Struggling to Recover

Key Points

Bitcoin cash price corrected higher but it struggled to move above the $1,080-1,100 against the US Dollar.

There is a significant bearish trend line forming with resistance at $1,000 on the 4-hours chart of the BCH/USD pair (data feed from SimpleFX).

The pair may continue to struggle and it could decline below the $950 support in the near term.

Bitcoin cash price is struggling to gain upside momentum against the US Dollar. BCH/USD remains at a risk of more losses below the $950 support.
 

Bitcoin Cash Price Resistance

There was a minor upside recovery initiated in bitcoin cash price from the $640 swing low against the US Dollar. The price recovered above the $800 resistance and the 50% Fib retracement level of the last drop from the $1,157 high to $640 swing low. Moreover, there was a break above the $1,000 level and the $1,020 pivot level. However, the price faced a lot of sellers near the $1,080 and $1,100 resistance levels.

 

More importantly, a significant bearish trend line with resistance at $1,000 on the 4-hours chart of the BCH/USD pair also acted as a hurdle. Lastly, the price failed to move above the 76.4% Fib retracement level of the last drop from the $1,157 high to $640 swing low. At the moment, the price is moving lower and is trading below the $1,000 level and the 100 simple moving average (4-hours). As long as the price is below the $1,000 level and the 100 SMA, it remains at a risk.

On the downside, the $950 level is a crucial support. If the price drops below the mentioned $950 support, it could move back in the bearish zone in the near term.

 

Looking at the technical indicators:
 

4-hours MACD — The MACD for BCH/USD is moving back in the bearish zone.

4-hours RSI (Relative Strength Index) — The RSI for BTC/USD is now well below the 50 level.

Major Support Level — $950

Major Resistance Level — $1,000

 

Author AAYUSH JINDAL •  MAR 25, 2018 • 04:03

Posted by David Ogden Entrepreneur

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

Reddit Reportedly Removes Bitcoin As Payment, Cites ‘Coinbase Change’

Reddit Reportedly Removes Bitcoin As Payment, Cites ‘Coinbase Change'

Twee

Reddit Reportedly Removes Bitcoin As Payment, Cites ‘Coinbase Change’

Reddit has reportedly removed the option for users to pay for their premium membership program, Reddit Gold, in Bitcoin (BTC) citing an “upcoming Coinbase change”, according to a Reddit post in subreddit /r/btc published March 23.

Reddit user BitcoinXio posted a video of the steps to give another user Reddit Gold, showing that the only payment options are PayPal and credit card.

Reddit user emoney40, a moderator of several subreddits but not /r/btc, commented that the change is due to the Coinbase Commerce change:

“The upcoming Coinbase change, combined with some bugs around the Bitcoin payment option that were affecting purchases for certain users, led us to remove Bitcoin as a payment option.”

Coinbase posted on its Medium page in early March 2018 about retiring Coinbase Merchant Tools in place of Coinbase Commerce, which they acknowledged “may be disruptive to Coinbase Merchant Tool customers.” As of April 30, merchants that used Coinbase Merchant Tools will no longer have access to that product, with May 31 as the final date for the required switch to Coinbase Commerce.

User emoney40 also said that adding BTC back as a payment option is not a guarantee:

“We're going to take a look at demand and watch the progression of Coinbase Commerce before making a decision on whether to reenable.”

Some Reddit users on the thread commented that they were not using BTC to pay for Reddit Gold anyway, due to the high transaction fees. However, in February BTC transaction fees dipped below the price of Bitcoin Cash (BCH) fees, which had been one of the main talking points of BTC’s competitors.

 

Author Molly Jane Zuckerman

 

Posted by David Ogden Entrepreneur

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

Bitcoin Price Technical Analysis for 23rd Mar 2018 – Another Reversal Pattern

Bitcoin Price Technical Analysis for 23 Mar 2018 – Another Reversal Pattern

Bitcoin Price Technical Analysis for 03/23/2018 — Another Reversal Pattern

Bitcoin Price Key Highlights

 

Bitcoin price failed to break past the $9,000 level after news of a potential shutdown of Binance in Japan broke out.

However, bitcoin price could still form an inverse head and shoulders pattern, which is a potent reversal signal.

Technical indicators are showing that bullish momentum could stay in play.

Bitcoin price sold off recently but could form a short-term reversal pattern on its 1-hour time frame and draw more buyers back in.
 

Technical Indicators Signals

 

The 100 SMA just crossed above the longer-term 200 SMA to signal that buyers are gaining the upper hand. The 200 SMA is also holding as dynamic support at the moment, but a break lower could lead to another pickup in selling pressure.

 

Stochastic is pointing down to show that bears have the upper hand while RSI is turning lower as well. Both oscillators are nearing oversold conditions, though, so sellers could still let buyers take over soon.

 

An area of interest is located around $8,000 and a bounce from here could form the right shoulder of the reversal pattern. Bitcoin price has yet to break past the neckline around $9,200 to confirm a potential uptrend. This should last by around $2,000 or the same height as the chart formation.

Bitcoin Price Key Highlights

 

Bitcoin price failed to break past the $9,000 level after news of a potential shutdown of Binance in Japan broke out.

However, bitcoin price could still form an inverse head and shoulders pattern, which is a potent reversal signal.

Technical indicators are showing that bullish momentum could stay in play.

Bitcoin price sold off recently but could form a short-term reversal pattern on its 1-hour time frame and draw more buyers back in.

 

Technical Indicators Signals

 

The 100 SMA just crossed above the longer-term 200 SMA to signal that buyers are gaining the upper hand. The 200 SMA is also holding as dynamic support at the moment, but a break lower could lead to another pickup in selling pressure.

 

Stochastic is pointing down to show that bears have the upper hand while RSI is turning lower as well. Both oscillators are nearing oversold conditions, though, so sellers could still let buyers take over soon.

 

An area of interest is located around $8,000 and a bounce from here could form the right shoulder of the reversal pattern. Bitcoin price has yet to break past the neckline around $9,200 to confirm a potential uptrend. This should last by around $2,000 or the same height as the chart formation.

 

Author: SARAH JENN • MAR 23, 2018 • 04:03

 

Posted by David Ogden Entrepreneur

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Ripple, Stellar, Litecoin, Cardano, NEO, EOS — Price Analysis, March 21

Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Ripple, Stellar, Litecoin, Cardano, NEO, EOS - Price Analysis, March 21

Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Ripple, Stellar, Litecoin, Cardano, NEO, EOS — Price Analysis, March 21

The G20 considers cryptocurrencies risky, said the head of Italy’s central bank, but the broad consensus is that they should not be banned. After days of negative news, this is a positive shift for the cryptomarket. Led by Bitcoin, most cryptocurrencies are trying to pull back from their recent lows.

The plunge in cryptocurrencies from their December highs had scared off new wannabe cryptocurrency investors. Once the tide turns, we may see fresh money trickle back into the markets.

A recent survey by Finder.com shows that only 8 percent of the Americans own cryptocurrencies and another 8 percent plan to buy it in the future. With about 92 percent of the population still untapped, the markets have a long way to go. There is still enough skepticism and fear due to the huge volatile moves in the digital currencies. However, if traders plan properly, the risks are way less than made out to be.

Let’s watch the setups that are developing on the top coins.
 

BTC/USD

Bitcoin broke out of the descending channel on March 20, which is a bullish sign. It had broken out once earlier on March 02, but it could not sustain the higher levels. Within six days, the price was back inside the channel. Will the same thing repeat again?

Just above the resistance line of the descending channel are resistances from the 20-day EMA and the 50-day SMA. We expect the bears to strongly defend this zone because once the price breaks out of this, the BTC/USD pair will rally to $12,172.

The next dip towards the $8,800 levels should offer the traders a good entry opportunity. They should purchase 50 percent of the desired allocation around $8,800 with a stop loss of $7,600. The remainder of the position can be added once the cryptocurrency is clear of both moving averages.

The target objective on the upside is a rally to $12,000.

 

ETH/USD

Ethereum is trying to break out of the descending channel (marked 2 on the chart) and the overhead horizontal resistance at $565.54. If successful, we’ll see a rally to the 20-day EMA at $650, which will most likely trigger bears selling.

Above the 20-day EMA, the resistance line of the descending channel and the 50-day SMA are the other two significant resistance levels.

Aggressive traders can buy if the price closes above $575 (in the UTC time frame). The initial stop loss can be placed at $500. If the cryptocurrency struggles to break out of $660, the positions can be closed.

On the contrary, if the ETH/USD pair turns back below $565, it will become weak, and the price will experience a retest of the recent lows.
 

BCH/USD

Bitcoin Cash has broken out of the downtrend line and is currently trying to move above the 20-day EMA. There are a number of resistances between $1,100 to $1,200.

Currently, the cryptocurrency remains in a downtrend, as both moving averages are falling and the price is still below them. Once it sustains above $1,200, we can expect the BCH/USD pair to attract buyers and rally towards $1,600. We should wait for Bitcoin Cash to break out of the 50-day SMA before suggesting any trades.

On the downside, $980 and $880 will act as strong support on declines.
 

XRP/USD

In our previous analysis, we had recommended a long position for Ripple at $0.71, which got filled on March 19. The stop loss for the trade is $0.53, which is just below the low on March 18.

On March 20, the XRP/USD pair formed an inside day candlestick pattern. The range has shrunk again today, showing indecision between the bulls and the bears.

If the consolidation of the past two days breaks out of $0.73, the pullback will gain strength.

On the upside, the bears will pose a stiff challenge in the zone between the 20-day EMA and the 50-day SMA. Once the price breaks out of the $0.9 levels, the cryptocurrency should rally to $1.1 and then to the upper end of the $1.2 range.

We need to close the position if the price struggles to break out of any of the above-mentioned resistances.
 

XLM/USD

Stellar has pulled back from the lows of $0.2 to the 20-day EMA. It has broken out of the downtrend line meanwhile, which confirms that the negative momentum is weakening.

Still, the bears will try to defend the 20-day EMA. If the bulls purchase the subsequent dip around the $0.23 mark, it will offer the traders an opportunity to initiate long positions. We are suggestingan aggressive trade on the XLM/USD pair because we find that the 20-day EMA, the resistance line of the descending channel and the 50-day SMA have not offered a strong resistance previously.

The position can be covered if the daily close (UTC) is below $0.18. On the upside, we can expect a rally to $0.35. If this level is crossed, a move to $0.47 can’t be ruled out.
 

LTC/USD

Litecoin looks strong as it has pulled back smartly from the lows of $144.544. It has broken out of the downtrend line, which is a positive sign. The current recovery might face a stiff resistance between the 20-day EMA and $187. We need to wait for the next dip to initiate long positions.

We find a large symmetrical triangle formation on the LTC/USD pair, which will break out above $205. Though the target objective is way higher, we can trade it for an up move to $240 and after that to $300.

Two possibilities are developing. Either buy on a dip towards $165 with a $142 stop loss or wait for a breakout above $205 to enter long positions with a stop loss at $180.

 

ADA/BTC

Cardano has broken out of the downtrend line for the first time since January this year. This is a major development as it shows that the trend is changing.

700

Right now, the ADA/BTC pair is facing resistance at 0.00002460. Once the bulls clear this resistance, a move to 0.000035 is possible.

Therefore, we suggest long positions if the price sustains at 0.000025 levels for four hours. The stop loss can be kept at 0.000016.
 

NEO/USD

NEO has pulled back sharply from its recent lows of $49.04. This shows that the markets have rejected the breakdown and the lower levels. We expect a stiff resistance at the $86 levels.

If the NEO/USD pair finds support at the $65 mark during the next dip, it will signal a bottom formation and can be purchased with a stop below $48.

But if the price continues to march higher, then $90 is a good level to enter long positions with an initial stop loss of $70, which can be raised later. Our first target objective is a move to $115, where we anticipate selling. If NEO breaks out of $120, the momentum should pick up and push prices towards $140 levels.
 

EOS/USD

EOS has risen sharply from its lows of $3.8723. For the past two days, it is facing selling at the 20-day EMA, but it has not given up much ground, which is a positive indication.

If the EOS/USD pair rallies above $6.3, it should move up to the resistance line of the descending channel.

Prices have turned down from the channel line on two previous occasions, hence, this will act as a stiff resistance. At the moment, we don’t have an attractive risk to reward ratio, that’s why we don’t recommend making any trades on it.

 

Author: Rakesh Upadhyay

 

Posted by David Ogden Entrepreneur

 

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

Bitcoin Price Breaks $9,000, Does Not Stay For Long

Bitcoin Price Breaks $9,000, Does Not Stay For Long

Bitcoin Price Breaks $9,000, Does Not Stay For Long

March 20: the Bitcoin (BTC) price broke the $9,000 mark today after a rough start to the year in which the price decreased by nearly 70 percent from the December high of $20,000.

Following the December high the BTC price has moved downward in fits and starts. On January 17, BTC price was down to $9,724, less than half of where it had been a month previously when it scraped the underside of $20,000. The month of February started with BTC dipping below $9,000 for the first time since late Nov. 2017.

By February the price had sunk to just $5,922, with skeptics claiming that it could sink even lower. By late February and early March, BTC was fluctuating around the $9,000 mark, with changes spurred by news of new regulations on exchanges by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A return to prices above $9,000 would provide the confidence many traders and investors need for the BTC value to grow even further.

As Cointelegraph reported March 20, the G20 decided not to crack down on cryptocurrency, and opted for a more moderate approach of simply classifying cryptocurrencies as assets. Some see this as a possible cause for crossing the $9,000 psychological threshold.

Others are more skeptical that the results will be long lasting, and see the most recent bump above $9,000 to be part of a holding pattern that requires another, stronger increase in order to break the barrier.

At press time, Bitcoin was trading at $9,017
 

Author: Salih SARIKAYA

 

Posted by David Ogden Entrepreneur

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

Bitcoin Following Nasdaq Path but 15 Times Faster

Bitcoin Following Nasdaq Path but 15 Times Faster

Bitcoin Following Nasdaq Path but 15 Times Faster

Morgan Stanley put out a note to its clients on Monday the 19th breaking down Bitcoin trading in comparison to the Nasdaq during the dot-com crash 20 years ago.

Bitcoin Similar to Dot-Coms Through Bear Markets

According to the report, Bitcoin is behaving very similar to the way the Nasdaq did in 2000. There is parity in the pattern of price declines and the rally of 250 -280 percent “in their most exuberant period” just before the bear market.

“Just that the bitcoin rally was around 15 times the speed,” Sheena Shah, strategist at Morgan Stanley said.

There have been four bear markets with Bitcoin since 2009 and through each, the cryptocurrency has lost between 28 and 92 percent of its value. It lost 70% of its value from it’s $20,000 high mark in December to $7,000 in February before recovering slightly to where it is today over $8,000. Averaging a loss of between 40-50% of its value through each bear market is similar to the Nasdaq’s performance 18 years ago Shah said.

According to the Morgan Stanely report trading volume can also be seen as a red flag. The Bitcoin trading volume has jumped nearly 300% since the market decline in December but each rally saw volumes fall ahead of the bear market to come. Shah said regarding the trading volumes;

“The follow-up rally for both bitcoin and the Nasdaq always saw falling trading volumes. Rising trade volumes are thus not an indication of more investor activity but instead a rush to get out.”
 

Tethers Effect on Market Trading

The Morgan Stanley report continued to point out the effect that the Tether cryptocurrency may have had on market trading. Citing that during the latest bear market the Tether USDT coin which is purportedly backed up one to one with US Dollars took up a bigger share of Bitcoin trading compared to the three historically major trading currencies; US Dollar, Chinese Yuan and the Japanese Yen.

“The coin USDT is not a major funding unit but its increasing use is an interesting development,” Shah wrote. “Over the coming years, we think that market focus could turn increasingly towards cross trades between cryptocurrencies/tokens, which would transact via distributed ledgers only and not via the banking system.”

Bloomberg reported in January that Tether has been subpoenaed by the US commodities trading commission under speculation that they do not hold the $2.2 billion in reserve in order to back their token. Bitcoin’s price continues to vacillate around the $8,000 mark early this week after enjoying a $1,000 price boost from the news that the G20 would not be receiving any further regulatory recommendations from the FSB.

 

Author JOHN MCMAHON • MAR 20, 2018 • 04:03

 

Posted by David Ogden Entrepreneur
David Ogden Entrepreneur

 

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member