Leverage
This key Ethereum price metric shows ETH traders aren’t as bearish as they appear
Ether (ETH) is down 25% in just a month and even the recent upgrade to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus on the Ropsten testnet failed to move the altcoin’s price. The merge is meant to address energy-use issues and open a path for higher transaction output, but the actual full transition for the Ethereum network is not expected until later in the year. Ethereum developer Parithosh Jayanthi also noted that some bugs on the PoS implementation emerged, but those should be fixed over the coming weeks. Luckily for Ethereum, two of its top competitors recently faced challenges of their own. The Solana (SOL) network faced the fifth outage in 2022 after no new blocks were produced for four hours on June 1. Every decentralized application was halted until the validators were able to addr...
Bitfinex Bitcoin longs hit a record-high, but does that mean BTC has bottomed?
Bitcoin (BTC) has been unable to close above $32,000 for the past 28 days, frustrating bulls and pushing the Fear and Greed index to bearish levels below 10. Even with June 6’s small boost, the tech-heavy Nasdaq stock market index is down 24% year-to-date. Investors who keep a close eye on regulatory development were possibly scared after New York state made clear its intention to regulate the crypto industry, including Bitcoin mining. On June 2, New York Attorney General Attorney Letitia James issued an investor alert against “risky cryptocurrency investments,” citing the assets’ volatility. According to Cointelegraph, the attorney general is convinced that crypto investments create “more pain than gain” for investors. The New York State Senate approved a pro...
3 reasons why Ethereum price is pinned below $2,000
Ether’s (ETH) market structure continues to be bearish despite the failed attempt to break the descending channel resistance at $2,000 on May 31. This three-week-long price formation could mean that an eventual retest of the $1,700 support is underway. Ether/USD 4-hour price at Bitstamp. Source: TradingView On the non-crypto side, a number of equities-related factors are translating to negative sentiment in the crypto market. This week Microsoft (MSFT) lowered its profit and revenue outlook, citing challenging macroeconomic conditions. The U.S. Federal Reserve signalled in its periodic “Beige Book” that economic activity may have cooled in some parts of the country and the Fed is about to reduce its $9 trillion asset portfolio to combat persistent inflation. On the bright ...
Bitcoin price broke to the upside, but where are all the leveraged long traders?
This week’s Bitcoin (BTC) chart leaves little doubt that the symmetrical triangle pattern is breaking to the upside after constricting the price for nearly 20 days. However, derivatives metrics tell a completely different story because professional traders are unwilling to add leveraged positions and are overcharging for downside protection. BTC-USD 12-hour price at Kraken. Source: TradingView Will BTC reverse course even as macroeconomic conditions crumble? Whether BTC turns the $30,000 to $31,000 level into support depends to some degree on how global markets perform. The last time U.S. stock markets faced a seven-week consecutive downtrend was over a decade ago. New home sales in the U.S. declined for the fourth straight month, which is also the longest streak since October 2010. ...
Bitcoin price action decouples from stock markets, but not in a good way
This week the stock markets began to flash a little green and Bitcoin (BTC) is decoupling from traditional markets but not in a good way. The cryptocurrency is down 3% while the Nasdaq Composite tech-heavy stock market index is up 3.1%. May 27 data from the United States Commerce Department shows that the personal savings rate fell to 4.4% in April to reach the lowest level since 2008 and crypto traders are worried that worsening global macroeconomic conditions could add to investors’ aversion to risky assets. For example, Invesco QQQ Trust, a $160 billion tech company-based U.S. exchange-traded fund, is down 23% year-to-date. Meanwhile the iShares MSCI China ETF, a $6.1 billion tracker of the Chinese shares, has declined 20% in 2022. To get a clearer picture of how crypto traders are posi...
Ethereum price dips below the $1.8K support as bears prepare for Friday’s $1B options expiry
Ether’s (ETH) performance over the past three months has been less than satisfying for holders and the 50% correction since April 3 caused the altcoin to test the $1,800 support for the first time since July 2021. Ether/USD 1-day chart at Kraken. Source: TradingView Due to the volatility in stocks, investors had been seeking shelter in the United States dollar and on May 13, the DXY index reached its highest level in 20 years. DXY measures the USD against a basket of major foreign currencies, including the British pound (GBP), the euro (EUR) and the Japanese yen (JPY). Moreover, the five-year U.S. Treasury yield reached its highest level since August 2018, trading at 3.10% on May 9 and signaling that investors demand larger returns to compensate for inflation. In a nutshell, macroeco...
Here’s why bears aim to keep Bitcoin under $29K ahead of Friday’s $640M BTC options expiry
Over the past nine days, Bitcoin’s (BTC) daily closing price fluctuated in a tight range between $28,700 and $31,300. The May 12 collapse of TerraUSD (UST), previously the third-largest stablecoin by market cap, negatively impacted investor confidence and the path for Bitcoin’ price recovery seems clouded after the Nasdaq Composite Stock Market Index plunged 4.7% on May 18. Disappointing quarterly results from top United States retailers are amping up recession fears and on May 18, Target (TG) shares dropped 25%, while Walmart (WMT) stock plunged 17% in two days. The prospect of an economic slowdown brought the S&P 500 Index to the edge of bear market territory, a 20% contraction from its all-time high. Moreover, the recent crypto price drop was costly to leverage buyers (l...
Bitcoin fights to hold $29K as fear of regulation and Terra’s UST implosion hit crypto hard
Bitcoin (BTC) price initially bounced from its recent low at $29,000 but the overall market sentiment after a 25% price drop in five days is still largely negative. Currently, the crypto “Fear and Greed Index,” which uses volatility, volume, social metrics, Bitcoin dominance and Google trends data, has plunged to its lowest level since March 2020 and at the moment, there appears to be little protecting the market against further downside. Crypto “Fear and Greed index”. Source: Alternative.me Regulation continues to weigh down the markets Regulation is still the main threat weighing on markets and it’s clear that investors are taking a risk-off approach to high volatility assets. Earlier this week, during a hearing of the Senate Banking Committee, United S...
Pro traders curb their enthusiasm until Ethereum confirms $3,400 as support
Ether (ETH) price jumped 11% between March 26 and March 29 to reach $3,480, which is the highest level in 82 days. Currently, the price is down 9% year-to-date but does data support the belief that the altcoin has resumed its uptrend toward a new all-time high? Institutional investors seem excited that the CoinShares Digital Asset Fund Flows Weekly Report revealed on Tuesday that the exchange-listed crypto products inflows reached the highest level in three months. Data showed that investment products for digital assets saw net deposits of $193 million last week. At the same time, the Office of Science and Technology Policy, an executive office of the President of the United States, launched a study to offset energy use related to digital assets. Furthermore, on March 9, U.S. Preside...
2 key indicators cast doubt on the strength of the current crypto market recovery
Analyzing the aggregate cryptocurrency market performance over the past 7 days could give investors the impression that the total market capitalization grew by a mere 4% to $2.03 trillion, but this data is heavily impacted by the top 5 coins, which happen to include two stablecoins. Excluding Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Binance Coin (BNB) and stablecoins reflects a 9.3% market capitalization increase to $418 billion from $382 billion on Feb 4. This explains why so many of the top-80 altcoins hiked 25% or more while very few presented a negative performance. Winners and losers among the top-80 coins. Source: Nomics Gala Games (GALA) announced on Feb. 9 a partnership with world renowned hip-hop star Snoop Dogg to launch his new album and exclusive non-fungible token (NFT) campaign. Gala Game...
Ethereum price holds above $3K but network data suggests bulls may get trapped
When analyzing Ether’s (ETH) price chart, one could conclude that the 3-month long bearish trend has been broken for a few reasons. The current $3,100 price range represents a 43% recovery in 15 days and, more importantly, the descending channel resistance was ruptured on Feb. 7. Should Ether bulls start celebrating and calling for $4,000 and higher? That largely depends on how retail traders are positioned, along with the Ethereum network’s on-chain metrics. For instance, is the $30-plus transaction fee impacting the use of decentralized applications (dApps), or are there any other factors that will prohibit Ether’s price growth? Ether (ETH) price at FTX, in USD. Source: TradingView Since the 55.6% correction from the $4,870 all-time high to the cycle bottom at $2,...
Bitcoin price can’t find its footing, but BTC fundamentals inspire confidence in traders
Bitcoin’s (BTC) sudden crash on Jan. 10 caused the price to trade below $40,000 for the first time in 110 days and this was a wake-up call to leveraged traders. $1.9 billion worth of long (buy) futures contracts were liquidated that week, causing the morale among traders to plunge. The crypto “Fear & Greed” index, which ranges from 0 “extreme fear” to 100 “greed” reached 10 on Jan. 10, the lowest level it has been since the Mar. 2020 crash. The indicator measures traders’ sentiment using historical volatility, market momentum, volume, Bitcoin dominance and social media. As usual, the panic turned out to be a buying opportunity because the total crypto market capitalization rose by 13.5%, going from a $1.85 trillion bottom to $2.1 trillion in le...
