Crypto Strategist Says Bitcoin Futures Pushed BTC Price, As Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin Futures Volumes Soar

Bitcoin futures had a strong start on Tuesday as the Cboe and CME April contracts increased by over 16% to $4,805.

#Bitcoin futures soaring 16 percent to their highest levels since November pic.twitter.com/WLW4yDumYv

 

— CNBC Futures Now (@CNBCFuturesNow) April 2, 2019

In a note to Barron’s, Gabor Gurbacs, digital asset strategist at VanEck, says he believes Bitcoin’s recent price spike to its highest level since November 2017 was triggered by the futures market.

Says Gurbacs,

“CME Bitcoin futures expired last Friday. A large chunk of positions were rolled (buying) into the new front month BTC futures contract. Over the weekend, heavy spot Bitcoin and over-the-counter buying followed the Bitcoin futures contract expiration pushing BTC price up slowly and gradually. As the price moved up in increments, over $500 million shorts have been liquidated on leveraged crypto derivatives trading platforms around the world.”

Bitcoin surged over 17%, reaching as high as $5,100 on Tuesday, followed by a widespread altcoin rally with double-digit gains. Bitcoin is currently trading at $5,012 at time of writing, according to data compiled by CoinMarketCap.

Trading volumes of altcoin futures including Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin have also experienced higher growth in recent weeks. Crypto Facilities, a subsidiary of San Franciso-based crypto exchange Kraken reports trading volume of $150 million for its crypto-derivative products.

Before Crypto Facilities was acquired by Kraken, its Litecoin futures contracts had an average notional volume of $15 million per month, and its Bitcoin Cash contract volumes were roughly $10 million per month.

Last month those volumes soared, reaching $100 million and $50 million for Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash, respectively.

In an interview with CoinDesk, Sui Chung, head of indices and pricing products at Crypto Facilities says,

“We began to onboard Kraken users … [and] that’s basically given us better exposure to the communities around Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash, and I think what we’re seeing is those communities have a pretty strong interest in trading derivatives for Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash, respectively,”

Based in London, Crypto Facilities is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. According to Chung, customer demand for regulated crypto futures that pay out in the underlying cryptocurrencies are driving the market.

“I think there was always demand from those communities for a strong derivatives contract that is collateralized and paid out in that coin because there are contracts in other markets … where the base asset is Litecoin but they pay out in Bitcoin. Our contracts are paid out in Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash.”

In February, after the Kraken acquisition, Crypto Facilitates reported that $1 billion in Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash futures were traded on its platform.

 

David

Bitcoin (BTC) Encounters Resistance As Crypto Attempts To Break Higher

Bitcoin Holds Key Support But Remains Under Resistance

On Monday, Bitcoin (BTC) continued to move higher. As of the time of writing, the cryptocurrency is currently sitting at a valuation of $4,164, up 1.25% in the past 24 hours.

Per Josh Rager, an advisor to Blackwave and TokenBacon, this only cements the fact that Bitcoin is holding above its 200-week moving average (200 WMA), which has been an essential level of resistance for the asset since 2015. In fact, a number of analysts have looked to this line of support as an indicator of Bitcoin’s long-term health. Rager touches on this himself.

He writes that if BTC breaks under the 200 WMA, “new lows and a prolonged bear market” would likely be in the asset’s cards, underscoring the importance of that level. And he may have a point. Considering the fact that Bitcoin has held above this support for years, and at extremely important ‘make or break’ periods, like now, a foray under the level could deal a large blow to long-term believers.

However, taking Bitcoin’s recent price action into account, some are adamant that a continued move higher is more likely. But, Rager makes it clear that are continued rally isn’t likely to come easy. The 200-day moving average (200 DMA) — the spiritual successor of the 200 WMA, if you will — has been a foreboding presence in crypto markets since early-2018, as it has become an overarching level of resistance for Bitcoin. And in spite of BTC’s recent move above the auspicious $4,000 level, the 200 DMA still sets above, at a casual ~$4,500.

If history is any indicator, BTC will have immense trouble breaking past that level, unless there is an ample amount of buying pressure.

Bitcoin’s Move Higher Won’t Be Easy

Recent order book analysis done by Bleeding Crypto has confirmed that Bitcoin perpetuating the ongoing rally won’t exactly be an easy task. He explains that as it stands, there is an $80 million sell wall above BTC at $4,200. This, of course, is a sign that should make bulls wary. It accentuates that market whales aren’t exactly ready for a move higher, as such entites look to continue to depress the cryptocurrency market through foreboding sell orders.

And this sell wall, which recently resulted in a rejection of a $4,200 breakout, has led some traders to lean bearish for the time being. Crypto UB recently explained that with this market continuing to see “long lower wicks” with little follow through, coupled with decreasing buy orders heading into resistance at $4,200, he remains in a “day trade short position.”

In other words, unless Bitcoin sees an uptick in buying pressure shortly, a slight pullback could very well be in the cards.

 

By Nick Chong April 2, 2019

David

 

Bitcoin market update – BTC/USD has the second positive monthly closing in succession

• BTC/USD settled above $4,100 during Asian hours.
• The coin is positioned for further upside towards $4,200.
• Bitcoin (BTC) hit the highest level since the end of February during early Monday trading and settled above $4,100. Moreover, the first digital asset logged the second winning month in succession for the first time since the end of 2017.

At the time of writing, BTC/USD is changing hands at $4,110, mostly unchanged both since the beginning of Monday and on a day-on-day basis. Meanwhile, compared to the previous Monday, the coin grew by 2.4%.

“Bitcoin is at its highest level in more than a month this morning, currently testing resistance around $4,200 per coin. Some analysts might note that it seems the long-term bear trend line has now been broken. However, trendlines may be drawn differently by each chartist so this isn’t the purest indicator out there. What’s more pertinent at the moment is the 200-day moving average that draws ever nearer,” Mati Greenspan, senior market analyst at eToro commented.

Bitcoin’s technical picture

BTC/USD continues moving within an upside channel with the upper boundary at $4,161. As the RSI points to the North, which means that BTC/USD has a chance to test the above-said barrier. This level may serve as a short-term resistance and trigger a downside correction towards $4,100, and, possibly, $4,000. This critical support must remain unbroken to allow for another bullish leg towards $4,200.

On the downside, a sustainable move below $4,000 will trigger a strong sell-off with the initial aim at $3,900.

BTC/USD, 4H chart

 

Tanya Abrosimova

FXStreet

David

Bitcoin – The Bulls Hit $4,200 but Need $4,500 to Really Shift Sentiment

Bitcoin sees red early on but moving back through to $4,160 levels could signal another run at $4,200 levels later in the day.

Bitcoin slipped by 0.34% on Saturday. Partially reversing a 2.11% gain from Friday, Bitcoin ended the day at $4,165.1.

A choppy start to the day saw Bitcoin rise to an early morning intraday high $4,210 before hitting reverse.

Coming within range of the first major resistance level at $4,223.37, Bitcoin fell to an early morning intraday low $4,112. The pullback saw Bitcoin come within range of the first major support level at $4,108.47 before steadying.

For the Bitcoin bulls, it was the first visit to $4,200 levels since 24th February. For the current week, Bitcoin was up 8.68% Monday through Saturday.

Elsewhere

Across the top 10 cryptos, the majority of the majors were in the red on the day. EOS had the heaviest losses, down by 3.66%, with Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash ABC falling by 1.66% and 1.67% respectively.

While Ethereum and Stellar’s Lumen also saw red, it was a different story for Binance Coin, Cardano’s ADA and Ripple’s XRP. Leading the pack on the day was Binance, which rallied by 2.54%. Cardano’s ADA and Ripple’s XRP both rose by 0.93%.

In spite of the day’s rally, Binance was in the red for the current week. In contrast, Cardano’s ADA was the pacemaker, rallying by 17.4% to the end of Saturday. Coming in a close second was EOS, which was up by 14.68%, in spite of Saturday’s 3.66% reversal.

On the news wires,

News of Bithumb falling victim to another hack had limited influence on EOS. The reversal in EOS on Saturday was likely to be down to profit taking rather than investor reaction.

Fortunately for Bitcoin and the broader market, the $12.5m hack was relatively modest, and more importantly reported to be an inside job.

The good news is that the EOS coins stolen actually belonged to Bithumb and not investors. An inside job would have muted a broad-based market reaction. Bithumb was one of a number of Crypto exchanges that was given a clean bill of health by the Korea Internet & Security Agency.

Following a series of hacks in South Korea, the Cyber agency carried out a review of security measures implemented by exchanges last year. If the latest theft is an inside job, then there will be little for the SEC to consider as it prepares to deliver its decision on the Bitcoin ETF applications.

The bad news on the Bitcoin ETF decision was that the SEC has yet again delayed the deadline by an additional 45 days. This takes the decision every closer to the anticipated summer rollout of rules and regulations by the G20.

Hopes are for approval of one or possibly two of the ETFs in the coming months. The delay is certainly better than an outright no…

At the time of writing, Bitcoin was down 0.17% to $4,158.0. A bullish start to the day saw Bitcoin rise to a morning high $4,182.9 before easing back. The early moves saw Bitcoin leave the day’s major support and resistance levels untested.

For the day ahead

A move back through to $4,160 levels would support another run at $4,200 levels later in the day. Bitcoin would need support from the broader market, however, to take a run at the first major resistance level at $4,212.73. Barring a broad-based recovery from early losses, Bitcoin will likely struggle on a run at $4,200 on the day.

Failure to move back through to $4,160 levels could see Bitcoin fall deeper into the red. An extended reversal across the broader market would bring the first major support level at $4,114.73 into play.

Barring a crypto meltdown, however, we would expect sub-$4,100 support levels to be left untested on the day.

 

 

Bob Mason

in 10 minutes (Mar 31, 2019 5:25 AM GMT)

David

Bitcoin – Perform or perish for the bulls

• BTC retracts from key level, do or die for the bulls.

• Parallel upwards channel on the short term may provide some help.

Bitcoin, the poster boy of cryptocurrencies is sitting on the cusp of a breakout which is perform or perish situation for the bulls and if not crossed, it may result in prices soon falling back below sub $4,000 levels towards $3,800.

BTC/USD is down three cents of a percent on day at $4,076 and trading in about 3 percent range for the day – signs of reviving volume and volatility, which is one key requirement if the bulls have to breakout past this key resistance visible on the 720-minute chart, which is also upper end of the rising wedge – a potentially bearish set-up.

On the 240-minute chart, an upward sloping parallel channel has been formed, which may provide some crucial support if prices do retrace some more from here. $3,920 is the next level – lower end of the channel.

BTC/USD 720-minute chart:

 

 

Manoj B Rawal

FXStreet

 

David

Bitcoin – With the Bulls Struggling at $4,100, is a Pullback on the Cards?

It’s back in the green for Bitcoin, but with $4,100 proving to be a key pivot point, a slide back to sub-$4,000 could result from tight ranges.

Bitcoin slipped by 0.24% on Thursday. Partially reversing a 2.75% rally from Wednesday, Bitcoin ended the day at $4,092.6.

A relatively range-bound day on Thursday saw Bitcoin rise to a morning high $4,114.4 before easing back. Falling well short of the first major resistance level at $4,145.97, Bitcoin fell to an early morning intraday low $4,064.0.

Steering well clear of the day’s major support levels, Bitcoin managed to move back through to $4,090 levels. Bitcoin was unable to break back through to $4,100 levels, however, in what was a particularly range-bound afternoon.

Elsewhere

Across the top 10 cryptos, it was another mixed day. Bucking the trend through the day was Binance Coin, which managed to gain 0.3%.

After a bearish start to the week, Binance found strong support to move back through to $17 levels and keep the bull-run alive.

In stark contrast, is the shift in sentiment towards Tron’s TRX, which recently stumbled out of the top-10, by market cap. March has been a punishing one for the Tron bulls. Bucking the trend from across the broader market, Tron was down by 1.8% for the current month.

In contrast, Binance was up by 61.2% and Cardano’s ADA, a new entry into the top 10, was up by 52.2%.

With just the weekend left before wrapping up the 1st quarter, it’s been a far better start to the year than last year. Stellar’s Lumen was the only member of the top-10 to be in the red, Year-to-date. Down by 4.41%, there’s going to need to be a weekend rally to wipe out the 1st quarter loss.

Delivering more than 100% returns over the 3-months, were Binance and Litecoin. Binance was up by 167%, while Litecoin was up by 102% to the end of Thursday. The Binance Launchpad platform and Litecoin’s halving event in the summer differentiated the pair from the broader market.

The moves through the quarter have led to the crypto market cap rise from $125bn to $143.5 levels at the time of writing, which is also a current year high.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin was up by 0.23% to $4,101.9. A pullback to an early morning low $4,082.3 saw Bitcoin hold above the first major support level at $4,066.27 before finding support.

Bitcoin recovered to strike an early morning high $4,125.0 before easing back. The early rally saw Bitcoin break through the first major resistance level at $4,116.67.

In spite of the pullback from the morning high, recovering to hold on to $4,100 levels was positive.

For the day ahead

A hold above $4,090 levels through the morning would support a bullish second half of the day. A move through the first major resistance level at $4,116.67 could bring the second major resistance level at $4,140.73 into play. Support from the broader market would be needed, however, for Bitcoin to breakout from current levels.

Failure to hold above $4,090 levels could see Bitcoin test the first major support level at $4,066.2 before any recovery. Barring a major crypto meltdown, we would expect Bitcoin to steer clear of sub-$4,050 levels on the day.

In the event of a sell-off, the second major support level at $4,039.93 would likely limit the downside on the day.

 

 

Bob Mason

17 minutes ago (Mar 29, 2019 5:10 AM GMT)

David

Bitcoin Volatility at all Time Low. Sign of Good Fortune?

Bitcoin has been through a lot since the launch in 2009. The most notable of the events in Bitcoin history is the phenomenal crash in 2018 which the asset hasn’t recovered from yet. However, there are indications that the cryptocurrency may be gearing up for something big.

Although the major problem that has kept potential investors away and a critical reason for the delayed SEC ETF approval has been volatility, the latest data from Dow Jones shows that volatility has reduced to its all-time low. The data reveals a tight trading range of 7.8% for Bitcoin in the month of March 2019 which is significantly smaller than the narrowest range since 2017 at 21.2%.

A cryptocurrency analyst Murad Mahmodov wrote to MarketWatch about the declining volatility of Bitcoin.

“Volatility is in itself a neutral signal. Historically however, low-volatility periods in BTC have always preceded prolonged bull runs, especially after capitulation moments of high momentum as seen in November and December,” he said.

Volatility is the rapid changes recorded in the price or value of an asset. This phenomenon characterizes the cryptocurrency market in general with prices changing so rapidly that sometimes the market may lose $6 billion in less than 24 hours. This has been the major challenge facing crypto adoption for everyday payments.

Although the decline in volatility indicates a potential bull run for Bitcoin based on history, it may not last, according to Marty Bent, host of Tales from the Crypt who is pessimistic about its persistence. He, however, believes the maturity of the market through lasting price stability is possible and will become a reality one day.

The solution to market volatility for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is not a sudden thing as many experts have said. Many have also said an ETF for Bitcoin will not be coming anytime soon because the market needs to mature and ten years isn’t enough time for that.

The cryptocurrency community and market is looking forward to the day when Bitcoin will be stable enough to be used like the U.S Dollar though. For now, what is the fate of Bitcoin in the short run? Should the community expect a bull run as a result of the short volatility low?

 

By Ponvang Bulus – March 28, 2019

David

Bitcoin (BTC) Breaks Below 4,000 as Analysts Expect Continued Near-Term Weakness

 

After trading within an incredibly tight trading range in between $4,000 and $4,100 for an extended period of time, Bitcoin (BTC) has now broken downwards below its previously established support level at the important psychological level of $4,000.

Now, analysts believe that Bitcoin’s inability to stabilize above $4,000 will lead it drop further in the near-term as dip buyers fail to step in and prop the cryptocurrencies price up.

Bitcoin (BTC) Breaks Below $4,000 and is Likely to Drop Further

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading down just over 1% at its current price of $3,970 and is down from its weekly highs of nearly $4,100. Because bulls still do not have enough buying pressure to push the crypto above the low-$4,000 region, it is likely that this price level will persist as resistance for the foreseeable future.

Jani Ziedins of the CrackedMarket blog discussed Bitcoin’s recent drop below $4,000 while speaking to MarketWatch, explaining that he expects the cryptocurrency to see further downside in the near future.

“Bitcoin cannot escape $4k resistance even after poking its head above it the last week. If dip buyers have not come to the rescue yet, it means they are not coming. An investment that refuses to go up will eventually go down. Bitcoin owners need to be prepared for more near-term weakness,” he said.

Ledger Status, a popular cryptocurrency analyst on Twitter, also shared his thoughts recently, explaining that the crypto has multiple strong levels of resistance existing just above its current price.

“Tricky spot for $BTC. Under the bband midline again but above a congestion area. Several support areas below, heavy resistance above. Seems a good way to lose money over if leveraged,” he noted.

Although Bitcoin has found support around $3,900 so far, if its bulls are unable to push its price back above $4,000 in the near-future, significantly further losses could be in store, and a drop back to its 2018 lows in the low-$3,000 region may be inevitable.

 

Analyst: Bitcoin May Need to Drop to $3,700 Before Surging

Despite its current price action favoring BTC’s bears, the latest drop may be part of a bigger price move that will ultimately send its price into the upper-$4,000 region in the near-future.

 

Flood, another popular cryptocurrency trader on Twitter, spoke about where he sees BTC heading next, explaining that he expects it to drop towards $3,700 before finding buying support that allows the crypto to surge to the upper-$4,000 region.

How Bitcoin responds to its recent drop below $4,000 will give traders and analysts alike more insight into where the entire markets are heading next, as continued downwards pressure on BTC will likely hamper the gains that many smaller cryptocurrencies have experienced as of late.

 

COLE PETERSEN | MARCH 27, 2019 | 12:00 AM

David

Bitcoin Gets Market Analysts Worried; Here’s Why?

Unlike its popular trend, the largest Cryptocurrency token, Bitcoin, has experienced close to zero price movement during the weekend. This has got the think tanks thinking about the possible reasons why the Bitcoin suddenly showed this trait when it usually is dynamic during the weekends. According to followers of the Cryptocurrency, the token had a minuscule upward move of 0.11 percent.

Till date, especially after the Crypto Winter, Bitcoin had always been bashed for its volatility. But, during the weekend, it was more stable than most of the stable coins. There, however, were great changes in the Cryptocurrency industry as such. It is worth mentioning that there was a great amount of reshuffle in the positions of Cardano (ADA) and Tron (trx), which was kicked out of the top 10 on Saturday. Cardano, meanwhile, held its place firmly on the 10th position. Stellar or XLM faced a dash down after the recent IBM hype died down. Binancecoin, however, gained the most with a 12 percent price hike.

More on Bitcoin

Bitcoin and Bitcoin cash are no longer the payment option on streaming site Twitch. In a silent but sudden move, the popular live streaming video channel removed its payment option with Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash. This shows the company in a negative light because of the worldwide adoption of the cryptocurrency and its increasing popularity among the industries as a progressive step.

This seemed to be a trend for all the live streaming management sites. For instance, StreamLabs also removed the option to pay with virtual currencies. This was spotted by Bitcoin’s Reddit community. Analysts are trying to reason it out why the video platforms did away with the option, some reasoning the lack of knowledge and the latest developments that the industry is going through. Cryptocurrency companies, meanwhile complain that many companies add this as a mode of payment without informing the Crytpo company. And when the transaction volumes drop, the same option gets removed randomly.

This has a greater effect on the cryptocurrency industry because it suddenly loses a number of potential customers that are affiliated to the company that delisted it. For instance, when Twitch introduced the Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin payments, its 2,2 million users and 15 million viewers got to know of the crypto industry. Delisting the tokens might show the cryptocurrency industry in bad light. Other notable platforms that have delisted the cryptocurrency include the travel booking site, Expedia.com and Chess.com, the online chess portal.

 

Trevor Holman

March 26, 20193 Min Read

David

 

Analyst – Bitcoin (BTC) Reaching 5,500 is a Strong Likelihood, But Possibility of Drop to 3,000 Remains

Bitcoin has been experiencing a quiet weekend trading session and is currently firmly in the middle of its long-established trading range between $4,000 and $4,100. It is unclear how long this range will persist, but historically BTC has experienced fairly significant price swings after long bouts of sideways trading.

Now, analysts seem to concur that Bitcoin is posed to make a large upwards swing towards $5,500 in the near future, but it is important to note that the possibility of further downside still remains.

Bitcoin (BTC) Caught in Persisting Trading Range

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading down marginally at its current price of $4,020. Over the past several days, BTC’s volatility has been declining as its trading range grows tighter.

Although the upper bound of BTC’s current trading range will most certainly act as a level of resistance in the near-future, the key level that analysts and traders alike are closely watching to see how Bitcoin responds to is $4,200, which is where the crypto faced strong resistance and spiraled downwards from late last month.

Crypto Krillin, a cryptocurrency analyst on Twitter, recent discussed where he sees Bitcoin heading next, importantly noting that he believes the crypto will make an upwards swing towards $5,500 next, but further added that a downside target of $3,000 is still a possibility.

“The moment of truth for Bitcoin is very near. We fly straight through the cloud to 5500, or we visit 3000. I’m leaning bullish,” he explained in a recent tweet.

Tweet

$5,500 Becoming an Important Level For Bitcoin

Crypto Krillin is not alone in his belief that Bitcoin’s upside target currently exists around $5,500.

Yesterday, Galaxy, another popular cryptocurrency analyst on Twitter, explained to his nearly 50k followers that BTC is currently nearing the end of an ascending triangle formation, which means that the crypto is, statistically speaking, likely to make a large upwards price swing towards $5,500 in the next month or two.

“According to Bulkowski’s study, more than 60% of ascending triangles with declining volume end up breaking upwards… with an average price rise of 35%. That gives us a target of $5500 BTC once the breakout is confirmed,” he noted.

As the new week starts and trading volume begins to ramp up, the crypto markets will gain greater insight into just how strong Bitcoin’s current trading range is, and as to where it will head next.

 

COLE PETERSEN | MARCH 24, 2019 | 7:30 PM

David