Bitcoin, Ripple, And Litecoin Sell-off – What’s Different This Time Around

Bitcoin, Ripple, And Litecoin Sell-off - What's Different This Time Around

Bitcoin, Ripple, And Litecoin Sell-off – What's Different This Time Around

The current sell-off in Bitcoin, Ripple, Litecoin, and other cryptocurrencies may have a long way to go before it’s over. For a “technical” reason: it’s broad, extending from major currencies to the smaller ones.

When Bitcoin dropped close to 40% back in the middle of December, Ripple rallied, quadrupling in value in just a few days. The rally quickly spread to Ethereum, Litecoin, NEM, Siacoin and Bytecoin, and other cryptocurrencies.

Then, as Ripple and other cryptocurrencies sold off a couple of weeks later, Bitcoin rallied.

There’s a good explanation behind the rotation among cryptocurrencies. Some cryptocurrency exchanges require Bitcoins to pay for coin transactions. So investors who already owned Bitcoins had to sell them to pay for those transactions.

Rotation from one coin to another isn’t new to investing. It has been applied on Wall Street for years, where investors rotate funds between “defensive” and “cyclical stocks,” at times when interest rates, i.e. the “opportunity cost” of money, remain low.

That’s bullish for stocks, because it confirms that money is staying within this asset class rather than moving back into money market investments.

And that was a bullish sign for cryptocurrencies back then, too.

But that’s not what is happening this time around. With the exception of Ethereum, all major cryptocurrencies are down simultaneously. In the last seven days, Bitcoin is down 10.10%, Ripple is down 17.23%, and Litecoin is down 10.40%; and all are 50% or more below their all-time high back in December.

Table 1

Seven-Day Price Change For Major Cryptocurrencies

Source:Coinmarketcap.com 1/31/18 at 1.30pm

Worse, the sell-off has been extending across the entire cryptocurrency list—see table.

Table 2

Source: Coinmarketcap.com1/31/18 at 1.30pm

This means that money getting out of major cryptocurrencies isn’t being plowed back into other cryptocurrencies. It is leaving the entire asset class.

That’s bearish for all cryptocurrencies.

And that’s what’s different with the sell-off in major cryptocurrencies this time around.

Panos Mourdoukoutas , CONTRIBUTOR

David Ogden Entrepreneur
David Ogden Cryptocurrency Entrepreneur

David

Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Ripple, IOTA, Litecoin, NEM, Cardano – Price Analysis, Jan. 25

Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Ripple, IOTA, Litecoin, NEM, Cardano - Price Analysis, Jan. 25

Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Ripple, IOTA, Litecoin, NEM, Cardano – Price Analysis, Jan. 25

The massive upwards movement in cryptocurrencies over 2017 has not gone unnoticed. The participants at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos are being questioned about cryptocurrencies and Cointelegraph has been one of the main voices representing the fraternity.

The traditional investors are still not willing to accept the rising clout of the cryptocurrencies and are pushing for tighter regulation. Only recently, Nordea Bank banned its employees from owning Bitcoin by Feb. 28. However, this move is facing strong opposition from the large unions.

Even the fears of a cryptocurrency ban by South Korea gathered a massive petition opposing the move. Finally, the Korean government only banned the traders from using anonymous bank accounts for cryptocurrency trading.

The classical investors and regulators fail to understand that these kinds of bans are unlikely to dent the popularity of the cryptocurrencies.

BTC/USD

Bitcoin is currently in no man’s land. It is facing resistance at the down trendline one. If the bulls succeed in breaking out of this resistance, we can expect a rally towards the down trendline two. Aggressive traders can trade this pullback.

Others should wait for a confirmation of a bottom formation because, if the bulls fail to sustain above the down trendline one, the likelihood of $10,000 levels breakdown increases.

Unlike the previous falls, this time, the BTC/USD pair is struggling to hold on to higher levels. With the price quoting below both the 20-day EMA and the 50-day EMA, the trend remains down to range bound.

The downtrend will reassert itself if the price breaks down to $10,000 levels. So, the swing traders should wait and watch for the next few days for the trend to change from down to up before initiating any long positions.

ETH/USD

Ethereum is in a pullback in an uptrend because it is still quoting above both the 20-day EMA and the 50-day SMA. Additionally, it has successfully held on to the uptrend line, which is another positive sign.

But the 20-day EMA has flattened out, which points to a range bound trading action for the next few days. The support of the range is likely to be at $900 levels, whereas, the resistance will be at $1,160 levels.

The ETH/USD pair will become negative only after it breaks down of the trendline and the 50-day SMA, which is at $845.

Long positions for the medium-term can be initiated on dips to $1,000 levels, with a stop loss at $840. We believe that if the 50-day SMA holds, the cryptocurrency will attempt to resume its uptrend and rally to the highs. This is a risky trade, hence, please keep the position size small.

BCH/USD

The traders, both the bulls and the bears, are not taking any keen interest in Bitcoin Cash. As a result, it has been trading in a small range since Jan. 23.

Support on the downside exists at the Jan. 17 low, $1,364.9657. On the upside, as the moving averages have completed bearish crossover, the 20-day EMA is likely to act as a resistance. Additionally, the $2,072 levels and the downtrend line will also act as a strong overhead resistance.

We don’t find any tradable setup on the BCH/USD pair.

XRP/USD

Ripple has formed a doji candlestick pattern on both Jan. 23 and Jan. 24. Even the price action currently points to a very small range day.

As forecast in our previous analysis, the XRP/USD pair is likely to remain range bound between $0.87 and $1.74. A trading opportunity will pop up only if the supports of the range hold or if the cryptocurrency breaks out of the overhead resistance. We should wait until then.

IOTA/USD

IOTA’s range has been shrinking for the past two days. It has formed successive inside day candlestick patterns on Jan. 23 and Jan. 24. Today, it is trying to resume the downtrend.

On the downside, support exists at $1.9232 levels. If this breaks, the IOTA/USD pair can extend its losses to the Dec. 22 low of $1.1.

The first signs of a recovery will be seen once the price breaks out of $3.032 and the down trendline of the descending triangle.

If the support and the overhead resistance levels hold, we may see a few days of range bound action.

LTC/USD

Litecoin has held on to the critical support level of $175.199. However, the bounce doesn’t have any strength, which shows a lack of interest in buyers.

If the bears succeed in breaking down the supports, a fall to $140.001 is likely.

On the other hand, the first signs of a recovery will be on a breakout above $215 levels.

Aggressive traders can buy the LTC/USD pair at $187, which is just above the high of past couple of days. The stop loss for the trade can be kept at $163 and the target objective is $215.

However, this is a very risky trade, hence, please place it only with less than 50 percent of the usual allocation.

XEM/USD

NEM has held on to the 0.86 levels for the past few days, but the bulls are unable to push prices above the down trendline.

This is likely to lead to another attempt to break down of $0.86 within a couple of days. If the bears succeed, a fall to the Jan. 16 lows of $0.55134 is likely. The 20-day EMA has turned down and is likely to complete a bearish crossover if the support breaks.

We don’t find any bullish setups on the XEM/USD pair with price trading below the trendline and both the moving averages. A change in trend will be signaled once it rallies above $1.21.

ADA/BTC

Cardano is again attempting to break out of the 0.00006 levels. If successful, it is likely to rally to the overhead resistance at 0.00006915. A very short-term trader can buy at 0.00006 with a stop loss of 0.00005. This is a risky trade, hence, please attempt it with less than 50 percent of the usual position size.

Swing traders should wait for a breakout of the 0.00006915 levels to initiate any long positions. We believe that unless the sentiment turns bullish for the cryptocurrencies, the ADA/BTC pair will find it difficult to breakout of the overhead resistance and may drift down to 0.000047 to 0.000049 levels again, which can be a good level to initiate long positions.

Author Rakesh Upadhyay

Posted By David Ogden Entrepreneur

David

Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Ripple, IOTA, Litecoin, NEM, Cardano – Price Analysis, Jan. 23

Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Ripple, IOTA, Litecoin, NEM, Cardano - Price Analysis, Jan. 23

Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Ripple, IOTA, Litecoin, NEM, Cardano – Price Analysis, Jan. 23

When the markets are bullish, a lot of traders only focus on high target levels. This leads to a left out feeling among the ones who have missed out on the rally, and they rush to buy at elevated levels. This results in a huge loss of capital to the uninformed traders.

The opposite works when the market falls. One starts to hear bearish voices with the analysts forecasting apocalypse and novice traders get scared and dump their holdings. They buy when they should be selling and sell when they should be buying.

Hence, it is always better to take these forecasts with a pinch of salt. We, therefore, avoid giving unrealistic target levels to our readers and try to keep them on the right side of the trade.

BTC/USD

In our previous analysis, we had predicted that Bitcoin would turn down from the $13,202 levels and that is what happened. The cryptocurrency topped out at $12,988.89 on Jan. 20. It is currently retesting the critical support zone of $10,704.99 to $9,300.

For the past two days, the bulls are defending the $10,000 levels. If this level holds, we may see another attempt to pull back. The trend will turn positive in the short-term only when the BTC/USD pair breaks out of the down trendline 1.

This trade should be taken with only 50 percent allocation because on the way up, Bitcoin will face resistance at the neckline of the head and shoulders pattern and at the down trendline 2.

On the downside, a break of $10,000 is likely to hurt sentiment, resulting in a decline to $8,000 levels.

ETH/USD

We had forecast a rally to $1174.36, which is the 61.8 percent Fibonacci retracement level of the recent fall from $1424 to $770 and Ethereum topped out at $1,160 on Jan 20.

The price has returned to the trendline support, which has offered strong support since Dec. 10.

The bulls have been attempting to hold the trendline support for the past two days. We believe the support zone between $900 and $845 is likely to be defended strongly by the bulls. The ETH/USD pair will indicate a change in trend only after it breaks out of the down trendline.

If the above-mentioned support zone breaks, the decline can extend to $770 levels. We don’t find any buy setups; hence, we are not suggesting any trade on it.

BCH/USD

In our previous analysis, we had anticipated Bitcoin Cash to return from the $2,072 levels, and it topped out at $2,112.11 on Jan. 20.

The moving average has completed a bearish crossover, and the price is quoting below the 20-day EMA and the 50-day SMA; which is advantageous to bears. If the retest of the recent lows at $1364.96 fails, a fall to $1194 is likely.

If the bulls defend the $1364.96 levels, the BCH/USD pair is likely to become range-bound for a few days.

As the trend is still down, we are not suggesting any trade on it.

XRP/USD

Ripple returned from the 20-day EMA on Jan. 18. It currently has support at the $0.87 levels.

We believe that the XRP/USD pair will become range bound for the next few days between the support of $0.87 and the resistance of $1.74.

We shall wait for a breakout above the overhead resistance to initiate any long positions. On the downside, though we expect the $0.87 to hold, it might be reasonable to wait for a bounce before buying. As the trading inside the range is likely to be volatile, we shall only try to buy closer to the supports.

IOTA/USD

We had mentioned that $3.032 is the critical level for IOTA and a failure to break out above it will attract another bout of selling and that is what happened.

The cryptocurrency is currently attempting to hold the Jan. 16 low of $1.923. If the bears succeed in breaking down this support, a fall to the lows of Dec. 22 of $1.10 is likely.

If the bulls hold the $1.923 levels, the IOTA/USD pair is likely to remain range bound for the next few days. It will become positive only if the price breaks out of the down trendline of the descending triangle.

LTC/USD

Litecoin broke above $205, but could not reach $225, as we had expected. It turned down from $214.48 levels on Jan. 20.

The bears are trying to break down of the critical support level of $175.19. If successful, a fall to $140 is likely.

In the short-term, the first sign of bullishness will be when the LTC/USD pair breaks out of $215. Currently, we don’t find any trade set up on it.

XEM/USD

On Jan. 20 and Jan. 21, the bulls could not sustain above the downtrend line. As a result, NEM has resumed its decline.

Currently, the bulls are attempting to hold the $0.86 level. If this breaks, a fall to the Jan. 16 lows of $0.551 is likely.

On the upside, the down trendline is likely to offer strong resistance. The first signs of bullishness will be when price breaks out of the $1.21 levels.

We don’t find any trade setups on the XEM/USD pair.

ADA/BTC

Cardano could not break out of the 0.00006 levels. It is now likely to gradually fall to the support levels of 0.000047, and after that to 0.00004070.

For the next few days, we expect the ADA/BTC pair to remain range bound between 0.00004070 on the downside and 0.00006915 on the upside.

We shall wait for the pair to bounce from one of the support levels before initiating any trade. At the present levels, we don’t find any bullish setups on it.

Author: Rakesh Upadhyay

Posted By David Ogden Entrepreneur
David ogden Cryptocurrency Entrepreneur

David

Price Analysis, Jan. 19 – Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Ripple, IOTA, Litecoin, NEM, Cardano

Price Analysis, Jan. 19 - Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Ripple, IOTA, Litecoin, NEM, Cardano

Price Analysis, Jan. 19 – Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Ripple, IOTA, Litecoin, NEM, Cardano

After a sharp fall, the aggressive bulls jump in and buy at lower levels. This strategy has resulted in huge gains for the cryptocurrency traders in 2017. However, unlike previous occasions, we have not seen a sharp rise this time. This shows that the traders are not confident of a huge rally from the current prices.

In the next few days, we expect a range bound action in most of the top cryptocurrencies.

BTC/USD

We had expected a pullback from the $10,704.99 levels. But Bitcoin overshot on the downside and fell to $9,300 levels.

Currently, the bulls are attempting a reversal, which is likely to carry the cryptocurrency to the neckline of the head and shoulders pattern at $13,202 levels.

We expect another round of selling from those levels, which is likely to sink the BTC/USD pair back to the support zone of $10,704.99 to $9,300. If this support zone breaks, a fall below $8,000 is likely.

On the other hand, if the bulls succeed in holding the support zone, it will lead to a start of a new uptrend. Nimble-footed traders can play the rise, but others should wait for more clarity to develop.

ETH/USD

We expected the support zone between the trendline and $940 to hold. On Jan. 17, Ethereum broke below the trendline and fell to a low of $770.

The bulls bought the dip aggressively, which has resulted in a pullback that carried the cryptocurrency towards the 50 percent Fibonacci retracement levels of the recent fall from $1424 to $770.

For the past three days, the ETH/USD pair has been struggling to cross above $1097. If the price breaks out of the $1100 levels, we expect a move to $1174.36 and $1284.28 levels. As the stop loss is $930, which doesn’t offer a good risk to reward ratio, we are not suggesting any trade on it.

BCH/USD

We expected the $1733 levels to hold. Still, the bears easily broke through it and Bitcoin Cash fell to a low of $1364.96 on Jan. 18.

The current increase is likely to face resistance at the $2072 levels, which was the support of the range previously. We shall get a confirmation of a bottom during the next downturn. If $1364.96 breaks, a fall to $1194 is likely.

Our bearish view will be invalidated if the BCH/USD pair sustains above $2072 for a day.

XRP/USD

We had forecast a fall to 61.8 percent Fibonacci retracement levels of the latest rally, however, Ripple fell close to the 78.6 percent retracement levels, which coincided with the lower end of the descending channel.

The cryptocurrency has broken out of the descending channel, which suggests that the downtrend is over. However, the present increase is facing resistance at the 20-day EMA, above which a move to $2.20 is likely. At that price, the XRP/USD pair will face resistance from the trendline that had previously acted as a strong support.

However, if the cryptocurrency fails to break above the 20-day EMA, the bears will attempt to resume the downtrend. Support lies at $0.87.

We expect a few days of range bound trading.

IOTA/USD

IOTA broke down of the bearish descending triangle pattern on January 16, which gives it a pattern target of $1.10.

However, the cryptocurrency took support at $1.93 levels on Jan. 17.

Currently, the IOTA/USD pair is retesting the breakout levels of $3.032. If the bulls breakout of the overhead resistance and the downtrend line, our bearish view will be invalidated.

However, if the bears defend the $3.032 levels, we are likely to see another bout of selling, which will retest the lows.

We don’t find any clear pattern; hence, we are not recommending any trade.

LTC/USD

We had forecast a likely fall to $100 if Litecoin broke below $175.19. It rose from a low of $140.00 on Jan. 17.

For two days in a row, Jan. 16 and Jan. 17, the bears broke down below $175.19 but were unsuccessful in holding prices down.

If the bulls breakout of $205, a move to $225 is likely, where both the moving averages converge. This level is likely to act as a resistance.

We don’t find any reasonable trades on LTC/USD pair.

XEM/USD

NEM fell close to the 78.6 percent retracement levels on Jan. 16 and Jan. 17. Thereafter, the bulls have commenced a pullback, which is likely to face a strong resistance at the downward trendline.

If the price moves above the downtrend line, an increase to $1.45 can’t be ruled out.

The next fall towards the recent lows of $0.55134 will confirm whether the bottom is in place or is there further to go.

Until then, we shall remain on the sidelines on the XEM/USD pair.

ADA/BTC

Cardano broke below the trendline support on Jan. 16 and Jan. 17, however, the bulls defended the support and pushed prices higher quickly.

The ADA/BTC pair broke out of the downtrend line yesterday, Jan. 18, however, it could not pick up momentum. It is struggling to rally above 0.00006. Once bulls breakout of 0.00006, a move to 0.00007 and thereafter to the 0.00008 levels is likely.

The cryptocurrency pair will become negative below 0.00004730.

Author: Rakesh Upadhyay

Posted by David Ogden Entrepreneur

David

Bitcoin is no long the only game in crypto-currency town

IT STARTED as a joke. Dogecoin was launched in 2013 as a bitcoin parody, using as its mascot a Japanese shiba inu dog, a popular internet meme. The crypto-currency was never really used, except for tipping online, and one of its founders has called it quits. But recently its price has soared: on January 7th the dollar value of all Dogecoins in circulation reached $2bn, a sign of how crazy crypto-currency markets have become. It is also a reminder that, for all the focus on bitcoin, it is no longer the only game in town. Its market capitalisation now amounts to only about one-third of the crypto-market (see chart).

Bitcoin is no long the only game in crypto-currency town

A new crypto-currency is born almost daily, often through an “initial coin offering” (ICO), a form of online crowdfunding. CoinMarketCap, a website, lists about 1,400 digital coins or tokens, including UFO Coin, PutinCoin, Sexcoin and InsaneCoin (worth $7m). Most are no more than curiosities, but by January 10th, around 40 had a market capitalisation of more than $1bn.

First on the list, after bitcoin, was Ethereum, whose coin, called ether, reached a market capitalisation of $137bn. Ethereum’s claim to fame is that it is also a platform for “smart contracts”—business rules encapsulated in software. Most ICO tokens, for instance, are issued by such contracts. Its success has attracted crypto-copycats: Cardano ($20bn) and NEO ($8bn), a Chinese version.

Ripple, too, is defying gravity. It is all the rage in crypto-crazy South Korea, which this week roiled crypto-markets with plans to ban trading on exchanges. Ripple sells software to move money between countries; more than 100 banks have signed up to its technology, based on a coin called XRP. Its market capitalisation jumped by more than 40,000% in 2017, reaching nearly $149bn on January 4th, before falling back to $78bn. That still makes Chris Larsen, a Ripple co-founder, one of the world’s richest people, at least on digital paper.

Less well-known coins have also taken wing. Monero ($6bn) and Zcash ($2bn) focus on privacy. Stellar ($9.8bn) has developed a system to transfer funds cheaply that is used by charities, particularly in poor countries. IOTA ($10.1bn) allows connected machines to exchange information and payments securely. And then there is Bitcoin Cash ($46bn), whose founders split from bitcoin in August 2017 because they were unhappy with how it was run.

Might any of these one day replace bitcoin as crypto-land reserve currency, something insiders call the “flippening”? Given bitcoin’s governance problems (another “fork”, or split, may be in the offing) and limited capacity (a transaction now costs nearly $30, on average, in fees), this cannot be excluded. But the others have problems, too. Ethereum’s user fees have soared and the system has again hit technical snags. As for Ripple, some question the extent to which XRPs are actually used.

Come what may, the field will only get more crowded. Kodak, the archetypal victim of digital disruption, wants to jump on the crypto-wagon: on January 9th it announced that it will launch a coin to allow photographers to charge for their works. More ambitious will be the ICO of Telegram, a messaging service with 180m users: it aims to raise $1.2bn and issue a token called Gram that can be used to pay for a range of services from online storage to virtual private networks. Even Facebook has reportedly started looking into creating a token. Should the world’s biggest social network ever make that move, bitcoin’s days as the leading crypto-currency would almost certainly be numbered.

Source: The Economist

Posted by David Ogden Entrepreneur
David Ogden Cryptocurrency Entrepreneur

David

Bitcoin Alternatives – Ethereum Vs Litecoin Vs Verge Vs Ripple Vs Zcash

Bitcoin Alternatives - Ethereum Vs Litecoin Vs Verge Vs Ripple Vs Zcash

Bitcoin Alternatives – Ethereum Vs Litecoin Vs Verge Vs Ripple Vs Zcash

After bitcoin, ripple is one of the largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization

The bitcoin prices may have stabilized but, they still hover around $13,000, a price far too high for a lot of potential investors. The exorbitant price of bitcoins dissuaded hundreds of thousands of potential investors who missed the 2017 rally. The bitcoin prices had jumped in the last month of 2017 in run up to the launch of futures trading by CBOE (Chicago Board of Options Exchange) and CME Group this month. After the futures trading launch, the prices have more or less fallen from the peak of $19,666, a feat achieved on December 17. However, there are numerous cryptocurrencies which are still not as popular and can be bought owing to their affordability.

Following are some of the bitcoins' smaller rivals

Ripple (XRP): Ripple, one of the largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, claims to offer frictionless experience to its customers to send money globally using the power of blockchain. By joining Ripple, financial institutions can process their customers' payments anywhere in the world instantly. The Ripple woos banks and payment providers to use the cryptocurrency for reducing costs. Ripple's price had surged $1 for the first time on December 21.

Litecoin (LTC): The market capitalization of litecoin rose from $1 billion in November 2013 to $4.6 billion. What makes a litecoin appealing is that the price of a litecoin (at $277) is still affordable for many such investors, at least as of now. Another thing that distinguishes litecoin from a bitcoin is that the litcoin takes relatively less processing speed (2.5 minutes) unlike bitcoin that takes around 10 minutes for one block. The market capitalization of litecoin is over $15 billion.

Ethereum: Ethereum is a distributed public blockchain network. Ethereum was proposed in late 2013 by Vitalik Buterin, a cryptocurrency researcher. Bitcoin offers one particular application of blockchain technology, a peer to peer electronic cash system that enables online Bitcoin payments, the Ethereum blockchain focuses on running the programming code of any decentralized application. The value token of the Ethereum blockchain is called ether. The price of Ethereum is over $700.

Verge (XVG): Verge currency is a cryptocurrency that improves upon the original Bitcoin blockchain and aims to meet the primary purpose of providing individuals and businesses with a fast, efficient and decentralized way of making direct transactions while maintaining personal privacy, says the Verge currency's website. Verge makes it possible to engage in direct transactions quickly, efficiently and privately. With Verge currency, businesses and individuals have flexible options for sending and receiving payments. Verge uses multiple anonymity-centric networks such as Tor and 12P. The IP addresses of the users are obfuscated and the transactions are completely untraceable. Price of one verge is around $0.1583 on Saturday while the total market cap is over $2.2 billion.

Zcash (ZEC): While the bitcoin blockchain contains records of the participants in a transaction, as well as the amount involved, Zcash's blockchain shows only that a transaction took place, and not who was involved or what the amount was. Zcash is an open-source protocol because of which, the Zcash Company does not control it (including controlling the mining or distribution of it), not does it have any special access to private or shielded transactions. Just like anyone else, the Z cash Company only has the ability to see a private or shielded transaction if it is a party to that transaction or someone provides it with the correct view key. Zcash is valued at $518.

David Ogden Entrepreneur
David Ogden Cryptocurrency Entrepreneur

David

Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Ripple, IOTA, Litecoin, Dash, Monero: Price Analysis, Dec. 30

Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Ripple, IOTA, Litecoin, Dash, Monero

Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Ripple, IOTA, Litecoin, Dash, Monero: Price Analysis, Dec. 30

Cryptocurrencies have generated wealth for the traders like no other asset class. While Bitcoin has garnered most of the attention, it is not the only one to have risen in 2017. There have been scores of winners.

Ethereum was the second leading currencies aiming to overtake Bitcoin as the dominant leader of the year; it could never really achieve the feat.

However, within the past two weeks, Ripple has skyrocketed from a low of $0.22 on Dec. 10, to a high of $2.47 today. That’s a whopping rally of 1024 percent within a span of 20 days.

As a result, Ripple has now overtaken Ethereum as the second most valuable currency by market capitalization.

Bitcoin’s dominance, which had risen above 60 percent just a few weeks back has again cooled off to 38.3 percent.

As the market matures, we are likely to see a number of changes in the rankings of these currencies. Therefore, one has to keep an open mind towards all the cryptocurrencies because as traders; our main goal is to earn money.

So, do we have any good buy setups for the end of the year or is it best to remain on the sidelines and enjoy the holidays, returning to trade in the new year? Let’s find out.

BTC/USD

We expected a pullback from the trendline, however, due to lack of buyers, the recovery never gained strength. Today, the bears easily broke below the trendline support, which has escalated the selling.

Bitcoin has broken down of the neckline of the bearish head and shoulders pattern. If the cryptocurrency sustains below the neckline, it has a pattern target of $5,745.

However, we don’t expect to see such a plunge in the short-term.

We believe that the bulls will attempt to defend the recent lows of $10,704.99. But if they fail, the bears are likely to intensify their selling. A number of long positions will start to bleed, which is likely to lead to panic selling. We see another support at the $8,000 mark.

All these lower levels will come into play only if the BTC/USD pair breaks and sustains below the 50-day SMA.

Contrarily, if the bears are unable to breakdown of the 50-day SMA, we may see a recovery in the new year. Yet, we will prefer to wait until the digital currency breaks out of the downtrend line to initiate any position. We don’t find any trades at the current price.

ETH/USD

We mentioned that Ethereum will become positive in the short-term only on a breakout and close above the downtrend line. Yesterday, the bulls broke out of the trendline but could not manage a close above it.

On the downside, the 20-day EMA has been providing a strong support. If this support level breaks, we may see a slide towards $646.08 and thereafter to $600 levels. On the other hand, the ETH/USD pair will become positive above $770 because it has returned from the $760 levels on three occasions.

Between the 20-day EMA and $760, we are likely to witness a volatile range-bound trading action.

Therefore, we suggest waiting until we get a clear breakout and a confirmation of the resumption of the uptrend.

BCH/USD

For the past two days, the bulls had been defending the $2300 mark. But their attempt to resume the rally failed yesterday.

Today, the bears have broken down of the critical support level of $2300. The next downside target on the BCH/USD pair is a fall to the 50-day SMA.

We expect a strong buying around the $1,733 levels. Nonetheless, we recommend waiting until there is a clear bottom in sight.

Consider avoiding buying in a falling market.

XRP/USD

Ripple roared past our initial target objective of $1.5. Today, it reached an intraday high of $2.474.

Traders who had purchased on our bullish prediction should close their positions or at least trail with a close stop loss depending on their strategy.

After such a stellar rally, we expect the XRP/USD pair to enter into a correction or a consolidation. Therefore, we don’t have any fresh buy recommendations on it.

IOTA/USD

The bulls have successfully held on to the lower end of the range at $3.032 for the past few days. However, they have not been able to push the cryptocurrency higher.

Today, the IOTA/USD pair is again under a bear attack, which is threatening to break below the critical support. If the bears succeed, the cryptocurrency will fall to the 61.8 percent Fibonacci retracement level of $2.62196.

Yet, if the bulls manage to hold the supports once again today, IOTA will continue to trade inside the range. We shall initiate buy positions only on a breakout and close above the downtrend line. Until then, we shall remain on the sidelines.

LTC/USD

The bears have broken below the neckline of the head and shoulders pattern. Unless the bulls stage takes a sharp recovery today, chances are that Litecoin will continue lower in the next few days.

We anticipate a strong support at the recent lows of $175.199. The 50-day SMA is also just below this level, which should also provide some support.

However, if both these levels fail to hold, the LTC/USD pair will fall towards $110, which is the target objective of the breakdown of the head and shoulders pattern.

Our bearish view will be invalidated if the bulls manage to push the digital currency above the neckline at $240.

DASH/USD

For the past two days, the bulls managed to hold on to the 20-day EMA. But today, the bears have broken below the moving average support.

Dash has a strong support at the trendline. We expect the bulls to strongly defend this level.

Though we shall avoid buying until we get a confirmation of a bottom formation because if the trendline breaks, the DASH/USD pair can fall to $800 and thereafter to $650 levels.

XMR/USD

We were expecting a range-bound trading action in Monero. Despite that, the bears have taken control and have broken below the 20-day EMA today, which is a bearish development.

The immediate support on Monero is at $300. If this level breaks down, we are likely to see the decline extend to the recent lows of $245.1. The 50-day SMA is also at this level. Just below there is the 61.8 percent Fibonacci retracement level of $230.66.

We expect a strong support in this zone. At the same time, we don’t suggest buying until the fall is arrested.

When the markets are in a bear grip, it is a good strategy to wait until the decline ends, instead of being brave and attempting to catch a falling knife.

Author: Rakesh Upadhyay

Posted By David Ogden Entrepreneur
David Ogden Cryptocurrency Entrepreneur

David

Bitcoin’s Smaller Cousins Are Leading the Crypto Rally

Bitcoin's Smaller Cousins Are Leading the Crypto Rally

Bitcoin’s Smaller Cousins Are Leading the Crypto Rally

Bitcoin’s smaller cousins are outpacing the largest cryptocurrency’s gains since major U.S. exchanges started offering futures.

The biggest gainers among digital assets with at least $1 billion of market capitalization in the past seven days are so-called alternative coins Verge, Tron, Qtum and Cardano, soaring at least 300 percent. Despite some wild price swings, bitcoin’s price is mostly flat since Cboe Group Markets Inc. and CME Group Inc. made the derivatives available in the past two weeks.

“People were really excited about the futures coming in and bitcoin really rallied leading up to that,” Joe Van Hecke, managing partner at Chicago-based Grace Hall Trading LLC, said in a telephone interview from Charlotte, North Carolina. “Bitcoin’s been on a massive rally and the other coins are just now catching up as it takes a breather. Additionally some positive press around some of them added to the rally. ”

Smaller Coins Have Bigger Gains

Bitcoin's smaller rivals are outpacing the largest cryptocurrency

smaller coins have bigger gains

Here’s a primer on these lesser known digital tokens. Most of them try to improve on the very things some see as positive in bitcoin; for those who don’t like to broadcast their transactions on a public blockchain, some platforms are offering untraceable transfers. And if you’re uneasy with the fact that bitcoin can’t be easily regulated, there’s a coin to fix that too. There’s even a blockchain-less cryptocurrency that tries to eliminate fees.

Verge

Verge aims to provide individuals and businesses with fast, efficient and decentralized transactions, which was bitcoin’s original purpose, but wants to improve on bitcoin by maintaining personal privacy, using anonymity-centric networks such as Tor, obfuscating IP addressees and making transactions "completely untraceable," according to its website. Verge, with a market cap of $1.07 billion, is up more than 1,000 percent in the past week.

Tron

Tron, operated by the Singapore-based Tron Foundation, wants to build a “worldwide free content entertainment system” based on the blockchain, according to its website. The protocol allows users to freely publish, store and own data, enabling them to decide how the content gets distributed and at what cost. Payments would be made in cryptocurrencies including tron’s coin. Tron, with a market cap of $3.1 billion, is up 340 percent in the past week.

Qtum

Qtum wants to be the public ledger for business. The open-source blockchain project wants to combine the reliability of bitcoin’s blockchain with the flexibility of smart contracts of the ethereum network, according to its website. That combination will allow it to provide stability for business applications. Qtum Foundation, which develops the project, is based in Singapore. Qtum has a market cap of $5.1 billion and is up 262 percent in the past week.

Cardano

Cardano, backed by the Zug, Switzerland-based Cardano Foundation, is a decentralized public blockchain that aims to protect user privacy, while also allowing for regulation. Cardano is a multi-layer protocol; the settlement layer will have a unit of account, while the control layer will run smart contracts and will be programmed to recognize identity, assisting compliance, according to its website. The system is designed to be upgraded so that it can evolve quickly. Cardano has a market cap of $14 billion, and is up 348 percent in the past week.

Other cryptocurrencies making waves because of their longer-term price moves and new developments:

Monero

Monero is a decentralized cryptocurrency that focuses on privacy, hiding the origins, amounts, and destinations of all transactions. Monero on Dec. 5 announced that more than 35 artists, including Mariah Carey, Lana del Rey and Marilyn Manson, will start accepting the cryptocurrency on their online stores. Monero’s price has more than quadrupled to over $420 in the past two months.

Iota

Iota is a cryptocurrency backed by a distributed ledger that’s not on a blockchain. Instead the network is called a "tangle" and aims to eliminate fees by creating a decentralized peer-to-peer system. Iota’s tokens have been on a rollercoaster, rallying on a statement on its blog that seemed to imply a partnership with Microsoft Corp., and then plunging after the platform clarified it’s not in a formal agreement with the tech giant. Iota’s price has soared from less than a dollar a month ago to more than $5, climbing to become the sixth biggest cryptocurrency by market cap, right after litecoin.

Author Camila Russo 20 December 2017, 15:37 GMT

Posted By David Ogden Entrepreneur
David Ogden Cryptocurrency entrepreneur

David

Bitcoin Price Bounces Back, Crypto Markets Recover to $170 Billion

The crypto markets bounced back on Thursday following a significant contraction the previous day. The bitcoin price led the charge, rising more than 6% to put the $5,700 barrier within its sights, while the ethereum price ticked up 3% to $309. Unfortunately, the recovery was not comprehensive, and some cryptocurrencies — including ripple — continued to decline.

Chart from CoinMarketCap

The downturn forced the total cryptocurrency market cap as far down as $156.5 million, which represented a one-week low. However, the markets began to recover Wednesday afternoon and quickly rose above $160 billion. They continued to climb leading into Thursday morning and have since risen to a present value of $169.7 billion.

Chart from CoinMarketCap

Bitcoin Price Bounces Back

Wednesday’s bitcoin price decline caught many investors by surprise, and it was difficult to ascertain what caused it, other than that traders were taking profits following last week’s rally. The pullback put severe downward pressure on the bitcoin price, which fell as low as $5,151. However, bitcoin held firm at this level, and support gradually began to return, enabling the flagship cryptocurrency to mount a successful recovery. Ultimately, the bitcoin price posted a single-day return of 6%, bringing it to a present value of $5,679, which translates into a $94.5 billion market cap.

Bitcoin Price Chart from CoinMarketCap

Ethereum Price Holds Above $300

The ethereum price experienced a single-day recovery as well, although its performance was not quite as impressive as that of bitcoin. After dipping as low as $291, the ethereum price managed to fight its way back across the $300 threshold. Ethereum is currently trading at $309, which represents a 24-hour recovery of about 3%. Ethereum now has a market cap of $29.4 billion.

Ethereum Price Chart from CoinMarketCap

Altcoins Eye Generally Recovery

Altcoins lost ground to bitcoin on Thursday, which saw its dominant market share rise about 1% to 55.7%. However, the majority of altcoins experienced recoveries against the value of USD, adding about $2 billion to their combined market cap.

Altcoin Price Chart from CoinMarketCap

But there were some significant outliers. In fact, three of the top 10 cryptocurrencies posted negative movement for the day, and the worst performance belonged to ripple. XRP holders had expected Ripple to make a major announcement during “Swell”, a conference hosted by the fintech startup. However, nothing materialized — at least not of the caliber they were expecting — causing the ripple price to add to its losses from yesterday. At present, the ripple price is $0.212, which represents a 24-hour decline of 7%.

Ripple Price Chart from CoinMarketCap

Fourth-ranked bitcoin cash also posted a minor decline, causing it to tick down to about $334. Several major bitcoin cash proponents — including Roger Ver and Calvin Ayre — intend to start a campaign to assert that “bitcoin cash is bitcoin”, so it will be interesting to see if this has any lasting effects on the trajectory of BCH.

Litecoin Price Chart from CoinMarketCap

The litecoin price, on the other hand, rose by 8%. This advance pushed it back over the $60 threshold, and litecoin is currently priced at $61. This translates into a market cap of $3.2 billion.

Dash added 3%, but it was unable to climb past the $300 mark, while NEM surged by just under 10%. NEO declined 3% after weathering the Wednesday downturn quite respectably, and bitconnect rose by 8% to $201. Monero rounds out the top 10 with a 1% increase, which was just enough to inch above the $90 barrier.

Author: Josiah Wilmoth on 19/10/2017

Posted by David Ogden Entrepreneur
David Ogden Cryptocurrency Entrepreneur

David

Bitcoin Price is Hitting Above $4,500 Again

Bitcoin price surpassed the $4,500 mark Sunday, reaching $4,614.91 Sunday, posting a market capitalization of $76.662 billion. Bitcoin posted close to a 5% gain in the last 24 hours, during which most cryptocurrencies posted losses.

Ripple and Litecoin were the only other two of the top 10 cryptocurrencies to gain in the period, posting 15.6% and 2.02% gains, respectively. BitConnect, the number 12 crypto with a market cap just over $1 billion, was the only other crypto with more than $1 billion in market capitalization to post a gain, grabbing 4.36%.

Bitcoin commanded more than half of all cryptocurrency market valuation, accounting for 50.03% of all market value. Ethereum accounted for 19.39%, the only other crypto to rank in double digits. Bitcoin had also surpassed the 50% mark earlier in the week.

Bitcoin Stabilizes Crypto Markets

In the past week, the bitcoin price provided the markets with a stabilizing force. Despite falling prey to the mid-week downtrend, the bitcoin price ended the week at $4,335, which then represented a week-over-week gain of about one-half of one percent.

Tuur Demeester, a prominent bitcoin investor, analyst, and editor in chief at Adamant Research, recently predicted the bitcoin price would surpass the $5,000 mark if support towards SegWit2x declines in the next few days. Uncertainty around SegWit2x has held back the momentum of bitcoin and its short-term rally. Several business have pulled out from the SegWit2x NYA agreement and the plan of the Digital Currency Group-led consortium of companies to carry out a hard fork in November.

Since early September, bitcoin’s price has struggled to recover beyond $4,500 due to uncertainty surrounding the Chinese cryptocurrency exchange market and SegWit2x. Analysts have started to demonstrate optimism towards the possibility of the Chinese government resuming cryptocurrency trading.

Hyperinflationary Period Over?

Chris Burniske, a partner at cryptocurrency-focused venture capital firm Placeholder and former cryptocurrency investment lead at ARK Investment, recently revealed that 80 percent of the total supply of bitcoin is now outstanding and that its hyperinflationary period is behind it.

Because there will only be 21 million bitcoins and no additional bitcoin can be created after the supply achieves its cap, only a limited number of investors would be able to hold one full bitcoin.

Bitcoin’s deflationary supply, however, is not an issue for investors and merchants that adopt bitcoin as a digital currency because it is divisible. Currently, many bitcoin wallets and merchants use “satoshi” as a unit, with one satoshi representing 0.00000001 bitcoin.

Investors Flock To Bitcoin

Currently, many investors and traders have invested in bitcoin as a safe haven asset and a long-term investment. But, as bitcoin evolves as a technology and a robust financial network, it will soon compete with reserve currencies, existing banking systems, and traditional assets such as gold.

For the long-term growth of bitcoin’s market cap and price, its deflationary nature will be a vital factor to sustain bitcoin’s upward momentum and demand for bitcoin from the global market.

Several analysts, including RT’s Max Keiser, Harvard academic Dennis Porto, and Saxo Bank senior analyst Kay Van-Petersen, have predicted bitcoin price surpassing $100,000 within the next 10 years.

Author: Lester Coleman on 09/10/2017

Posted by David Ogden Entrepreneur
David Ogden Cryptocurrency Entrepreneur

David