Bitcoin is up again Friday as losses are seen in U.S. stock futures.

Following a rise of 23% over the last two days, though, the rally looks overstretched and the gains may be short-lived.

At press time, the biggest cryptocurrency by market value is trading near $8,860, representing a 2.8 percent gain on the day, according to CoinDesk's Bitcoin Price Index. Prices have risen from lows near $8,600 seen earlier today.

Meanwhile, the futures tied to the S&P 500, Wall Street's equity index, are down over 2 percent.

Renewed growth concerns seem to be weighing on the futures market. Amazon, the world's largest online retailer, warned of a possible second-quarter loss late Thursday, and Apple declined to give a financial forecast for the first time in a decade.

Further, fears of fresh U.S.-China trade war gripped markets in Asia after President Trump threatened China with retaliatory tariffs over the coronavirus outbreak. Trump accused China of unleashing the virus into the world due to some awful mistake, and even suggested the release could have been intentional.

All this economical gloom may, though, bodes well for bitcoin, as some analysts consider bitcoin a safe haven like gold. That belief has been reinforced by the cryptocurrency's stellar recovery rally from the March 13 low of $3,867.

Bitcoin is also widely expected to maintain its upward trajectory in the days leading up to the mining reward halving, due on May 12.

Key on-chain metrics also suggest investor confidence in the ongoing rally. Both small and large investors, popularly known as "whales," seem to be accumulating coins ahead of the halving.

Exchange balances declined to 2,357,741 BTC on Thursday to hit the lowest level since May 27, according to data provided by blockchain intelligence firm Glassnode. The metric, which suggests a holding mentality among investors, has dropped by over 10 percent since March 13.

"Overall, on-chain fundamentals are recovering to pre-crash levels," noted Glassnode in its weekly report.

While the odds appear stacked in favor of stronger gains toward $10,000 in the short term, the technical charts are signaling overbought conditions and scope for price pullback.

Daily chart

Bitcoin formed a bearish "pin bar" candle on Thursday, which comprises a long upper shadow and small red body with little or no lower shadow. The pattern is indicative of rejection, or bull failure, at higher prices.

The pin bar is also considered an early sign of bearish trend reversal if it appears after a notable price rally, as is the case here.

Alongside that, the 14-day relative strength index (RSI) is reporting overbought conditions with an above-70 reading.

As a result, a drop to the 200-day average at $8,000 may be seen before a potential rally into five figures. "People must be careful of the price pullback. Bitcoin may revisit the $8,000-$8,500 for a while, before making another attempt at $10,000 in the run-up to the halving," said Chris Thomas, head of digital assets at Swissquote Bank.

Thursday's high of $9,485 is the level to beat for the bulls. Chart analysts consider a failed pin bar as a powerful bullish signal. So, if prices find acceptance above $9,485 on Friday, a stronger rally to levels above $10,000 may be seen.

Disclosure:The author holds no cryptocurrency at the time of writing.

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Bitcoin Rises Back to $8.8K Even as US Stock Futures Drop - CoinDesk

Bitcoin rallied to $9,500 before starting a downside correction against the US Dollar. BTC price might dip towards the $8,200 support zone before a fresh increase.

Yesterday, we saw a strong pre-halving rally in bitcoin above the $8,000 and $8,500 resistance levels against the US Dollar. BTC price gained more than 20% and it even tested the main target of $9,500 (as discussed yesterdays analysis using the daily chart).

A new monthly high is formed near $9,498 and the price recently started a substantial downside correction. There was a break below the $9,200 and $9,000 support levels.

Bitcoin even dived below the $8,800 level and tested the $8,400 support area. A low is formed near $8,405 and the price is currently trading above the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the recent decline from the $9,498 high to $8,405 low.

On the upside, an initial resistance is near the $8,800 level. There is also a short term declining channel forming with resistance near $8,800 on the hourly chart of the BTC/USD pair.

Bitcoin Price

Above the channel resistance, the next resistance is near the $8,950. It is close to the 50% Fib retracement level of the recent decline from the $9,498 high to $8,405 low.

To start a fresh increase, the bulls need to push the price above the channel resistance and then clear the $8,950 resistance. A successful follow through above the $9,000 level could pump the price towards the $9,200 and $9,500 levels in the near term.

On the downside, the first major support for bitcoin buyers is near the $8,400 level. The next major support is near the $8,200 level or the 100 hourly simple moving average.

It seems like the price might dive towards the $8,400 support or the 100 hourly SMA to complete the current wave. Later, it is likely to start a fresh increase above $9,000 unless there is a close below $8,200.

Technical indicators:

Hourly MACD The MACD is about to move into the bullish zone.

Hourly RSI (Relative Strength Index) The RSI for BTC/USD is currently rising and it is near the 50 level.

Major Support Levels $8,400 followed by $8,200.

Major Resistance Levels $8,800, $8,950 and $9,000.

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Bitcoin Could Correct Further To 100 SMA at $8,200 Before Fresh Increase - newsBTC

Thanks in part to the uncertainty of the coronavirus crisis and rising bitcoin prices, bitcoin wallet startups have seen a sudden uptick in activity.

For example, over the past two months the Austin, Texas-based bitcoin startup Unchained Capital, with over $50 million in assets under management and $150 million worth of bitcoin transactions processed, garnered several dozen new institutional clients, representing hundreds of individuals. Will Cole, Unchaineds chief product officer, said the custody product Vault saw 340% growth in Q1 2020 as compared to the previous quarter.

Weve seen a big uptick in the creation of Vaults, Cole said. An event like that [pandemic] makes people think about how they are storing their bitcoin.

Unchained is working on a wallet update with new privacy features. It allows users to sort UTXO (unspent transaction output) information, which makes it possible to reveal less information about oneself to an external recipient, even while using a public blockchain.

Unchained adviser Christopher Allen, founder of the not-for-profit benefit corporation Blockchain Commons, said the industry still doesnt have clear terminology that distinguishes the Vault custody solution, where both Unchained and the client have keys to a multisig wallet versus wallets where only the user holds keys. Regardless, there appears to be increased interest in wallets where users hold keys, in some form.

Custody requires keys that are under your control or under collaborative custody with others. But it isn't self-sovereign if they can unilaterally block your recovery, Allen said. There are many other companies and teams involved who all desire to make multisig easier, more standard, and allow you to choose different approaches or implementations knowing that you are not locked into a single solution.

Such setups, like Vaults, make sense for companies and families that want to manage significant funds without a single person being in control of the wallet.

Not alone

These days many of the industrys large wallet businesses appear to be growing, in terms of both profits and users.

For more private options geared toward individual users, ShapeShift CEO Erik Voorhees said there are far more people using his software wallet solution this year. As such ShapeShift, acquired the Israeli wallet startup Portis for an undisclosed amount in April. This decreased the companys compliance risks and solidified its position in the industry's self-custody sector, slightly less lucrative than custodial crypto exchanges yet growing at a comparable rate.

This is the first recession the world has seen since cryptocurrency existed, Voorhees said. We want people to think of ShapeShift as the self-custody interface for all the various crypto services out there.

Like ShapeShift, Ledger CEO Pascal Gauthier, whose startup is scaling up to meet increased demand for hardware wallets, said his wallet will also allow users to do all the complex things you can do with a coin directly through the Ledger Live app.

We do see an increase in downloads of Ledger Live, our hardware wallet companion app, as we are adding more coins, Gauthier said. Nowadays, our main revenue comes from the hardware wallet business. Our revenue model will evolve to one-off revenues, transactional and recurring revenues thanks to additional services.

Revenue models

After several years of operation, many incumbent crypto companies now feel pressure to deliver returns for investors. Its unclear which business models will best suit the crypto economy.

Every day I think about acquisitions for a minute, then decide against it, Gauthier said. Ledger has enough money in the bank, a good business. Theres a question about where this industry is going and what does that mean for the future.

Unchained Capital earns revenue from clients who pay for the multisig Vaults or loan services associated with its open source wallets. The startup relies on subscriptions from a small number of wealthy clients for profits, even if it also serves less-lucrative retail users. On the other hand, ShapeShift profits from in-app referrals to exchanges and other services.

Voorhees said he acquired Portis because the startups tech allows for a familiar login, akin to Facebook Login, but where users need to actually remember their passwords.

Stepping back, Portis was founded in 2018 and attracted the attention of legendary Israeli tech investor Eddy Shalev. The Block reported Portis nearly shut down in Q1 2020, since co-founder Itay Radotzki quit in January and eight employees were subsequently laid off. Portis co-founder Tom Teman said the venture capital climate changed dramatically in 2020, a sentiment echoed by veterans across the industry, that investors are increasingly demanding revenue from the start.

(After publication of this article, Teman told CoinDesk that The Block had it wrong: only four staffers, including Radotzki, were let go, he said.)

Yet, a former Portis competitor, Fortmatic CEO Sean Li, said his user-friendly login startup isnt taking ShapeShifts approach because he doesnt think any business should see themselves as a portal that owns everything in it. As such his revenue model is business-to-business, rather than monetizing user activity. Li estimated nearly 5,000 developers now use Fortmatic for gateways to their various projects, so his early-stage startup is still on track to make more than $500,000 in revenue this year.

This prevents the next Facebook or Google situation where one account is associated with a lot of different applications, compromising user security and privacy, Li said.

On the other hand, Casa CEO Nick Neuman said his subscription-based startup saw an influx of new clients since the beginning of March, with a 50% increase in total bitcoin usage. Like Unchained Capital and other subscription startups above, Casa is primarily focused on bitcoin.

Were definitely seeing increased demand for self-custody since the coronavirus crisis began, Neuman said.

And where there is demand, there is opportunity.

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The 'Great Lockdown' Is Boosting Demand for Bitcoin Custody Solutions - CoinDesk

The Lightning network might be key to the future of bitcoin, but it still has a long way to go in terms of user experience.

To tackle this issue, the standard known as Lnurl is quietly gaining ground. Without much fanfare, it's been adopted in some of the most popular Lightning wallets including Zap, Phoenix, Breez, Blue Wallet and Wallet of Satoshi, as well as dozens of other apps.

Sending or receiving Lightning payments can often require a bit of set-up and a number of steps. Lnurl aims to simplify many common actions so that they instead require just a click or a QR scan.

Lightning payments are an experimental payment method that could greatly improve the Bitcoin network, making payments faster, cheaper, and more scalable. But so far, the user experience (UX) is even more confusing than Bitcoin's, which, with its private keys that cannot be lost and jumbled addresses, is weird enough for the average Joe as it is.

That's why developer and Bitcoin Lightning Wallet creator Anton Kumaigorodski decided to create a standard that would improve Lightning's UX, hiding a bit more of the underlying complexity from users.

"I've noticed some clearly visible UX issues specific to Lightning Network wallets, all of them are solvable but require some kind of standard for wallets to converge on. Lnurl aims to be such a standard," Kumaigorodski said.

The advantages include making it much easier to request "inbound liquidity," meaning the user needs to make sure enough bitcoin is in the right spot in the network in order to receive payments, which is one of the more common and troubling UX problems for users. It also cuts out a couple of steps when sending money in a few common scenarios.

Receiving funds

This is a lot of information that someone needs to know before using Lightning, making it a pain to use, especially compared to more intuitive mainstream alternatives such as Venmo or PayPal.

For example, to use Lightning, a user needs to put some of the bitcoin into the second-layer network by opening a "channel" with someone else. Say Alice deposits one bitcoin on her side. If Bob, her counterparty, has no money on his side, then she doesn't have "inbound capacity."

This means she can send payments but can't accept them.

To fix this, Alice would need to open a channel with someone who has bitcoins on their side.

This is an obvious roadblock for easy payments over the network. Many new users open a channel, then run into the problem that they can't accept payments and aren't sure what to do.

A number of services such as Lightning Loop and Bitrefill's Thor have launched to help users retrieve inbound capacity.

With Lnurl (specifically, the part of the standard called Lnurl-channel) the process is greatly simplified, making these services a bit more automatic. A user just clicks a link to pay a little bit of money to retrieve more inbound capacity.

"You could scan a QR code and request an incoming channel from a service," Lightning and Bitcoin Core contributor Tim Akinbo said.

The Breez wallet, for instance, adopted ln-channel in its point-of-sale app so merchants can top up their inbound capacity by scanning a QR code or clicking a link.

"No IT know-how is required," Breez CEO Roy Sheinfeld said.

Moving funds around

Another piece of the specification, Lnurl-withdraw, also makes it easier to move funds around.

Say you earn some bitcoin in a Lightning app (a "lapp" in Bitcoin lingo). Maybe you win a few cents worth when playing the game Bitcoin Bounce, or someone tips you on Twitter via Tippin. The pocket change you receive will initially be stored in the app.

However, say Alice wants to move her money from a game to her wallet so it's under her control or so she can spend it elsewhere (such as to automatically dispense food to chickens over the internet and watch them eat it over webcam). Without Lnurl, sending the funds to her wallet takes several steps.

First, she needs to create an invoice in her wallet. Then she copies the long, jumbled string of letters and numbers generated to identify where the funds are to be sent. She switches over to the game, clicks on the withdrawal page, pastes in the invoice and clicks send.

Lnurl potentially reduces this process to a simple scan in the app from which she's moving funds away.

"One of the improvements include the ability to simply scan a QR code and withdraw funds from a service directly to your wallet, without the pesky workflow of generating an invoice and then submitting it," Akinbo said.

It's worth noting that so far this standard only works in the wallets and apps that support it. The more wallets that use this standard, the better, Kumaigorodski said. Every service that adopts it will ease the process for users, doing a small part toward making the Lightning network easier to use for mere mortals.

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.

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Bitcoin Wallets Are Adopting This Tech to Simplify Lightning Payments - CoinDesk

Bitcoin? Ether? Ripple? Meh. During a month where cryptocurrencies zoomed, the lesser-known Tezos beat them all.

Tezos (XTZ), one of the largest and most prominent among a fast-growing roster of digital coins known as staking tokens, jumped 83% in April, the most among cryptocurrencies with a market value of at least $1 billion, based on data fromMessari.

You're readingFirst Mover, CoinDesk's daily markets newsletter. Assembled by the CoinDesk Markets Team, First Mover starts your day with the most up-to-date sentiment around crypto markets, which of course never close, putting in context every wild swing in bitcoin and more. We follow the money so you dont have to. You cansubscribe here.

Thats more than double the 37% gain for bitcoin (BTC), the largest cryptocurrency by market value, which benefited from speculation that aninflation hedge will come in handyas the Federal Reserve and other central banks inject trillions of dollars of emergency liquidity into the global financial system.

Ether (ETH) rose 62% alongside a surge in growth for U.S. dollar-linked stablecoins built atop the Ethereum blockchain, and as investor interest grew in the white-hot arena of decentralized finance. Ripple'sXRP, a payments token, rose 30%.

Staking tokens give holders the right to weigh in on a blockchains governance similar to the way shareholders vote for a companys board of directors while also giving them the ability to earn a share of newly minted tokens, in the manner of a dividend or bond coupon.

The strong performance of Tezos is likely in part due to increased investor interest in staking-based returns, said Joseph Todaro, managing partner atBlocktown Capital, an investment firm specializing in digital currencies.

Some cryptocurrency exchanges offer staking as a service to make it easier for investors to participate, and Tezos has benefited recently from new listings on the exchanges Bitfinex and Binance. Its been on Coinbase, another exchange, since last year.

Ethereum, whose native token ether is the second-biggest cryptocurrency after bitcoin, plans to upgrade to a staking model in July. Some analysts say ether has generated additional enthusiasm among speculators due to the transition to staking.

Tezos has doubled on a year-to-date basis, despitea bout of volatility along with bitcoin, ether and other tokens earlier this year.

One caveat for traders is that Tezos has a market value of just $2.1 billion, less than 1/70th of bitcoin. So Tezos has the potential for big losses alongside any fast gains, even when compared with the notoriously volatile bitcoin; in March, Tezos tumbled 41% as bitcoin slid 24%.

The price movement of any given crypto asset is partially dependent on current investing narratives, said Todaro.

Tweet of the day

Bitcoin watch

BTC: Price: $8,995 (BPI) | 24-Hr High: $8,9958 | 24-Hr Low: $8,415

Trend: Bitcoin is on the rise, having bounced up from its key average support early Friday.

The original cryptocurrency is trading near $8,995 at press time (updated), representing over 4% gains. Prices defended an ascending 50-hour average support during Asian trading hours.

The average has consistently restricted downside and reversed pullbacks in the recent rally that pushed bitcoin from $6,800 to $9,400. As a result, the immediate bias will remain bullish as long as prices are tradingabove the 50-hour average, which is currently at $8,751.

If the latest bounce from the average support ends up clearing the immediate resistance at $8,913, bitcoin will likely revisit $9,200.

While the hourly chart is reporting bullish conditions, the daily chart studies also show buyer exhaustion. It's possible there could be a break below the 50-hour average support, which would take bitcoin down to $8,500.

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.

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First Mover: Tezos Led Crypto Market With Twice Bitcoin's Gains in April - CoinDesk

Alex Dovbnya

Tesla CEO Elon Musk tanks his companys stock by claiming that its too high while invigorating another debate around the price of Bitcoin (BTC)

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has stepped up his Twitter game by tweeting that the companys stock was too high.

Investors were quick to react to the unorthodox statement by pushing Teslas shares down 12 percent in the span of one hour.

In response to Musk, whoever behind Bitcoins Twitter handle tweeted that BTC price was, in fact, too low.

As reported by U.Today, the market cap of the leading electric car manufacturer once again surpassed that of Bitcoin back in April.

Bitcoin analyst Tuur Demeester claimed that Teslas valuation was over the top when compared to BTC. Now, he gladly tweets that everyone appears to be on the same page.

The confession of the famed entrepreneur also inspired Binance CEO Changpend Zhao to post a poll about the Bitcoin price.

The bearish tweet, which played into the hands of Tesla short-sellers, was only part of his most latest Twitter storm.

The charismatic billionaire announced that he would sell all of his physical possessions while reciting the U.S. national anthem to make a case for giving people their freedom back.

As reported by U.Today, Musk is one of the most vocal proponents of ending lockdowns that he likened to fascism during his recent earnings call.

Subscribe to U.Today on Twitter and get involved in all top daily crypto news, stories and price predictions!

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Bitcoin (BTC) Price Is 'Too Low': Twitter Reacts to Elon Musk's Jaw-Dropping Tweet - U.Today

There are roughly 15 known entities sponsoring Bitcoin Core developers in 2020, and the Wyoming-based startup CardCoins just became one of the smallest industry players to join the pack.

CardCoins has helped over 10,000 unique users convert gift cards into bitcoin, according to a spokesperson, with "millions of dollars of volume last year. That healthy-yet-modest traction, which increased slightly since the recession hit, is dwarfed by incumbent crypto exchanges and custody providers.

Out of the most well-capitalized crypto companies, BitMEX, Bitfinex, OKCoin and Xapo are the few that help support developers working full time on bitcoins fundamental software. This is the trunk and roots of the crypto industry.

The nonprofit hub sponsoring the most Bitcoin Core contributors to date, Chaincode Labs, was forced to postpone its annual summer residency due to the coronavirus crisis. Adam Jonas, head of special projects at Chaincode Labs, said the nonprofit currently sponsors seven developers and intends to continue educational residency programs later this year.

Bitcoin advocates have historically criticized exchanges such as Coinbase for not contributing more to these independent, open source developers.

Sometimes it can be easy to lose sight of the fact this multibillion-dollar industry, with companies like Binance that employ hundreds of people, relies on software maintained by just a few dozen people and occasional volunteers. The CardCoins spokesperson said there arent many people to pick from, with regards to prolific contributors who arent already on the above-mentioned payrolls.

So in March, as the Great Lockdown derailed summer plans to train more developers, CardCoins partnered with the fintech company Payvant to split a one-year grant for the Ukrainian contributor Hennadii Stepanov, who goes by Hebasto.

As business owners and bitcoiners ourselves, were grateful to the folks that work on the low-level, nitty-gritty stuff, CardCoins said in a statement. We don't see a world in which we work with a successful bitcoin company and that company doesn't also give back to the community."

Thanks to this grant, Stepanov said, he quit his job at a local university and can now focus on bitcoin full time. He quickly went from discovering bitcoin in 2017 to making a small contribution in 2018, an issue he found when setting up his own node. Now hes among the worlds most prolific contributors.

Decentralizing should be on all levels, including contributions, Hebasto said. I saw how the bitcoin developer community embraced me as a first-time contributor. They share knowledge. I like those people. I like to learn from them.

Although CardCoins has seen a modest incline in the past few months, this move wasnt inspired by extra cash to spend. Instead, the startup co-sponsored the grant because keeping bitcoin decentralized is fundamental to the firms business model.

Peer review is the cornerstone of Bitcoin Core and keeping bitcoin safe, generally, the spokesperson said. He [Stepanov] is making sure that Bitcoin Core will run on many different platforms in a safe way.

Most CardCoins users convert gift cards into bitcoin in under an hour using a phone number and a few pictures of the receipt and card details. This allows the startup to serve underbanked clients attracted to bitcoins censorship-resistant properties.

Weve made enormous investments in compliance and our programs and procedures have been overseen by a former federal prosecutor, CardCoins said of the mission to serve this user group without regulatory arbitrage. Those customers are vital to the lifeblood of bitcoin.

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.

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Why a Startup You've Never Heard of Is Now Sponsoring a Bitcoin Core Developer - CoinDesk

Bitcoin is marching to the beat of its own drum as the week comes to a close.

With the Dow down 594 points, a 2.44% loss, and the S&P 500 down 83 points, a 2.87% loss, Bitcoin is up 2.92% at $8,708, according to COIN360 at time of publishing.

With equities suffering big losses in 2020 and gold up 7.83% on the year, BTC is now the most profitable investment by far, rising 21% from $7,203 at the start of 2020.

Although Bitcoin reacts to massive crashes in traditional markets, such as the widespread economic tumble on March 12th, veteran trader and crypto analyst Scott Melker says the numbers show BTC is clearly an uncorrelated asset overall.

Correlation has a specific definition based on a mathematical formula with regards to finance. By this definition, Bitcoin and the market are not correlated

The idea of ranking correlated assets was developed by Markowitz when he presented Modern Portfolio Theory. Using a math formula, you can compare any 2 assets on a scale of -1 to 1. 1 means correlated if one asset moves 5%, so will the other. -1 means inversely correlated.

If one asset moves 5%, the other goes -5%. A score of 0 or close means the assets are not correlated. In its 11-year history, Bitcoin has been a .15 not correlated. This is the closest to 0 of any asset. It recently hit .57, moderately correlated, for a brief time.

The problem with Modern Portfolio Theory is that everything moves nearly to a 1 in a global crisis including other safe haven assets like gold and silver. And Bitcoin still only reached a .57 moderate correlation. This is math and defines correlation.

There are 4 assets in legacy markets stocks, bonds, commodities and currencies. All are correlated to various degrees. They are all valued based on similar factors, like corporate earnings, GDP and interest rates. Bitcoin does not find its valuation in any of these things.

As Mark Yusko pointed out in our podcast conversation (most of what I have said here was shared!), Bitcoin finds value from Millennial adoption, government regulation, network value and other completely separate factors. By definition it is uncorrelated

This is the very reason that all investors should hold some Bitcoin it offers idiosyncratic risk rather than systematic risk like other assets. Even if it is a riskier asset, having it in a portfolio reduces overall portfolio risk due to this lack of correlation.

And that is why Bitcoin and stocks are not technically correlated.

Despite the lack of a technical correlation, Melker warns that BTC is not a hedge against a global crisis.

Instead, he believes its a hedge against hyperinflation and the mismanagement of fiat currency.

Featured Image: Shutterstock/Dim Dimich

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Bitcoin Up, Stocks Down With BTC Surpassing Gold As Top Investment This Year - The Daily Hodl

A necessary correction that is the best definition of what happened on April 30, which saw a setback after cryptocurrencies went too far, too fast. Nevertheless, holding onto most gains shows that the trend remains positive. Stock traders are all too familiar with wild movements at the end of the month, as money managers adjust their portfolios.

And now, May has begun and potentially promises a resumption of the upside. The vast amounts of money sloshing around financial markets courtesy of central banks and especially the US Federal Reserve may push traders toward digital assets.

How are the top three cryptos positioned? Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ripple all need to surpass technical hurdles to unleash the upside.

This is what theCrypto Confluence Detector shows in its latest update:

Bitcoinis facing resistance around $8,840, which is the convergence of the Simple Moving Average 100-15m, the Fibonacci 38.2% one-day, the SMA 10-4h, and the Bollinger Band 15min-Upper.

The upside target is $9,480, which is the meeting point of the previous day's high and the Bollinger Band 4h-Upper.

BTC/USDenjoys strong support at $8,703, which is the confluence of the Fibonacci 23.6% one-day, the BB 15min-Lower, the SMA 50-1h, the SMA 200-15m, and the Fibonacci 23.6% one-month.

Further down, another cushion awaits at $8,248, which is where the SMA 100-1h and the Fibonacci 38.2% one-month converge.

Ethereumis struggling around the $211 area, a dense cluster of lines including the SMA 100-15m, the BB 15min-Middle, the Fibonacci 161.8% one-week, the SMA 5-1h, and the Fibonacci 38.2% one-day.

The upside target for Vitalik Buterin's brainchild is $227, which is where the Pivot Point one-week Resistance 3 and the previous daily high hit the price.

ETH/USD has some support at $204, which is the confluence of the SMA 100-1h and the Fibonacci 23.6% one-month.

Strong support awaits at $187, which is a juncture of lines including the PP one-day S2, the 100-day SMA, and the BB 4h-Lower.

Rippleis battling $0.22, a dense cluster including the SMA 5-15m, the SMA 10-15m, the Fibonacci 23.6% one-month, and many more.

Looking up, the $0.2296 serves as the first target it is the convergence of the 200-day SMA and the PP one-day R1.

The high target for XRP is $0.2432, which is where the Pivot Point monthly Resistance 1 meets the price.

Strong support awaits at $0.21, which is where the previous day's trough converges with the SMA 5-one-day and the Fibonacci 38.2% one-month.

The are many support lines on the way down, and the strongest one is at $0.1940, where the Bollinger Band one-day Middle and the Fibonacci 61.8% one-meet up.

See all the cryptocurrency technical levels.

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Top 3 Price Prediction Bitcoin, Ripple, Ethereum: New month, new gains? Levels that bulls need to break - FXStreet

Researchers have warned that a large-scale sextortion campaign is making use of a network of more than 450,000 hijacked computers to send aggressive emails.

A network of private computers, infected with malicious software and controlled as a group, has been used to send spam messages. The emails threaten to release compromising photographs of the recipient unless a specific amount is paid in Bitcoin. The emails contain personal information, such as the recipients password, to specifically target more than 27 million potential victims at a rate of 30,000 per hour.

While analysis suggests a small fraction of those targeted have actually fallen for this ploy, one expert said such botnets still offered a great return on investment for cyber-criminals. A botnet can be used for many things, said Charles Henderson, from IBMs X-Force Red Security Team. This was just one task. A botnet is a network of computers taken over by hackers using malicious software typically spread via infected web pages or email attachments. Botnets can carry out attacks spread across a wide number of machines, making it harder to disrupt and the attackers origin harder to trace.

Security Company Check Point said that this latest sextortion attack used the Phorpiex botnet, which has been active for more than a decade. Research head Yaniv Balmas said that those individuals would probably not know that their computers were hacked. Attackers are simply using the victims' computers as vessels.

Spreading an email campaign across a botnet in this way would reduce the risk of the emails being flagged as spam - though it is not clear how many were able to reach intended inboxes.

The criminals are getting smart enough to use a larger botnet and sending fewer emails per machine, said Henderson, who was not involved in Check Points research but had

observed the same botnet in operation. Experts advise using the latest versions of software, particularly web browsers. to avoid being susceptible to this kind of attack.

A typical email sent by the botnet has a subject line of Save Yourself. The message may read, My malware gave me full access to all your accounts (see password above), full control over your computer, and it was possible to spy on you over your webcam. The claim is not true but the emails include a genuine password associated with the targets email address.

The attacker is saying, Hey, we hacked your computer, we saw you doing this and that, and this proves it. This is your password, Balmas said. Check Point monitored one Bitcoin wallet used to collect funds from this scam and found about 11 bitcoin almost $100,000 was collected in a five-month period.

Most people do not fall for sextortion scams, Mr. Balmas said, but it is the rule of big numbers. If Im sending 100,000 sextortion emails, its enough that 100 people fall for the trap. I get my money. He continued, It was likely the same botnet was used to carry out other, more lucrative attacks, such as the theft of credit card details. It is not somebody doing this from his garage; it is a group of individuals doing this for their day jobs. This is their business.

Call the Pima County Sheriffs Auxiliary Volunteers with information about scams and frauds. To contact the Scam Squad directly, 9 am to noon Monday through Friday, call (520) 351-6715, or email: scamsquad@gvsav.org. To report suspicious activity or a particular incident of fraud (which is a scam involving a loss of money) call (520) 351-4900. You may also check our Web site at GVSAV.org.

If you are interested in becoming a Sheriff's Auxiliary Volunteer, please email gvsavrecruiting@gmail.com for an application or call (520) 351-6746.

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Scam Squad: Don't fall for the sex bitcoin threat - Green Valley News