When Microstrategy Inc. bought $425 million bitcoin in the last two months, the decision became an important stamp of institutional approval of the top cryptos credentials as a mature, safe-haven asset. The American technology firm had just made bitcoin its primary reserve asset to hedge against fiat inflation. Now, it appears major global companies are following Microstrategys bitcoin strategy.

The website bitcointreasuries.org is curating bitcoin treasures held in reserve by publicly traded companies from across the world. At the time of writing, 13 companies with a combined total 598,237 BTC, or 2.85% of the total supply of 21 million BTC, are listed on the page. Here is a closer look at some of the entities.

Grayscale Investments is, perhaps, an unsurprising pacesetter in this regard. Through its Bitcoin Trust Fund (GBTC), which owns and tracks the price of bitcoin, the New York-based firm now holds 449,596 BTC, valued at $5.1 billion currently, and representing 2.14% of the digital assets total circulating supply. Listed on the OTCQX market, the Trust has snapped up 70% of all newly minted bitcoin in 2020, almost doubling its portfolio in the process.

It is noteworthy that Gbtc holds this BTC on behalf of accredited corporate investors, who typically value privacy and bitcoins store of value credentials while calculatively reluctant to gain direct exposure to the asset. Grayscales bitcoin trust became the first publicly quoted securities solely invested in, and deriving value from, the price of bitcoin when it launched in 2013. The company operates ten crypto investment products focused on institutional investors. Funds cover ethereum (ETH), bitcoin cash (BCH), zcash, XRP, and more.

Grayscale may be a pioneer, but it is Microstrategy thats grabbed all the headlines in recent weeks. The Nasdaq-listed company, which develops mobile software as well as provide cloud-based services, bought $425 million worth of bitcoin in August and September, making BTC Microstrategys main reserve asset.

The multi-billion-dollar U.S. firm now holds a total 38,250 BTC, in a move that signals increasing corporate adoption. At current exchange rates, the portfolio is worth more than $433 million a gain of $8 million, coming as it does against a backdrop of increased stimulus spending that has sent global fiat currencies into a tailspin. Microstrategy CEO Michael Saylor is particularly upbeat.

This investment reflects our belief that bitcoin, as the worlds most widely adopted cryptocurrency, is a dependable store of value and an attractive investment asset with more long-term appreciation potential than holding cash, he says.

Corporate adoption may not be considered a trend just yet, but news that Jack Dorseys Square Inc. moved one percent of its total assets into bitcoin suggests something may be building up. On Oct. 8, the New York Stock Exchange-listed mobile payments firm announced it spent $50 million buying 4,709 bitcoin. According to Amrita Ahuja, chief financial officer of Square, bitcoin has the potential to be a more ubiquitous currency in the future.

On this account, the company intends that as it (bitcoin) grows in adoption, we intend to learn and participate in a disciplined way. For a company that is building products based on a more inclusive future, this investment is a step on that journey. Bitcoin reacted positively to Squares news, soaring 8% in the last 72 hours to more than $11,300 from $10,500. With a market capitalization of over $83 billion, Square provides software and hardware payment solutions. In 2019, the company reported revenue of $4.7 billion. It has offices in the U.S., Canada, Australia, Japan, and the United Kingdom.

Coinshares Ltd is a U.K.- based investment fund that is primarily focused on direct and indirect exposure to bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The company manages over $1 billion in digital assets, with bitcoin making up nearly 80% of this. Coinshares currently holds on behalf of investors a total 69,730 BTC, valued at $790 million, according to bitcointreasuries.org.

Through its subsidiary XBT Provider, Coinshares offers two globally traded exchange-traded notes (ETNs) in bitcoin and ethereum, Bitcoin Tracker One and BTC Tracker Euro, and ethereum, Ether Tracker One and ETH Tracker Euro, respectively. Its ETNs are listed on the Nasdaq Nordic in Stockholm, Sweden and retail investors can buy the instruments. However, the product suffered a blow when the U.K. financial regulator banned the sale of ETNs to retail clients in the country recently.

Several other publicly traded companies are listed on the bitcoin treasuries website. They include bitcoin miners Hut 8 Mining, which trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX), and Argo Blockchain of the London Stock Exchange. Both companies hold bitcoin as a reserve asset. At the end of June, Hut 8 held 2,954 BTC while Argo Blockchain had 126 BTC by the end of September. Another mining entity, Riot Blockchain, Inc had 1,053 bitcoin in its reserves in June.

Mike Novogratzs Galaxy Digital Holdings, a TSX-listed firm that seeks to institutionalize the digital asset and blockchain space, holds 16,651 BTC, worth about $188 million at prevailing market prices. The company provides asset management, investing, advisory and trading services as well as making principal investments. Voyager Digital Ltd, Cypherpunk Holdings, and DigitalX also make the list of those public companies holding bitcoin as a hedge against fiat inflation.

What do you think about the bitcoin held by public firms in reserve? Let us know in the comments section below.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons, bitcointreasuries.org

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

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The original Silk Road marketplace has been shut down for well over seven years now and to this day, 444,000 bitcoin worth $4.8 billion is still missing. Just recently, a report focused on those funds discusses one of the markets biggest mysteries and how people have seemingly forgotten about this massive stash.

A number of people understand that the Silk Road marketplace was shut down by global law enforcement (LE) in October 2013 and LE subsequently arrested Ross Ulbricht shortly after. Individuals are also familiar with the 173,991 BTC ($1.9B) from the Silk Road coins that were seized and later auctioned by the U.S. Marshalls.

However, the public is not wholly aware of the estimated 444,000 BTC ($4.8B) missing from the Silk Road and a recent study from mysteryarchive.com discusses the lost coins at length.

What many people dont know about the Silk Road story, is that the balance sheet does not add up, and everybody just seems to be okay with this fact, the mysteryarchive.com report notes. The author further adds:

Generally speaking, you dont close a case with $4.8B just unaccounted for and this remains the Silk Roads greatest mystery as nobody can answer this simple question.

The findings discuss how the U.S. federal agents managed to seize the 173k BTC and that its quite possible the rest of the funds were stored on another computer. 144k BTC out of the seized stash was found on Ulbrichts laptop, which gave LE full access to the Mastermind dashboard and a list of SR payroll expenses from 2011 to 2013.

Mysteryarchive.com stresses that another computer seems likely, as it is common practice to not put all your wealth in one place. The report is not the only account of the hundreds of thousands of Silk Road BTC still missing from the darknet marketplace.

In 2015, news.Bitcoin.com shared an account from the alleged Silk Road mentor, Variety Jones, who told a tale about an estimated 300,000 to 400k BTC stash. According to Jones, a rogue FBI agent dubbed Diamond was harassing him with an attempt to obtain the hoard of Silk Road coins LE never seized.

My back of the envelope calculations for SR [Silk Road] show that there was easily close to 400,000 BTC that wasnt accounted for yet, Jones wrote at the time. I certainly dont have it, its gotta be somewhere, and Diamond (the rogue FBI agent) is certainly willing to move heaven and earth to get the passphrase for it.

Jones had said the rogue LE official was trying to extort him and the agent was also making an average of $1,000,000 a month, committing felonies with wild abandon, just because he can. Variety Jones, whose real name is Roger Clark, was arrested in Thailand in December 2015.

Oddly enough, Clark wasnt charged for his association with the Silk Road (SR) or his crimes until the end of January 2020. Moreover, two rogue federal agents working with the SR investigation stole thousands of bitcoins acting as double agents.

The recent report details that the missing stash of hundreds of thousands of SR bitcoins may have been lost during the Mt Gox breach. A number of studies over the years have shown a great deal of bitcoins from the darknet marketplace might have found their way into the now-defunct Mt Gox exchange.

Alongside this, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agent Jared Der-Yeghiayan discovered interesting connections between Mt Gox and the SR marketplace. A summary of Der-Yeghiayans account was published on Freeross.org in a story called Silk Road Case: The Real, Untold Story.

Der-Yeghiayan had identified multiple accounts belonging to the Silk Road operators that contained bitcoins worth millions of U.S. dollars, the Untold Story studys author notes.

The crypto community may never find out where this stash of BTC went, and can only speculate on how much really went missing. The mysteryarchive.com report concludes that it is noteworthy that Mark Karpeles (CEO of Mt Gox) helped LE with the federal investigation into the SR marketplace. Moreover, the author adds that Karpeles was also once a lead suspect in the case and was accused of being the SR leader at one point as well.

What do you think about the mysterious missing SR bitcoins? Let us know what you think about this story in the comments below.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons, Mysteryarchive.com

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

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The Silk Road Balance Sheet Discrepancy: Bitcoin Worth $4.8 Billion Still Missing | Featured - Bitcoin News

One of the interesting things about cryptocurrency investors is they really dolook at the world very differently from many of their counterparts in traditional finance.

The thinking goes something like this: The efforts of governments and central banks to repair the economy are doomed to fail, and likely to make the situation worse. There is no point in moving to a defensive investment strategy because prices for digital assets are going to the moon. Every time the stock market goes up, it just validates the reality that the dollar is being debased by trillions of dollars of central bank money printing.

The latest turn-logic-on-its-head zinger came Monday from Dan Morehead, a former Wall Street trader and hedge fund executive who now heads the cryptocurrency-focused investment firm Pantera Capital in the San Francisco area.

In amonthly letter, Morehead was discussing how central banks typically succeed when they pointedly attempt to increase inflation, as the Federal Reserve is now pursuing as an official policy. Hecited Venezuela and Zimbabwe as twoprior success stories, as it were.

Morehead then pivoted to the argument that asset prices are not rising because stock fundamentals have improved, but because a huge wave of money is being printed.

Gold is at a 5,000-year high, Morehead wrote. Or, said another way, paper money is at an all-time low.

Its that counterintuitive,put another way perspective that can sometimes seem refreshing, partly because the crypto investorkeeps getting proven right. Audiences on both Wall Street and in broader society are now becoming more receptive to the idea that thetraditional financial system and economy arebothunsustainable and unfair.

The Federal Reserves top monetary officialsmeet this week to discuss their next steps for healing the U.S. economy, which at this point appears to consist of doingnothing for the next several yearsuntil inflation rises above the central banks historic 2% targetand stays above that level for a while.

Asreported byFirst Mover Monday, its possible the Feds next move would come if the stock market takes a fresh dive, prompting the central bank to step in and pump more money into the economy to keep markets functioning smoothly.

Jeff Dorman, another former Wall Street veteran whos now chief investment officer of the cryptocurrency-focused investment Arca Funds in Los Angeles, wrote Monday in hisweekly columnthat Congress, which has been gridlocked over a newcoronavirus-related stimulus package, might alsobe prone to a similar do-nothing-until-you-have-to dynamic.

He has written in the past that it would likely take an equity temper tantrum before Congress acts, and he wrote this week, Methinks Congress will be acting soon.

Moral hazard never left, but its definitely back, according to Dorman.

What tips the scalestoward the crypto investors being the sane ones and not the other way around is that market signalsare currently validating the crypto investment thesis.

Bill Gross, the legendary former Pimco bond fund manager, is encouraging investors to get defensive because there is little money to be made almost anywhere in the world,CNBC reported Monday.

Tell that toMorehead of Pantera, whose Digital Asset Fund has returned 168% so far this year, according to the letter.

Morehead said bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are winning because they have a relatively fixed supply, similar to gold, and improved usage/fundamentals, similar to tech stockslike Amazon and Netflix.

Just compare the following chart of year-to-date asset-class performance from Pantera:

To this one fromGoldman Sachs (off by a few days so the percentages are a touch different):

One includes crypto, and goes up to 244%; the other doesnt include crypto, and it goes up to 29%. So far this year, based on the track record so far anyway, it turns out thesmart money was in crypto.

Bitcoin Watch

Bitcoin looks north, having breached a 10-day-long sideways trend with a move above $10,500 on Monday.

Bullish developments on key technical indicators back the range breakout. For instance, the 14-day relative strength index has violated a descending trendline, signaling an end of the price pullback from the August high of $12,476.

Further, the MACD histogram, an indicator used to gauge trend strength and trend changes, has crossed above zero, indicating a bullish reversal.

As such, resistance levels at $11,000 and $11,200 could soon come into play. That said, the cryptocurrency remains vulnerable to a potential sell-off in equity markets, according to analysts.

Previous sell-offs have been exacerbated by risk-off momentum in stocks, particularly the tech-heavy Nasdaq index, Matthew Dibb, co-founder and COO of Stack Fund, told CoinDesk in a WhatsApp chat. We remain cautiously bullish this week.

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First Mover: Bitcoin Investors the Sane Ones as Federal Reserve Cheers Inflation, Price Nears $11K - CoinDesk - CoinDesk

Some may have seen it andnot known what it was, or thought it was a regular ATM. The southeast's first Bitcoin Teller Machine (BTM) was installed in early August.

For those who aren't in the know, a BTM is the opposite, in fact, of an ATM.

"It basically sells Bitcoin," explained the machine's owner Dale Mychasiw. "It doesn't dispense cash. So it's just like a Coke machine, where you put in your money and you get a Coke. My machine, you put in yor money and you get a Bitcoin. So it's pretty much that. And you could also buy from the alt-coins, there's a whole wide variety of alternative currencies, that's crypto-currencies, that's what they call them."

For those who are in the know, Mychasiw said some will travel a ways to invest.

"I've got customers that make special trips from Estevan and Midale, and those areas in southern Saskatchewan, to Regina to buy Bitcoin," he noted. "I've always felt that southern Saskatchewan is a strong economic region and I felt that Bitcoin would be in demand. So that's why I went to Weyburn to install a machine."

According to Mychasiw, "You can send Bitcoin anywhere around the world to anybody at any time, and the transaction takes, like, two minutes."

But some are still asking, what is Bitcoin?

"Myself, I call Bitcoin 'cold, hard, cash'," he explained. "It's cold, because there's no 1-800-bitcoin, and there is no CEO of Bitcoin."

In fact, Bitcoin is built on a complete decentralized network, and it doesn't discriminate between humans from one end of the planet to the other, let alone between humans and machines.

"If you have a wallet app, and an internet connection, you can transact on the network."

Unlike with credit cards, where you can have transactions reversed, Bitcoin offers zero consumer protection.

"It's hard, because it's a store of value, there's only so many of them created per day, and that doesn't change."

"Bitcoin is very similar to gold, where there's only so much gold that can be taken out of the ground at once, and there's only so much of it above ground, so there will only ever be 21 million Bitcoins produced, and there's about 18 million of them out there already produced, and that will never, ever change," Mychasiw explained.

"Soft money would be our currency that everybody uses today, created by the government, by the banks, and they have the ability to create more of it, create less of it, up the interest rate, lower the interest rate," he contrasted.

"Why I call it cash is that if you successfully sent Bitcoins from one wallet to another, the only way you can get that back is if the person controlling the other wallet sends them back to you," Mychasiw noted.

He compared Bitcoin to a literal cash transaction with a physical bill that would require being handed back in order to be refunded.

Mychasiw said some of his customers are finding themselves in the position where they can do a transaction with the choice of using either the traditional monetary system or Bitcoin.

"There is no question there's a learning curve on how to use it," he noted.

"You have to know who you're dealing with, and understand that if something goes wrong, there won't be anybody there to help you. If you're buying something on the internet, you have to trust that that company is going to be sending you what you ordered, when you paid cash, and if they don't, you've paid cash, right?" he shared.

"So you have to know your counter-party and you have to know the pros and cons. Sometimes the Bitcoin would be a better choice, sometimes the financial system would be a better choice."

He said in spite of the 'cashness' of Bitcoin, some may feel they're investing in a more secure alternative to the monetary system, or simply for the acumen of enabling more choices for the future.

Watch 'Bitcoin in one lesson' HERE.

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Bitcoin Teller Machine Installed in Weyburn - Discoverweyburn.com - DiscoverWeyburn.com

KEY POINTS

The number of Bitcoin ATMs across the globe has increased by an average of 167% year-on-year, data from Norway-based financial firm AksjeBloggen shows.

In a report, AlksjeBloggen said nearly 3,900 new Bitcoin ATMs were installed in 2020, bringing the total number of machines available around the world to around 10,000. In 2017, there were only 1,932 Bitcoin ATMs, according to studies by Coin ATM Radar and Statista.

As for the locations of the Bitcoin ATMs, currently, there are 7,567 machines in the United States. This represents a 127% increase as there have been only 3,332 cryptocurrency ATMs in the U.S. till Septemberlast year. The U.S. also has 78% of all the Bitcoin ATMs globally.

Canada is a distant second with 869 Bitcoin ATMs, followed by the United Kingdom (278), Austria (150), Spain (106), and Switzerland (81).

The leading Bitcoin ATM manufacturer is still Genesis Coin, accounting for a market share of 35%, or 3,406 of all the available machines. The company is followed by General Bytes with 2,893 machines, with amarket share of 20%. Next is BitAccess with 923 crypto ATMs and Coinsource with 595 crypto ATMs.

While users might find it complicated to operate a mobile Bitcoin wallet, crypto ATMs operate just like cash ATMs, so users already know how to use it. "Bitcoin is a very complicated concept and we've packaged it up, and made it easy for you to go to the ATM, use cash and you get Bitcoin right away before you even get back to your car,"Daniel Polotsky, CEO of CoinFlip, a U.S. Bitcoin operator, told news outlet Decrypt.

The publication also noted that not all countries are open to having Bitcoin ATMs within their jurisdictions. For example, German authorities recentlyseized 17 unlicensed ATMs for breach of regulation, whichrequires a license before such machines can be operated.

Cream Capital bitcoin ATM in North Carolina Photo: Cream Capital

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List Of Bitcoin ATM Machine Locations Across The Globe - International Business Times

The recent week has been relatively dull on the price movements of Bitcoin (BTC), as a slow upward trend was established after Bitcoins price found a footing at above $10,000. This rally then continued toward $11,000 on Sep. 18 but was pushed back by some short-term resistance levels.

The previous week has been focused solely around Uniswap (UNI) and the airdrop of its token, combined with several listings on high-end exchanges. At the same time, lets take a look at the price of Bitcoin and its charts to gauge where the cryptocurrency market may be headed in the upcoming week.

BTC/USD 1-day chart. Source: TradingView

The daily chart of Bitcoin shows the slow upwards grind, which is currently facing a crucial resistance.

The $11,200-11,400 area has been acting as support for a substantial period before the big crash to $10,000 occurred. If this area between $11,200-11,400 can be broken, a retest of higher levels is back on the table.

However, as the chart also shows, the level to test around $9,600 (which is also the CME gap) wasnt fully filled. The level got front-run by traders, and the price of Bitcoin bounced back above the $10,000 level.

A range can now be constructed with these two regions. On the downside, the $10,000 area is a significant support zone with the potential of $9,600 being hit. On the upside, the $11,200-11,400 area is a crucial resistance area to break.

BTC/USDT 2-hour chart. Source: TradingView

The 2-hour chart shows a clear picture of the current uptrend. Every previous resistance level flips for support to continue this climb higher.

The crucial hurdle to take is shown in the big red box is found between $11,200-11,400. If that resistance level breaks through, retests of $12,000 are back in play.

However, if the price of Bitcoin loses the $10,750 area, further downside becomes increasingly likely with the range lows around $10,000 as potential support levels.

Total market capitalization crypto 1-week chart. Source: TradingView

If you want to start analyzing charts, the higher timeframe ones are the best ones to start with. In this case, the total market capitalization of crypto presents some clear levels to watch.

As long as the market sustains above $250-255 billion, the market can be considered to be in a general uptrend. A fresh new higher high was printed and the market is currently seeking a new higher low.

Breaking through $400 billion may ignite some fireworks and push the value up to $500 and possibly $700 billion.

BTC/USDT 2-hour chart. Source: TradingView

Its unlikely to expect a clear breakout of the $11,200-11,400 resistance area in one-go. Im assuming well see further range-bound movements after a rejection at the $11,200 area.

Key levels to watch include sustaining support at $10,750 and to resume the rally toward the resistance zone where a rejection will be the first thing to watch.

If a rejection occurs, a bearish retest and confirmation of resistance of $11,000 will warrant further downward momentum, as the chart shows.

BTC/USD 2-hour chart. Source: TradingView

In other words, a bearish retest of the $11,000 level will likely tile momentum to the downside and increase the retest of $10,600 and $10,200.

For the bulls, establishing new yearly price highs highly dependent on breaking the multi-year resistance level at $12K to continue the general uptrend for the rest of the year.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph. Every investment and trading move involves risk. You should conduct your own research when making a decision.

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Will the CME Bitcoin futures gap buyers at $9,600 be left in tears? - Cointelegraph

A number of metrics indicate that social and trading sentiment for Bitcoin is still low despite its price breaking above $11,000 a couple of hours ago.

On-chain analytics provider Santiment has revealed that weighted social sentiment for Bitcoin is at its lowest level for two years. The metric takes into account the overall volume of Bitcoin mentions on Twitter and compares the ratio of positive vs. negative commentary on the platform.

Social sentiment surged a few months ago when Bitcoin started its strong recovery following the pandemic-induced market crash in mid-March. However, for most of May, June and July, when the asset was consolidating in the low $9,000 range, it fell into negative territory again.

The analytics provider noted that, counterintuitively, negative sentiment at extremely low levels correlates with price rises, whereas extreme highs correlate with price retracements.

Bitcoin reached a 2020 high of $12,400 in mid-August, but has failed to top 2019s peak of $13,800 leading a number of analysts to assert that the lower high on the longtime frame indicates that we are not in a bull market just yet.

Another market sentiment gauge is the Bitcoin Fear and Greed Index, which is currently showing a neutral reading of 48 at the time of writing. This metric is derived from a combination of factors such as volatility, market momentum and volume, social media interaction, market dominance, and current trend.

For most of August, the index was in the extreme greed zone at around 80 as Bitcoin traded in the high $11,000 range. Its lowest levels unsurprisingly were in March and April when extreme fear gripped global markets.

Popular charting platform Tradingview also has its own sentiment indicators for the asset derived from a number of technical indicators. On the daily and weekly views, they are flashing buy signals, whereas things are more neutral on the shorter time frames.

Bitcoin has been largely correlated to stock market movements for much of this year; however, the September effect is a term that has come about because it is a historically weak month for stock market and cryptocurrency price returns (as Kraken pointed out in its most recent update). This could be reflected in social sentiment as reported by Santiment.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin was still trading just above $11,000, a gain of 2.8% on the day and almost 8% on the week.

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Bitcoin sentiment at record lows Does it mean the price will go up? - Cointelegraph

Traders are usually skeptical as Bitcoin (BTC) approaches key resistances, and there was no exception as the price added 7.7% to attack the $11K level.

Not every rally will shift technical indicators to overbought levels, but there is usually some gain in volume and futures contracts sentiment that may transition from neutral to bullish. Derivatives markets are especially sensitive to trend changes due to leverage.

Yesterday, as Bitcoin price closed in on $11K, Cointelegraph cautioned that the move shouldn't raise hopes too high as rejection at this level could be followed by heavy downside.

Let's analyze the most recent price movement that culminated with yesterday's $10,960 close.

BTC/USD 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView

Take notice how there hasn't been much resistance over the past three days during the 8% rally. $11K seems more a psychological barrier than a resistance, but there are currently no signals that traders are confident after the recent price recovery.

Considering the price increase over the past three days, derivatives indicators and the top traders net long/short ratio should have shifted accordingly. Thus, the best place to start is by looking at BTC futures activity

Any optimism from buyers should be reflected in the futures contracts funding rate. These perpetual futures contracts, also known as inverse swaps, have an embedded fee for margin usage.

At most exchanges, the funding rates are usually changed every 8 hours. If buyers are using more leverage than sellers, the funding rate will be positive; hence buyers are the ones paying it. The opposite occurs when future contracts sellers (shorts) are demanding more margin.

Not every bull run will lead to a positive funding rate. Nevertheless, it is very unusual for positive moves to happen during periods where the funding is negative.

Even if there are no additional positions created during bull runs, the liquidation of short-sellers will cause the funding rate to go up. This is caused by decreasing demand for leverage shorts traders, but usually it is also accompanied by buyers adding long positions.

Bitcoin perpetual swaps 8-hour funding rate. Source: Skew

The data above shows a brief moment of optimism as the funding rate turned positive on Sept. 2 ahead of the drop below $11K. Since then, the indicator turned negative, and there is no indication of bullishness.

Variations between -0.05% and +0.05% fees per 8-hours are considered quite normal and, therefore, a neutral indicator. This is equivalent to -1% to +1% per week, so unless it is kept for an extended period, it is uneventful.

Volume is the one unquestionable indicator, regardless of whether one is doing technical or fundamental analysis. Any significant move not backed by a sizable trading activity becomes doubtful in traders and analysts' minds.

7-day Bitcoin aggregated average volume. Source: Messari

Data from Messari shows the adjusted aggregated volume at $2.15 billion Bitcoin for Sept. 15 and 16. Although 13% above the previous 7-day average, it is still far below the $3 billion peak levels seen over the past two months.

This is another telling signal that the BTC rally initiated a week ago seems to be fading away rather than gaining strength for continuation to $12K.

Binance provides data on the top traders' long-to-short net positioning. This is an excellent indicator to determine whether professional traders are leaning bullish or bearish.

OKEx has a slightly different indicator, measuring top traders sentiment. Considering the difference in methodologies, one should monitor changes in each index instead of absolute numbers.

Top traders sentiment & net long/short. Source: OKEx, Binance

Binance futures top traders remain net long, although the current 1.12 ratio is the lowest figure recorded since July 25 (8 weeks ago). A similar trend is depicted in the OKEx top traders sentiment metric, which has declined to 0.80 from a 1.18 peak on Sept. 3.

These indicators reinforce the previously discussed volume and funding rate analysis and show a lack of strength behind the recent BTC recovery from the sub-$10K level.

It is also worth noting that there are absolutely no bearish signals from any of these indicators. Instead, the market shows that traders are either in mild disbelief or simply are disinterested in participating at the current levels.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph. Every investment and trading move involves risk. You should conduct your own research when making a decision.

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Its a bull trap! 3 key metrics forecast Bitcoin price rejection at $11K - Cointelegraph

According to Whalemap, an on-chain analysis firm that focuses on Bitcoin (BTC) whale activity, short-term clusters are present at $10,570.

Whale clusters are shown at $10,570 and $11,288 for Bitcoin. Source: Whalemap

Whale clusters form when whales accumulate Bitcoin and do not move the BTC. Areas that have large amounts of unspent BTC become an area of interest, typically a resistance level. Analysts at Whalemap explain:

Bubbles show locations where unspent bitcoins were accumulated. The larger the bubble, the more unspent bitcoins are located there. P.s. Unspent means these bitcoins have not been moved since they were inflowed to a whale wallet.

Whales, or individuals holding large amounts of BTC, like to sell either at breakeven or at profit, depending on the market trend. If whales deem the current trend to be bearish, the $10,570 level could serve as an area where whales breakeven.

The two biggest whale clusters in the short term are found at $10,570 and $11,800. Unsurprisingly, the two levels are also key resistance areas for BTC in the immediate term.

Based on the recovery of Bitcoin above $10,000, some traders foresee BTC retesting the $11,000-$11,300 resistance range.

According to the cryptocurrency trader Edward Morra, Coinbases order book has consistently shown decent buying demand at the $10,000 area. He said on Sept. 11:

In case bitcoin dips, coinbase has some fat orders below. Coinbase added bids, from 10200 to 10000, there are ~2500 BTC in bids now.

The strength of the $10,000 support level could allow BTC to retest $10,570, and potentially surpass it. For now, many traders appear to be cautiously optimistic, at least until the mid-$10,000.

Most short-term bullish and bearish cases also center around the $10,570 to $11,000 resistance range. A rejection from the range raises the probability of downside in the near future.

For now, several on-chain metrics are supporting the near-term bearish case for Bitcoin. Data from Glassnode, for example, shows BTC miner fee deposits to exchanges have increased to levels unseen since 2017. The researchers said:

Currently, almost 10% of all #Bitcoin miner fees are spent on transactions that deposit $BTC to centralized exchanges. This is a 2x increase since the beginning of the year, and levels we haven't seen since late 2017.

However, the rise in miner fees and the record-high hash rate of the Bitcoin blockchain network indicate an overall rise in network activity. But if miners sell the fees, then it could impose additional selling pressure on the BTC/USD pair.

Bitcoin fees are being sold on exchanges. Source: Glassnode

Historically, many analysts have used various network activity metrics to measure the short to medium-term trend of Bitcoin.

CNBCs Brian Kelly, as an example, has consistently utilized the unique address activity of Bitcoin to assess the BTC price trend.

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Bitcoin whale cluster at $10,570 is the most important level right now - Cointelegraph

Jim Cramer, the Mad Money host and The Street co-founder, said he is fixated on needing to own bitcoin because he fears a massive amount of inflation. While he owns so much gold, he is adamant about leaving a bitcoin inheritance to his children.

Jim Cramer is the host of Mad Money on CNBC, a former hedge fund manager, and a co-founder of Thestreet.com, a financial news and literacy website. During a podcast interview with Morgan Creek Digital partner Anthony Pompliano (Pomp), published Monday, Cramer asked many questions about cryptocurrency, particularly bitcoin. The Mad Money host said he has been following stock trader Dave Portnoy very closely. Portnoy recently bought bitcoin but exited the crypto market within a week after the price of chainlink, another of his crypto investments, fell.

Cramer calls himself a gold bug because he has so much gold, he revealed. He is concerned about hedging against inflation and leaving the right assets to his kids. The former hedge fund manager explained that to hedge against inflation, he currently goes to his inflation handbook, and what it says is buy gold, buy masterpieces and buy mansions. Those are the three things. He emphasized that what we didnt have in that menu was crypto and I think that you have to have [it]. He further opined: I feel very strongly that I have missed crypto.

Pomp clarified to Cramer that it is important to distinguish between bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. When you talk to your kids about it, you got to make sure its bitcoin not just crypto in general because bitcoin specifically has the inflation hedge things that were talking about here.

Cramer believes:

My kids, when they get my inheritance, wont feel comfortable with gold and will feel comfortable with crypto.

I just need something that my kids will understand and they will never understand gold and the reason why theyll never understand gold is they think golds dangerous. Its dangerous because it can be stolen. Its dangerous because they dont want to take it out of the bank, Cramer shared. As for cryptocurrency, the Mad Money host is also concerned about the security side, such as getting hacked. However, Pomp explained several ways to keep his bitcoin more secure.

Cramer admitted that when people asked him about bitcoin in the past, he said to them that he does not trade coffee, cotton, and bitcoin. That sufficed for a very long time. It worked until the three trillion dollar [Fed] package because we dont have that. We dont have three trillion in this country. You can raise them you make the rich pay as much as you want. This is the first time in my life, and Ive said it publicly, that I know we dont have the money and thats one of the reasons why I like gold so much. However, he agrees with Pomp that the upside of bitcoin beats gold.

Recently, the Federal Reserve has made a major policy shift to push up inflation. This has prompted some companies to move cash reserves into bitcoin, such as the Nasdaq-listed Microstrategy which recently bought a total of $425 million in bitcoin in order to hedge against inflation. Meanwhile, some people strongly believe that bitcoin beats gold in every way.

The co-founder of The Street exclaimed:

I am fixated on needing to own crypto because I fear massive amount of inflation.

Pomp proceeded to explain how Cramer could buy and hold bitcoin. For example, to get some exposure, he could buy Grayscale Investments GBTC, but there are premiums. Alternatively, he could buy bitcoin itself and either use the custody service of a reputable company or store it himself. He asked about JPMorgan, which Pomp believes will one day offer the same crypto service Fidelity does. Cramer says he has some funds at Fidelity so it is likely the place he will go and buy bitcoin, mentioning that he could be doing dollar-cost averaging. Cramer says that he is not worried about the price fluctuation of bitcoin since it will be part of his portfolio as an alternative asset for hedging purposes.

What do you think about Jim Cramer wanting to buy bitcoin? Let us know in the comments section below.

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Mad Money's Jim Cramer 'Fixated' on Buying Bitcoin, Fears Massive Inflation | News - Bitcoin News