Bitcoin has recorded its best start to the year since 2012. Optimism has returned to the market following a crash after the 2017 record high.

Bitcoin was trading at around $8,667.33 at 13:34 p.m. SIN/HK up roughly 21% so far this year.

Other digital coins including ethereum and XRP have followed suit, posting more than 20% gains in the first two weeks of 2020.

In December 2017, bitcoin hit an all-time high of nearly $20,000 but fell sharply to just over $3,000 in December 2018. Many experts saw that as the bottom as the price of the digital currency continued to climb in 2019.

But a few developments have helped underpin the recent price surge.

"The Iran uncertainty combined with the positive launch of CME Bitcoin Options were strong catalysts driving an eruption in bitcoin and even adding heat to the struggling top 100 alt coins," Jehan Chu, co-founder of Kenetic Capital, an investor in blockchain start-ups told CNBC.

"Alt coins" refer to alternative coins, a name for digital tokens other than bitcoin such as XRP or ethereum.

Chu was referencing the current geopolitical tensions between Iran and the U.S. as well as exchange-traded bitcoin options which launched Monday on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. These are a way for institutional investors to get invested in bitcoin which is seen as positive for the price.

"While sentiment still drives waves of volatility, we are seeing increasing institutional volume anchoring the market," Chu added.

Meanwhile, developments on the technical aspects of bitcoin could also be fueling recent buying.

An event known as "halving" is happening in May. To understand what that is, it's important to understand how bitcoin's underlying technology known as the blockchain works.

Miners with high-powered computers compete to solve complex math problems to validate bitcoin transactions. Whoever wins that race gets rewarded in bitcoin.

Currently, miners are rewarded 12.5 per block mined.The rewards are halved every few years to keep a lid on inflation. By May 2020, the reward per miner will be cut in half again, to 6.25 new bitcoin.

This essentially reduces the supply of bitcoin coming onto the market. Halving is an event that happens every four years. It's written into the underlying code of bitcoin. Previous halving events have preceded big price increases in bitcoin.

Vijay Ayyar, head of Asia for cryptocurrency exchange Luno, said it is "debatable" whether this event is already priced in or not.

"I would conjecture most normal people are unaware of it, and when the price starts running, the masses will come in as we've seen before. This is slated to happen in May 2020. So any price increase as we're seeing, people have an eye on May for sure," Ayyar told CNBC.

He added that a $15,000 to $16,000 price on bitcoin is a "reasonable target" by year end.

CNBC's Ryan Browne contributed to this report.

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Bitcoin is up 20% so far this year and one expert predicts it could hit $16,000 by year end - CNBC

Tesla cars are capable of a lot,from self-driving, smart summoning, and automatic parking but what about running Bitcoin?

As it turns out, they can do that too. Cryptocurrency fans have shared video footage of a Tesla cars onboard computer system operating as a Bitcoin BTC full node.

[Read:Accidental Tesla butt dial upgrade highlights confusing future of car maintenance]

This is possible thanks to theBcoin project, which shared the video. Bcoin is analternative implementation of the Bitcoin protocol thatany machine like Teslas onboard computer can run via its internet browser to join in the consensus process.

So, for at least a short while, there was aTesla car out there helping to keep Bitcoin chugging along smoothly.

While this is a pretty cool (albeit novel) way to show off theBcoin project, turning your Tesla car into a mobile Bitcoin full node might not be the greatest idea.

Indeed, running a Bitcoin full node is relatively resource intensive, so the processing power required to download and process Bitcoin block data could impact the UX experience of its onboard computer as one Twitter user pointed out.

They also highlighted lifespan issues suffered by memory modules in Tesla cars. Bitcoin full nodes must interact with data quite regularly, which could exacerbate those concerns.

Bcoin devsapparently know this, too. Its website comes complete with a disclaimer. It reads: Warning: this will use a lot of your bandwidth, [CPU], and potentially disk space.

This means its likely thatBcoin devs didnt actually run their full node for very long, and its probably advisable that you do the same, for the sake of your Tesla.

Bitcoin fans have turned other gadgets (albeit smaller ones) into Bitcoin full nodes in the past. Most notably, theyve found the single board computers Raspberry Pito be a particularly good machine for syncing the blockchain.

Published January 17, 2020 15:34 UTC

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Bitcoin fans just turned their Tesla car into a full node - The Next Web

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Bitcoin is better bid at press time and could maintain its recent upward trajectory despite a long-term bearish indicator making its first appearance in 19 months.

The top cryptocurrency rose to a two-month high of $8,580 during Tuesday's Asian trading hours and is currently trading at $8,480 indicating a 4.8 percent rise on a 24-hour basis, according to CoinDesk's Bitcoin Price Index.

Bitcoin is now up by more than 30 percent from the low of $6,425 reached in December 2019.

While the cryptocurrency is showing signs of life following the gloomy second half of 2019, a widely tracked technical indicator is about to flash a bearish signal.

The 50-candle average on the three-day chart is trending south and looks set to cross below the 100-candle average in the next few days. That would be the first bearish crossover of the two averages since June 2018.

However, moving averages are based on historical data and tend to lag prices. To put it another way, crossovers are the result of the price action that has already happened and have limited predictive powers.

While bitcoin did drop in the days leading up to and after the confirmation of the same bear cross in June 2018, the broader market conditions were bearish at the time, as seen below.

3-day chart

The 50- and 100-candle MAs produced a bear cross in the three days to June 21, 2018 (above left). Prices had fallen from $7,800 to $6,300 in the first two weeks of June and dropped further to lows below $5,800 by the end of the month.

A subsequent rise ended up creating a bearish lower high at $8,500 and prices remained below the 50-candle MA till April 2019.

It's worth noting that bitcoin had rallied by more than 1,300 percent in 2017 before falling by 50 percent in the first quarter of 2018. Essentially, the market had a hard landing after the staggering annual gain, and the bear cross likely gave traders a reason to unwind their long positions.

Brighter picture

This time, however, the situation is very different. Bitcoin has recently broken out of a six-month falling channel, signaling a resumption of the rally from lows near $4,100 seen in April 2019 and opening doors for a re-test of October highs above $10,000.

Further, the breakout comes four months ahead of the mining reward halving a process that reduces the supply of bitcoin. Alex Benfield, data analyst at Digital Assets Data, told CoinDesk the event could bode well for prices.

Historically, bitcoin tends to hit a new market cycle top (the highest point from the preceding bear market low) in the calendar year of a halving, but before the event, according to popular analyst Rekt Capital.

So, the cryptocurrency could rise above the 2019 high of $13,880 ahead of the May 2020 halving.

All in all, the impending three-day chart bearish crossover should not be a cause for worry for the bulls.

4-hour and daily charts

The high-volume bounce from the ascending trendline on the 4-hour chart (above left) indicates the rally from the Jan. 3 low of $6,853 has resumed. Prices could challenge the 200-day average resistance at $9,097 (above right) in the next few days.

The daily chart (above right) also indicates the path of least resistance is to the higher side. For instance, the recent inverse head-and-shoulders breakout and the subsequent rise to two-month highs is telling a tale of a successful transition from a bearish-to-bullish setup.

The immediate bullish case would weaken if prices close (UTC) below $8,200 today. That level acted as strong resistance multiple times over the weekend.

A UTC close below the higher low of $7,667 created on June 10 is needed to confirm a short-term bearish reversal.

Disclosure: The author does not hold any cryptocurrencies.

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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Resurgent Bitcoin Will Likely Shrug Off Long-Term Bear Cross - Coindesk

Those Bitcoin bulls who were prematurely targeting the $9,200 level might be in for a rude awakening.

According to trader Scott Melker, Bitcoin faced a severe rejection at the61.8 percentFibonacciretracement level, which might indicate that $9,000was the top of the recent rally.

Must Read

12th-centurymathematicianLeonardoFibonacci came up with thesequence of numbers that is supposed to define everything that we know in nature: from the galaxy to tree branches. His theory is also widely applied to different financial markets.

Fibonacci retracement levelsare used as a popular trading indicator even though many traders remain skeptical of whetherthey actually work. One has to divide a vertical lineby the majorFibonacci ratios to determine possible horizontal support and resistance levels.

The 61.8 percent retracementlevel, whichis known as "the golden ratio," has been historically important for Bitcoin's price action.

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Melker points to the fact thattheBitcoin price also tapped the 61.8% retracement level on Oct. 25 after when Bitcoin price pumped by about 40 percent on the news about Beijing endorsing Blockchain.

After a small period of euphoria, complacent bulls had to face a harsh reality, with Bitcoin shedding all of its gains in about a month and hitting the $6,400 low in December.

Whether you believe in Fibonacci retracement levels or not, this certainly gives the bulls a lot of food for thought.

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Bitcoin's (BTC) Impressive Price Rally Might Have Already Ended. Here's One Reason Why - U.Today

INDIA - 2019/11/20: In this photo illustration a popular decentralized digital currency Bitcoin logo ... [+] seen displayed on a smartphone. (Photo Illustration by Avishek Das/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Bitcoin, similar to gold, is a good hedge against global uncertainties like trade wars.

That's according to a lengthy working paper out from the Department of Economics of the University of Pretoria, "Is Bitcoin the New Digital Gold? Evidence From Extreme Price Movements In Financial Markets."

The paper tests a popular claim in the media that Bitcoin has joined the ranks of safe-haven assets. These are assets where investors place their cash at the time of growing global uncertainties, as they flee risky assets like stocks.

koyfin_20200115_110609569

US Treasuries, gold, and the Swiss Franc have been considered safe-haven assets.

Now comeGkillas Konstantinosand Franois Longin, the authors of the paper, to confirm this assertion by using the multivariate extreme value theory.

That's the appropriate statistical framework to model the tail dependence structure of the return distribution.

What did they find? Two things.

First, they confirmed the findings of previous studies "that the correlation of extreme returns increases during stock market crashes and decreases during stock market booms."

Second, they confirmed Bitcoin is a hedge against turbulent times.

"By combining each equity market with bitcoin, we find that the correlation of extreme returns sharply decreases during both market booms and crashes, indicating that bitcoin could provide the sought-after benefits of diversification during turbulent times," say the authors. "A similar result is obtained for gold, confirming its well-recognized status as a safe haven when a crisis occurs. Finally, we find a low extreme correlation between bitcoin and gold, which implies that both assets can be used together in times of turbulence in financial markets to protect equity positions."

Still, Jim Powers, Director of Investment Research at Delegate Advisors,isn't convinced.

"Bitcoin is not the new gold because the old gold (i.e., gold) still works just fine," he says. "While similarities exist between gold and Bitcoin (e.g., store of value, price determined by supply and demand), gold has been recognized as a store of value for millennia. Bitcoin has been recognized as a store of value for less than a decade."

Then there's Bitcoin's reliance on the Internet. "In an end-of-the-world-style financial apocalypse, individuals can still hold and trade physical gold, adds Powers. Try buying a loaf of bread with Bitcoin if the Internet stops working."

Continued here:
Bitcoin Is The New Gold: Study - Forbes

As bitcoin price continues to buck the traditional January blues and inch ever upwards, increasingly bullish sentiment is returning. Popular analyst, Josh Rager, tweeted that price should stay above $10,100 on its way to new ATH.

That may seem a little premature, as we are still just a shade under $9k at the time of press. But according to Rager, it is all about the importance of the Point of Control (POC).

The Point of Control (POC) is quite simply defined as the bitcoin price level with the highest traded volume for a certain time period.

Consider the period from November 2017 to November 2018, which covered bitcoins current all-time high (ATH) price, along with the majority of the rally which took it there, and the breakdown which followed.

The POC for this period was $6,400.

As Rager points out, this $6,400 POC held as support during the breakdown following bitcoins mid-2019 price rally.

Rager then looks at the period from June through September 2019, covering that mid-2019 rally. The POC for this period was $10,100.

Rager suggests that, in his opinion, once this level is broken, it should then act as support in the same way that the 2018 POC did.

Which means that it isnt important that we havent quite broken through $9k yet. Once we do, and then subsequently break through $10,100, we shouldnt look back.

And with any luck, next time we do break into five figures, it should be on the way to a new ATH.

Before we start rolling out the bunting though, we must first get back to five figures.

AsBitcoinist reported, Rager himself has said that the $9,400 bitcoin price level, which held as support for that June-September 2019 rally, will be a significant area to break.

If bitcoin price gains continue at the current rate, we may find ourselves there within the next week. Perhaps then we will see if we can shake the January blues for the entire month.

Do you think bitcoins price will surpass the $10,000 barrier in the near future? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

Images via Shutterstock, Twitter: @Josh_Rager

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Bitcoin Price Should Stay Above $10,100 On Its Way To ATH - Bitcoinist

Despite common fluctuations in price, Bitcoins performance throughout 2019 was somewhat unremarkable.

Weve taken a closer look at the cryptocurrencys price movements, focusing specifically on its performance during Q4 2019.

But, first, lets briefly recapBitcoinsperformanceduring the first nine months of the year.

Bitcoin BTC was relatively stable from January to March 2019.

It started the year off at $3,717 and a brief 9-percent increase in its trading price saw it surpass the $4,000 barrier during the first week of January.

The upward trend was short-lived, though. Within a month, itsprice fell to a low of $3,358 on February 7.

From then on, Bitcoin demonstrated some relative stability but experienced a notable drop at the end of February where its trading value dropped 8 percent from $4,106 its highest price during Q1 to $3,784 over a 24-hour period.

By March, Bitcoinhad almost equaled its quarter high and closed trading at $4,092, representing a modest 10-percent growth for the quarter.

The second quarter of 2019 proved to be much more fruitful for investors and hodlers.

Bitcoin opened April at $4,125 marking the start of a three-month-long rally.

Over Q2, Bitcoin set numerous records for reaching prices that hadnt been seen over the previous 12 months.

At the height of summer, in July, Bitcoin opened above the $10,000 mark, hitting $10,442.80 on the first day of the month. It then went on to surpass $11,000 within the first two weeks of the quarter.

Thequarters highestvaluewas hit in early August, when thedigital currencysurpassed $11,000, trading at $11,815.04 on August 7.

However, a week later, on August 14,Bitcoins trading price decreasedby 14 percent, stabilizing at $10,137.88.

The month of August ended withBitcointrading well below $10,000, and costing just $9,462.50 on August 31.

Bitcoin started trading at $9,603.10 on September 1, increasing by 7 percent and hitting $10,363.03 the following day.

Thedigital currencyhovered around the $10,000 mark for most of the month, until it dropped to $9931.40 on September 21 and continued to plummet over the next three days, leaving it sitting at $8,549.93 on September 24. Itslowestvaluefor Q3 was reached on September 29 when it was trading $7,994.55.

October saw Bitcoin trade at prices unseen since the previous month of June.

It was hovering around $8,343.93 before falling by 5 percent to $7879.23 on October 6. It then recovered slightly, reaching $8195.13 the following day.

The biggest drop happened October 24, when the cryptocurrency plummeted to $7421.20.

Three days later, on October 27, Bitcoin would gain momentum to reach both the months and quarters high at $9595.34.

By October 31, the cryptocurrency was trading at $9160.55.

Bitcoin remained relatively stable during the first few days of November 2019, maintaining around and above the $9,100 mark.

It jumped to $9,396.19 on November 4 before dramatically dropping to $8,771.30 on November 9.

Then things went from bad to worse. On November 10, Bitcoin was trading for $9,009.69 a coin but it began to plunge in the following days and weeks, hitting $7,026.83 on November 24.

The cryptocurrency remained well below the $8,000 mark for the rest of the month, finishing on $7,528.47 on November 30.

On December 1, Bitcoin was sitting at $7,265.69 and it remained above the $7,000 mark during the first fortnight of the month.

The cryptocurrency experienced somewhat of a rally mid-month, hitting $6,861.92 on December 16 and going on to reach $7,252.71 on December 18.

Bitcoin peaked on December 23, trading at $7,580.20 a coin.

It then finished the month on December 31 hovering at just over $7,100.

Bitcoins price was definitely higher during Q4 2019 than in Q3 the previous year.

In October 2018, Bitcoin was trading for way below $7,000, sitting roughly around the $6,500 mark.

The cryptocurrencys performance followed the same line throughout the following month. It peaked momentarily during the first week of November going slightly above $6,500 before plummeting by more than $1,000 and sitting just above $5,500 on November 18.

Bitcoin continued to drop finishing the month well below $4,000.

At the beginning of December 2018, Bitcoin was hovering close to $4,200 and remained below the $4,000 throughout the rest of the month.

In early October, Russia reportedly enacted a new digital rights act that defines smart contracts and cryptocurrency tokens. Although thecountry is yet to fully embrace cryptocurrency, this was largely perceived as a step toward potentially regulating the space.

Several days later, Bitcoin made headlines by association after German policeexecuted a hi-tech raid on adataprocessing centre installed in an ex-Nato bunker. The bunker allegedly hosted dark web sites to deal drugs and child abuse imagery.

Ohio, the first US state to accept Bitcoinfor taxes, suspended its cryptocurrency payment system meaning businesses can no longer pay in digital assets.

Europol said Bitcoinwas still very much the dark webs favorite cryptocurrency but noted that those looking to cover their tracks were slowly learning to useprivacy-focusedalternatives.

Authorities chargeda 23-year-oldSouth Koreanman of running the worlds largest child sexual exploitation market, which reportedlyprocessed7,300Bitcointransactions worth over $730,000.

Cumulative Bitcointransaction fees surpassed the $1 billion milestone in mid-October.

Bitcoin-hungry hackers gave the city of Johannesburg three days to pay more than $30,000 worth of the cryptocurrency.

Finally, areport by marketing analysis firm SEMRush claimedBitcoin was the third most popular method for online payments in Italy, beatingpayment processor PayPal and Italian prepaid cash card provider PostePay.

Its never easy to predict Bitcoins price movements, but the cryptocurrency has been moving upwards so far this year.

Having landed January above the $7,100 mark, Bitcoin has remained relatively stable, maintaining itself mostly above $7,000 but well below $8,500.

While these values are not necessarily encouraging especially if we look back to January 2018, when one coin was priced at well over$13,343.71 theyre a significant improvement when compared to Bitcoins lowly price of $3,000-$4,000 this time last year.

Published January 14, 2020 11:50 UTC

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Bitcoin's price rose 87% in 2019 here's what happened in Q4 - The Next Web

Altcoins have shown impressive spike and at the moment switched to more moderate growth. Over the last week, the total capitalization of the crypto market grew by 18% to $244bn.

What is happening now is indeed often reminiscent of 2017, but the current price levels of altcoins are still much lower. The first to declare the beginning of the altcoin season faced harsh criticism. However, now it is unlikely that the critics will be so fierce. The more consistent the growth of altcoins, the fewer pessimists will be left. And when there are very few pessimists, the market usually starts to drop.

We do not want to spoil the good mood of the altcoin holders, but the current growth is very likely to be speculative. Bitcoin can boast of infrastructure, institutional investors, recognizability. On the other side, recently, the market was ready to bury altcoins as a class. Speculators likely considered the moment is ideal to start buying. Another question is what levels they chose to leave the market. They are probably much lower than market participants can imagine.

Crypto-enthusiasts want to believe that Bitcoin and altcoins are still capable of showing new historical highs. We are still dealing with a series of declining highs: the market participants are starting to take profits at ever lower levels. So far, this trend still alive.

Another significant difference from the 2017 rally is that market participants now do not have that much time. Now bots are taking profits with clear instructions on the levels, so it is worth watching the technical indicators guided by institutional investors.

This article was written byFxPro

This article was originally posted on FX Empire

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Bitcoin Is Trying To Break Above $9,000 - Yahoo Finance

Bitcoin corrected lower below $8,700, but it found a strong support above $8,500 against the US Dollar. BTC price is currently rising and it could rally if it clears the $8,840-$8,900 resistance area.

Yesterday, we saw a downside correction in bitcoin after it was rejected near the $8,900 resistance against the US Dollar. BTC price declined below the $8,700 support level, but the bulls defended the $8,540 and $8,500 levels.

The bears made many attempts to break the neckline support of the double top pattern at $8,540, but they failed. As a result, the price started a decent increase and traded above the $8,700 resistance.

Moreover, bitcoin climbed above the 50% Fib retracement level of the recent decline from the $8,866 high to $8,578 low. It is now approaching the $8,800 and $8,820 resistance levels.

The 76.4% Fib retracement level of the recent decline from the $8,866 high to $8,578 low is also near $8,800. More importantly, there is a new breakout pattern forming with resistance near $8,825 on the hourly chart of the BTC/USD pair.

Bitcoin price

If the bulls manage to push the price above the triangle resistance and $8,840, there are high chances of more upsides above the $8,900 resistance. In the mentioned case, the double top pattern is likely to invalidate and the price might rally above $9,000 in the near term.

If BTC price fails to climb above the triangle resistance and $8,840, it is likely to move down. The first key support is near the triangle at $8,640.

If there is a downside break, the bears may perhaps aim a clear break below the key $8,540 and $8,500 support levels. If they succeed, the price is likely to decline towards $8,200.

Overall, bitcoin bulls are giving a tough fight and it seems like a breakdown below the $8,540 and $8,500 support levels wont be easy.

Technical indicators:

Hourly MACD The MACD is now gaining momentum in the bullish zone.

Hourly RSI (Relative Strength Index) The RSI for BTC/USD is back above the 50 level.

Major Support Levels $8,640 followed by $8,540.

Major Resistance Levels $8,825, $8,840 and $8,900.

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Sorry Bears, Bitcoin Wont Go Down Quietly And Heres Why It Could Rally - newsBTC

Bitcoin is currently on the verge of a mega move in the coming year whether bullish or bearish as it sits comfortably on the $8,700 support/resistance level. While the technical and fundamental prospects points to a potential bullish run, given the upcoming block reward halving in May, there remains doubts on whether the retail market will react similar to the two previous halving periods or take a completely different route.

In this debate, two schools of thought take precedence those who believe a similar bullish run to previous halvings will occur and those who believe the market has matured enough to avoid the euphoria that follows the natural supply decrease.

According to Bitcoin influencer and educator, Jimmy Song, the markets have learnt from the previous extra bullish momentum in 2013 and 2017, both years following the halving. In short tweet in the early morning on Friday this week, Jimmy said he believes the retail market in particular will behave differently in the next bull run as compared to previous runs.

He implied the market participants in the next bull should have learnt from previous failed trading strategies. Will the market react any different this time?

Erik Voorhees, CEO at Spaceshift, however does not believe the market will behave any different to previous bull runs as the investors coming into Bitcoin are new. Responding to Jimmy Songs tweet, Erik does not think the market sentiments will change in the next bull run given the vulnerability of the market to chase quick gains. He replied,

I thought the same after the Bitcoin bubble of 2013 and the Gox calamity. But it was not the case. The thing about new people is that theyre new.

Currently, Bitcoin is changing hands at $8,695 USD as at time of writing, a flat out price in the past 24 hours. However, the markets look ripe for a bullish momentum in the longer term trading periods and it will be a wonderful sight to see how the market will react to the bull run mature or euphoric?

Summary

Article Name

The Next Bitcoin Bull Run Will Be Different, Crypto Analyst Says

Description

Bitcoin is currently on the verge of a mega move in the coming year whether bullish or bearish as it sits comfortably on the $8,700 support/resistance level. While the technical and fundamental prospects points to a potential bullish run, given the upcoming block reward halving in May, there remains doubts on whether the retail market will react similar to the two previous halving periods or take a completely different route.

Author

Lujan Odera

Publisher Name

Coingape

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The Next Bitcoin Bull Run Will Be Different, Crypto Analyst Says - Coingape