Daily Archives: November 29, 2020

The price of Bitcoin (BTC) dropped sharply on Nov. 26 following a mass sell-off from whales. Data from on-chain data firms, namely Santiment, Intotheblock, and CryptoQuant, show heightened levels of whale exchange inflows.

Whales selling right under Bitcoin's all-time high, particularly when the market sentiment was overly euphoric, led to a massive drop. Roughly $1.8 billion worth of futures contracts were wiped out, as Cointelegraph reported.

Some exchanges, like Binance as an example, recorded $400 million worth of liquidations within merely several hours.

According to Santiment, whales sold quickly after Bitcoin surpassed $19,300. Many of these high-net-worth individuals sold so aggressively that they are no longer in the whale category of holding over 1,000 BTC.

The overleveraged derivatives market started crashing as soon as the price of Bitcoin saw a relatively minor drop. Eventually, BTC dropped to as low as $16,200 on major exchanges. Analysts at Santiment said:

Researchers at Intotheblock spotted a similar trend. The drop in the price of Bitcoin matched the moment when whales transferred 93,000 BTC into exchanges. When the price of BTC was at the yearly peak, 93,000 BTC were worth $1.8 billion.

Subsequent to the rapid crash of the Bitcoin futures market, the outlook on Bitcoin from traders and analysts remains divided. Some believe that BTC is headedfor a deeper pullback, possibly to the $13,800 support level. Others, however, say that buyers now have the incentive to bring BTC above $18,000 to tap the liquidity above.

The bearish case for Bitcoin in the near term mainly revolves around two things. First, during previous bull markets, BTC historically dropped 30% or more before seeing a continuation of the rally. If BTC sees a similar trend, that would mean a drop to at least $14,500.

Second, short-term investor activity is increasing as the price of BTC consolidates. In the past, a spike in the number of young addresses marked a bearish trend.

Cryptocurrency trader and technical analyst, Edward Morra, emphasized that previous bull markets saw multiple corrections that were even more severe, such as by 30% to 40%. Furthermore, the trader also said that the Fibonacci sequence 0.618 level is $13,500.

Based on the combination of these two data points, Morra explains that a drop to $13,500 would be a fantastic opportunity. He said:

Josh Olszewicz, a chartist and a cryptocurrency investor, meanwhile says that local Bitcoin tops usually occur when unspent transaction outputs (UTXOs) aged one to three months reach 10%.

The investor notesthat it is currently at 8%, which has historically signaled a market top. He noted that similar to BDD, more young on-chain coin movements are generally bearish.

Nevertheless, the market sentiment around Bitcoin remains generally bullish. Many analysts that anticipate BTC to fall in the near term still expect the dominant cryptocurrency to hit an all-time high by the years end. Considering this, some traders are also optimistic about the short-term price trend of BTC.

A pseudonymous trader known as Byzantine General noted that the liquidity for Bitcoin is now in the $17,500 to $19,000 range. Liquidity emerges when traders in the futures market sway to one side of the market. Since the liquidity is higher up, it indicates that traders are likely shorting BTC and the liquidation prices of overleveraged shorts are located around $18,000.

Stop hunts and cascading liquidations can work both ways. If mass long contract liquidations caused BTC to drop on Nov. 26, short liquidations could trigger BTC to rally. Given that BTC/USD has dropped substantially in a short period, a relief rally is certainly possible. With liquidity near $18,000, the probability of this happening remains high.

Former Credit Suisse banker Mira Christanto added that the medium to the long-term outlook of BTC remains strong. She pinpointed the Bitcoin Difficulty Ribbon indicator, which suggests the price of BTC has been suppressed for a long time. The indicator signifies an acceleration of mining difficulty, which as seen in 2013 and 2016, marked the start of bull cycles.

Whale exchange deposits have continuously remained high throughout November, which was the main source of selling pressure. But, the one variable that could offset the sell-off from whales is stablecoin inflows. In the latest note to its clients, data analytics firm CryptoQuant said that the number of stablecoins deposited into exchanges rose sharply in recent months.

For the rally of Bitcoin to continue in the near term, two main factors are critical. BTC needs to stay above the $16,200 support region, which it has defended so far with a strong reaction from the market.

It also would need to see higher stablecoin inflow in the next several days, which would indicate that sidelined capital is returning to the market. The note read:

At least in the foreseeable future, it is critical for BTC to remain stable above $17,000 and consolidate. This would allow the derivatives market to see a potential resurgence in momentum and the open interest to build up. So far, there aren't too many signs that a massive correction must occur and that the road toward a new all-time high in the medium term has been hindered.

Moreover, the culmination of negative news, including Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrongs tweet thread about U.S. regulationand Chinese police seizing $4.2 billion in BTC and other cryptocurrencies from the PlusToken Ponzi scheme, hit the market in recent days to fuel bearish sentiment.

However, as the impact of this negative news wears off, the fear along with selling pressure on Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies could decrease in the upcoming weeks

Excerpt from:
Bitcoin analysts explain what's next in the aftermath of BTC plunging to $16.2K - Cointelegraph

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LONDON Bitcoin has plunged by close to $3,000 in less than 24 hours after hitting highs not seen since the end of 2017.

The price of bitcoin was trading at $19,374 at 1:45 p.m. London time Wednesday when it began its slide. The losses accelerated overnight, with the price falling from $18,824 at 2 a.m. Thursday to $16,857 by 9 a.m., according to data from industry site CoinDesk.

Bitcoin has been on a tear in 2020, skyrocketing over 150% in a jump crypto enthusiasts have credited to unprecedented monetary and fiscal stimulus in response to the Covid-19 crisis, as well as interest from big-name investors such as Paul Tudor Jones and Stanley Druckenmiller.

The latest tumble comes as many predicted the cryptocurrency would soon hit an all-time high of $20,000.

AntoniTrenchev, a managing partner and co-founder of Nexo, which bills itself as the world's biggest crypto lender, said he expects bitcoin to rally well into the $20,000s and beyond.

"Long term I don't see anythingderailing Bitcoin's irrevocable rise higher," said Trenchev. "That doesn't mean we won't have pullbacks along the way. Look what happened in March; Bitcoin plunged 40% in one day during the coronavirus market panic. 20-30% falls can and should be expected."

He added: "Any healthy market needs to have pullbacks and periods of consolidation. Already in 2020 we've seen a gain of 160%."

Bitcoin peaked at $19,783 in December 2017. After hitting that milestone, the bubble burst and bitcoin plummeted to $3,122 the following year.

It climbed past $15,000 on Nov. 5, $18,000 on Nov. 19, and $19,000 on Nov. 24.

Bitcoin's market value which is calculated by multiplying the total number ofbitcoins in circulation by theprice now stands at $315.3 billion, down from $355.9 billion on Tuesday, according to CoinDesk.

CNBC's Ryan Browne contributed to this story.

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Bitcoin plunges by nearly $3,000 after closing in on its all-time record - CNBC

Following bitcoins sharp pullback on November 26, renowned trader Peter Brandt says BTC is likely to see a further correction, although he thinks prices have not topped. The comments follow the massive sell-off of cryptos that resulted in traded volumes of $8.5 billion being recorded across exchanges in just 24 hours. According to Messari, this is the second-highest traded volumes figure ever recorded.

Prior to the bears taking over, BTC had gone on an extended bull run and during the run up, many analysts predicted the digital asset would at least breach the $20,000 mark. However, at the time of writing, BTC appears to have stabilized after bottoming out at $16,218.

In keeping with the practice of issuing bullish statements when BTC is on a bull run, some analysts insisted that BTC would end the year above $20,000. Still, even after the latest crash, some remain adamant that the $19,500 resistance level will be breached and they back their predictions with data. For instance, the findings from a study carried out by a Swiss financial institution, SEBA says that current wallet holdings suggest large holders are unperturbed by the sell-off.

Also agreeing with the SEBA findings is Mati Greenspan, the founder of Quantum Economics who tweets that the 17% pullback is rather tame at this stage of the cycle. When one Twitter user asks if a further drop is expected, Greenspan responds my guess is weve already seen the worst of it.

However, not everyone agrees with the assessment that the large drop is actually a long-overdue correction. Instead, some bitcoiners on Twitter say rumors that the U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin is planning to change rules governing the use of noncustodial wallets might have triggered the large drop on November 26. Without giving away much, Ryan Selkis the founder at Messari tweeted I survived the Mnuchin crash of 2020.

However, Kyle Samani, the managing partner at Multicoin thinks the Mnuchin rumors have no effect on the current BTC bull run. He argues:

(The) next wave of buyers macro buyers want regulation For them, 21M cap is a feature, and censorship resistance is (kind of) a bug They dont want self custody. Just inflation hedge.

Still, others believe the resumption of withdrawals on the Asia crypto exchange Okex might have caused the drop. Okex froze withdrawals after one of the exchanges private key holder was reportedly taken in custody. While there is no consensus on what caused the drop, many bitcoiners appear to agree that BTC might not be returning to $10,000.

For instance, the SEBA findings say $16,200 is the new support price for BTC while the resistance is $19,500. Prior to the Thursday drop, Mike Novogratz of Galaxy Digital opined that BTC prices are not going to fall below $12,000 in the current cycle.

Do you think BTC will go past $20,000 this year? Share your views in the comments section below.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons, Twitter,

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Excerpt from:
Veteran Analyst Says BTC Might See Further Correction but 'Prices Have Not Topped' | Markets and Prices - Bitcoin News

This entire article is Saifedeans fault.

Saifedean Ammous, author of The Bitcoin Standard, kept heaping steak tartare onto my plate at a Bitcoin meetup back in August 2018, in between jokes about liberal plebs.

As the youngest woman in the room, per usual, I wanted acceptance from the Bitcoin clan. Despite nearly a decade of (fickle) vegetarianism, I accepted the authors meat offerings in exchange for an off-the-record interview. I torpedoed questions his way between bites. Ammous told me last week, via direct message, that he couldnt remember if that was his first public steak dinner. But there would be many that followed.

Long before he became a bitcoiner, Ammous was a carnivore.

I was, independently, into low-carb keto, he said, referring to ketogenic diets. These two things started to merge together more and more as people who were interested in Austrian economics became interested in meat and good food.

Over the past decade, bitcoin-themed steak dinners have become a global ritual, hosted by communities from San Francisco to Tokyo. It was the Kraken exchanges Bitcoin evangelist Pierre Rochard who organized most of Ammous steak-and-bitcoin dinners in New York, inviting friends from the Socratic Seminar meetup. This was all pre-COVID, of course. (These days, there are a few outdoor gatherings at beaches and parks.)

I was traveling to the U.S. and Pierre told me to stop by in New York and hed organize a dinner for me. Then 70 people showed up, Ammous said. After that, everyone on Twitter was constantly asking, and demanding, their own steak dinner in their own hometown.

Becoming a Bitcoin-carnivore evangelist

Since then, Ammous organized Bitcoin-themed dinners in more than a dozen cities, including Hong Kong, Amman, Beirut, London, Madrid and Milan. Meanwhile, hundreds of Bitcoin fans routinely post meaty food porn via Twitter and Telegram groups like Citadel Chefs. Like Ammous, they often profess theynaturally found this a hobbyist combination, rather than following a demographic trend. As Crypto Twitter icon @cryptomedici wrote: I dont follow the chad lifestyle, the chad lifestyle follows me.

Ammous is among the most famous carnivore evangelists tweeting hot pics of fatty steaks, his version of thirst traps. In fact, the prolific economist penned a manifesto for grilling steak to beat fiat food, equating empty carb calories with inflationary government-issued money.

The (tongue-in-cheek) narrative says bitcoiners like Ammous will simply avoid the impending collapse of Western civilization by re-inventing feudalism, as lords of private citadel meat-lockers paid for with the worlds hardest money. Loving meat is a part of some bitcoiners shtick, along with hating journalists and socialism. Memes and jokes abound comparing Soy Boy or vegan token fans to hyper-masculine bitcoiners.

Its very masculine to grill. In the Wild West, the cowboys are always seen having this massive steak, nutritionist Lorraine Kearney said in a phone interview. Especially if theyre trying to lift weights and bulk up, its always about eating more protein.

Back in 2018, I told Ammous Id try carnivory, if only to gloat when my body didnt magically transform into a lean, mean hodling machine. To my great dismay, two weeks of a 90% meat diet left me feeling stronger, more energetic and less emotionally volatile than Id ever been. By the third week I stopped craving sweets and my doctor noticed a significant improvement in my health, compared to my last annual physical.

As it turns out, Im hardly the first liberal woman to fall in love with both bitcoin and grilled flesh. To the contrary, author Amber OHearn was one of the most influential authors in the early days of crypto-carnivory. Shes been writing about her keto diet experiments for nearly a decade.

Im off all medications, OHearn said, describing how this diet helped after her bipolar diagnosis. Ive never had symptoms of the mood disorder again.

Like any crypto trend, believers can seem quite fanatic. Zcash co-founder Zooko Wilcox even tweeted that keto diets can help treat cancer. (Wilcox and OHearn were once married, but have since continued their meat evangelism separately.)

On the other hand, Kearney said high amounts of fat can contribute to issues like heart disease. Bitcoin-carnivores often dismiss this warning as fake news by the media-fiat-food-industrial complex, hell-bent on brainwashing the masses. Of course, every citadel-dwelling hero needs a mainstream elite villain to foil his own righteousness. However, the reality of carnivore diets may be more nuanced.

Plant-eaters clap back

Kearney agreed with OHearn, broadly speaking, that high-protein diets can be very healthy and every persons body is different.

The nutritionist said shes known clients who feel amazing after years of only eating animal protein, while others prefer low-carb diets with diverse plants. She added that grass-fed meat has many more nutrients, so results may depend on the quality of the ingredients.

The carnivore diet has been around for a number of years. But the research will take a decade, if not longer, to provide the benefits of such diets, Kearney said. When people remove inflammatory, highly processed foods and introduce a more natural diet, like with meat, theyll see results like a decrease in weight gain and bloating, less fatigue and better gut health.

There may also be some truth to the bitcoiner mantra that established norms were based on inaccurate science. Kearney said the past four decades saw a massive shift among nutritionists.

Some of the products they used to recommend were processed foods it was all about restricting calories, Kearney said. Now its more about focusing on balance and understanding the psychological aspects as well.

There are also plenty of vegan bitcoiners, from Bitcoin Core developer Matt Corrallo to Lightning Labs CEO Elizabeth Stark.

Bitcoin doesnt care what you eat, Stark said in a direct message.

The steak-loving author of Bitcoin: Sovereignty Through Mathematics, Knut Svanholm, agreed with Stark.

I believe that we should probably leave diets out of any Bitcoin discussion, Svanholm said. It tends to be a bit silly and people are semi-religious when it comes to food preferences.

Thanksgiving feasts

Meanwhile, Wilcox and OHearn are among many bitcoin aficionados who ate a predominately meat dinner for Thanksgiving 2020.

I like fatty steak, roast beef, ground beef and bacon more than turkey. And thats even more true on Thanksgiving, which is a celebration of plentitude and togetherness, Wilcox said in a direct message.

For a festive twist on the holiday classics, OHearn combined turkey with a keto-friendly stuffing.

Sausage stuffing with ground pork and pork rinds, to help absorb the fat the way bread does in a stuffing, OHearn said over the phone, describing the menu. I also eat eggs and dairy without having too much of a problem. So for holidays I might have eggnog.

It was OHearn who convinced me that bitcoiners meat fetish isnt primarily the result of loud mens testosterone-induced, Freudian fixations.

There are these ideals about what a woman should be that dissuade women from taking pleasure in their bodies and being physical. Meat is connected to that, OHearn said, contradicting the diets stereotype. Meat is sexy and carnal plus, one of my primary roles as a mother is to nourish my children, inside my body, next through breast-feeding and then preparing their food and nutrients.

Like so many bitcoiners who ate Thanksgiving dinner with their families, OHearn said she was grateful for her healthy family. As for myself, I ate plenty of plants this holiday, despite knowing lean protein makes me feel better than pecan pie. Rather than travel to family, I joined an outdoor gathering of bitcoiners for turkey, my first friendsgiving as part of the clan. I no longer felt like an outsider, nor was I the sole young woman. But I did bring my own ros, because we all know the bitcoin cowboys will only bring beer and whiskey.

It may be precisely because of our differences, instead of despite them, that we were so grateful to gather with diverse friends contributing, in our own ways, to the first open-source, digital money. Especially during the pandemic, were thankful to be a part of an economic shift that just might manage to outlive our BBQ-slathered grills and little stone castles.

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Bitcoin's Carnivore Cult Is Both Stupid and Correct - CoinDesk - Coindesk

Bitcoin isn't the only cryptocurrency posting strong gains lately.

Ether, XRP and a handful of other so-called "altcoins," or alternative cryptocurrencies, rallied Monday, following the world's best-known digital currency higher.

At around 9:15 a.m. ET, ether passed the $600 level, a point it hasn't reached since June 2018, according to data from industry site CoinDesk. XRP at one point surged 29% to almost 55 cents, hitting its highest level in over two years.

Ether was last trading up about 8% in the last 24 hours at $595, having earlier risen as much as 13%, while XRP was 19% higher at around 54 cents. Both are up about 350% and 180% respectively year-to-date.

Crypto industry investors said altcoins were tracking the momentum that has seen bitcoin surge recently. Bitcoin last week crossed the $18,000 threshold and is close to an all-time high near $20,000, which it hit in late 2017 before slumping as low as $3,122 the following year.

"What you generally see in the space is bitcoin goes on a run and then a period of time later might be a few weeks, might be a month the altcoins then go on a run," Peter Wall, CEO of London-based crypto mining firm Argo Blockchain, told CNBC. "Bitcoin leads and the altcoins follow."

Another altcoin, Chainlink, rose as much as 6% to around $15. It's currently up more than 740% since the start of the year.

Chainlink is often associated with a concept called "DeFi," or decentralized finance, which aims to recreate traditional financial products like loans without middlemen like banks.

DeFi has become a popular theme in crypto this year, with several new projects emerging. It has been compared to the initial coin offering, or ICO, frenzy of late 2017 which saw multiple new virtual coins appear.

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Ether, XRP and other 'altcoins' rally as bitcoin heads for all-time high - CNBC

The price of Bitcoin (BTC) hit $19,000 on Nov. 24 for the first time since the historic rally in December 2017. Three key reasons are behind the dominant cryptocurrencys strong momentum.

The main factors buoying BTCs ongoing rally are whale accumulation, decreasing exchange supply and explosive volume trends.

All throughout November, Cointelegraph reported that whale clusters were steadily forming as the price of Bitcoin rallied.

These clusters emerge when Bitcoin whales buy BTC at a certain price point and do not move them. Analysts have interpreted this as a signal that whales are accumulating and that they have no intention of selling in the near term.

The difference between the ongoing Bitcoin rally and previous price cycles is that the recent uptrend has proven to be more sustainable. In fact, each whale cluster shows that every major support level BTC reclaimed was accompanied by whale accumulation.

On Nov. 18, when Bitcoin dropped to as low as $17,200, analysts at Whalemap said that the new whale support is located at $16,411. They said:

Since then, Bitcoin has seen several more dips below $18,000 but has since recovered above $18,800, sustaining its strong momentum.

Furthermore, data from Santiment, an on-chain market analysis platform, shows a similar trend. Santiment researchers found that the number of BTC whales significantly increased in recent months. They explained:

One consistent trend throughout the 2020 bull cycle has been the continuous drop in Bitcoin exchange reserves.

Investors and whales deposit BTC to exchanges when they want to sell BTC. Hence, the recent drop in exchange reserves means there are fewer sellers in the market.

A pseudonymous trader known as Byzantine General said that every time spot exchanges expand their BTC reserves, they get accumulated. He said:

The volume of both institutional and spot exchanges has been increasing rapidly since September. Open interest on Bitcoin futures and options at CME surpassed $1 billion in November, and Binances BTC/USDT pair has consistently delivered over $1.5 billion in daily volume.

Various data points also show that the spot market has been leading the rally, not derivatives or futures markets. This trend makes the rally more stable and reduces the risk of massive corrections.

When the futures market accounts for the majority of the volume during a Bitcoin uptrend, there is a large risk of cascading liquidations. This time, the spot market has been leading the rally, thus making it more sustainable.

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Why Bitcoin price just hit $19,000 for the first time in 3 years - Cointelegraph