Category Archives: Bitcoin

Bitcoin has been stuck trading close to $50,000 since this morning. (Photo illustration by ... [+] Chesnot/Getty Images)

Bitcoin prices have been trading close to $50,000, fluctuating near that level since this morning.

The digital currency surpassed $50,000 close to 05:45 a.m. EDT, but dropped below that price before 7 a.m. EDT, CoinDesk figures show.

Since that time, the cryptocurrency has been trading within range of $50,000, rising above that key, psychological level and then quickly falling underneath it, additional CoinDesk data reveals.

This afternoon, bitcoin moved higher, trading close to $51,300 at the time of this writing.

[Ed note: Investing in cryptocoins or tokens is highly speculative and the market is largely unregulated. Anyone considering it should be prepared to lose their entire investment.]

After these latest price movements, several experts weighed in, providing technical analysis to shed some light on where bitcoin prices may go next.

The $50,000 psychological level has naturally attracted some sellers, said Sean Rooney, head of research at crypto asset manager Valkyrie Investments.

However, BTC has been persistent at knocking on the door.

There is resistance at $53,000, but we will have to see where open interest and funding rates are when the time comes to understand if the price of bitcoin can slice right through it, noted Rooney.

He added that if there isn't meaningful follow through, then price action could revisit the $45,000 area to regain momentum.

Gary Pike, director of sales and trading at crypto services firm B2C2, also commented on the situation.

The big resistance was $48.5-49.5k in BTC, he stated. So, yes. it was right in front of $50k.

Were through that now and we should expect to retest the $53k level again, Pike emphasized. That number was last reached on Sept. 7th.

Pike offered additional detail on the markets, stating that:

The market has brushed off the China banning news and has convincingly traded through the $50k resistance on the back of extremely bullish sentiment. I would expect an asymmetry reaction in the market with less of a pullback on bearish news versus a higher price move on bullish macro news.

Brett Sifling, an investment advisor for Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management, also offered his perspective, stressing that bitcoin was working through sell orders around that $50,000 level.

I would also expect it to have some short term/minor resistance at $53,000, since it recently peaked there on the last run in September (9/7/21 top), he stated.

Above $53,000 could signal a break of the recent down trend that weve been in since April and suggest further upside.

Disclosure: I own some bitcoin, bitcoin cash, litecoin, ether and EOS.

Originally posted here:
Bitcoin Has Been Struggling Near $50,000What Will Happen After It Breaks Through? - Forbes

Cryptocurrency markets rallied 12.5% over the past seven days to reach a $2.44 trillion market capitalization. However, that move doesn't seem to be inspiring confidence because the same level was tested 16 days ago when a 27% retrace followed Ether's (ETH) attempt to break $3,650 over the next six days.

Regulation seems to be a key concerning factor for buyers as the United States House of Representatives is expected to vote on the $1 trillion infrastructure bill this month. In addition to defining who qualifies as a broker, the legislation would impose anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) type requirements on many kinds of cryptocurrency transactions, which could also be detrimental for DeFi protocols.

As shown above, the negative performance seen in the top 10 cryptocurrencies has impacted investor sentiment over the past 30 days. For this reason, it's important to measure more than just Bitcoin's (BTC) nominal price. Traders should also analyze Bitcoin's derivatives indicators like the futures markets premium and options skew.

The basis rate is also frequently referred to as the futures premium and it measures the difference between longer-term futures contracts and the current spot market levels.

A 5% to 15% annualized premium is expected in healthy markets, which is a situation known as contango. This price difference is caused by sellers demanding more money to withhold settlement longer.

As depicted above, the current 9% annualized premium is neutral but shows an improvement over the previous couple of weeks. That indicates that traders are cautiously optimistic, leaving room for further long leverage when confidence is fully restored.

To exclude externalities specific to the futures instrument, one should also analyze options markets.

The 25% delta skew compares similar call (buy) and put (sell) options. The metric will turn positive when "fear" is prevalent as the protective put options premium is higher than similar risk call options.

The opposite holds when market makers are bullish, causing the 25% delta skew indicator to shift to the negative area. Readings between negative 8% and positive 8% are usually deemed neutral.

Notice how Bitcoin option traders entered the "fear" level on Sept. 25 as the $41,000 support was tested multiple times. Nevertheless, a drastic change has taken place since Sept. 30, and the indicator now sits at a neutral zone.

As the situation currently stands, both the futures' basis and options 25% skew show a typical "glass half full" scenario. Meaning that even though Bitcoin reached its highest level in 27 days and is above the $50,000 resistance, there's still room for buyers to strap on additional leverage before metrics flash signs of overextension or euphoria.

A $50,000 breakout with the current meager derivatives data would usually be interpreted as a weakness. However, considering that the total crypto capitalization is still in the same place as 30 days ago and the unmitigated regulatory concerns, there is no reason to worry. At the moment, neither the futures markets nor the options markets show any signs of bearishness.

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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Bitcoin price is back at $50K, but exactly how 'bullish' are the bulls? - Cointelegraph

What happened

Bitcoin(CRYPTO:BTC),Bitcoin Cash(CRYPTO:BCH), andShiba Inu(CRYPTO:SHIB) are up 9.00%, 8.10%, and 26.67% in the past 24 hours, respectively, as of 11:25 a.m. EDT. The three are now trading at $54,656.16, $622.61, and $0.00002301 apiece, respectively. Yesterday, U.S. Bank, the fifth-largest retail bank in the country with $8.6 trillion assets under management, announced it would offer cryptocurrency custody service to investment advisors and fund managers. They will be able to store their private keys (unique passcodes) to Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin to their wallets safely with U.S. Bank.

As for SHIB, investors were euphoric after Tesla's CEO, Elon Musk, tweeted a picture of his shiba inu dog on top of his Tesla car three days ago. Musk had previously promoted meme cryptocurrencies, and even though the tweet wasn't directly related to SHIB, there's the expectation that Musk will tweet about SHIB in the future. That was enough to send the coin up 220.90% in the past seven days.

Image source: Getty Images.

Institutional investors are rapidly piling in on the success of Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and other cryptos. For example, Silvergate Capital(NYSE:SI), a leading bank that facilitates fund transfers between cryptocurrency exchanges and financial entities (such as banks, venture capital firms, and hedge funds), processed a stunning $240 billion in transaction volume in Q2 alone. That's more than 10 times the volume of institutional crypto-fiat transfers it processed in Q2 of last year.

But the same can't be said for Shiba Inu. It's clear that investors are in it only to make a quick buck. Its fundamental value, as measured by total value locked (TVL) on its native Shibaswap decentralized exchange, amounts to just $291 million. Meanwhile, the token's market cap has surged to nearly $10 billion.

Since its inception, skeptics have said that Bitcoin and its peers are nothing more than fake internet money. But the result of all this fear and uncertainty is that cryptocurrencies are gaining traction in every part of the world, especially among developing nations. The volume of cryptocurrency transactions has surged 706% in Central and South Asia and Oceania in the past year. Their total value amounts to a staggering $572.5 billion, or 14% of global crypto transactions. So there's never been a better time to invest in this promising sector.

But if critics are right about one thing, it's that all this excessive speculation surrounding SHIB won't end well. Back in May, SHIB witnessed a similar pump and dump that sent its price down 80% in a matter of days after the spike. So now's a good time for those lucky investors to consolidate the gains and take profits.

This article represents the opinion of the writer, who may disagree with the official recommendation position of a Motley Fool premium advisory service. Were motley! Questioning an investing thesis -- even one of our own -- helps us all think critically about investing and make decisions that help us become smarter, happier, and richer.

Originally posted here:
Why Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Shiba Inu Are All Skyrocketing Today - The Motley Fool

I have kept you updated on Bitcoins (BTC) Elliott Wave Principle (EWP) waves regularly over the past many months. In my update from last week, I found, A break above $48788 is still needed to confirm the anticipated run to $90K+. That break happened on Monday, and as such, the preferred view remains BTC is now in a new bull run to new all-time highs, with an ideal target of $90K+

Figure 1. Bitcoin daily charts with detailed EWP count and technical indicators.

Last week I shared, if BTC can break back above the recent $45143 high, labeled as green wave-1 in Figure 1 above, it increases the odds the preferred (black) major wave-2 low has already been completed. Full confirmation will be achieved on a break back above the mid-September high at $48788 we have an excellent stair-step process in place to help assess if the run to $90K has begun.

I have shown those two steps in Figure 1 above, as well as the minor degree waves BTC should now be in (green) minor-3 of (red) intermediate-i. Albeit not shown, these waves are part of the more significant (black) major wave-3 of (blue) Primary-V of Cycle-3. Thus the current setup to ideally $90-120K will complete a Cycle wave-3, the same degree as the infamous 2017 top (Cycle-1).

As long as BTC can stay above the step-2 and -1 levels, it can move higher. Not shown here either are several simple moving averages (SMAs) and the Ichimoku Cloud, but I can tell you that BTCs price is well above all of them. When that happens, it signals a new uptrend is underway, the odds of good things to happen (higher prices) increase, and a Bullish EWP count should be preferred.

Bottom line: Last week, I said, Chinas latest crackdown will not affect BTCs long-term ascend as none of its prior ones has had any effect over the last 10+ years, and that thus the EWP runs supreme in explaining BTCs price action. Action speaks louder than words, and BTCs rally since then shows my interpretation of the EWP was right, which has helped my premium crypto trading members, and crypto trading alert members stay on the right side of the trade.

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However, last week I was cognization that Bitcoins price chart still had a bearish potential. Still, my preferred view remained, it has likely bottomed for a wave-2 after having, classically, retraced 50% of the wave-1 (June -> September) rally. The outlined step-1 and -2 breakouts above $45143 and $48788 happened in quick succession, tell[ing] me the current three waves down pattern has completed, which increases the odds of a new impulse higher tremendously. If BTC can hold above these two levels, I see no reason to become bearish because the technical chart setup is bullish. And when the charts are Bullish, I will wear my preferred Bull hat, i.e., carry a Bullish EWP-count, until proven otherwise

This article was originally posted on FX Empire

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Bitcoins Rally to $90K has Begun - Yahoo Finance

Bitcoin rose above $55,000 for the first time since May Wednesday, after the SEC chairman Gary Gensler said Tuesday that the U.S. had no intention to ban cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin BTCUSD, -1.73% has recorded a 9.3% gain over the past 24 hours, recently trading at $54,528. Ether ETHUSD, +1.33% is trading at $3,600, up 4.93% over the past 24 hours.

Cryptocurrencies have been getting a boost from key US institutions confirming they will not ban the use of cryptos after China has continuously clamped down on the digital currency space, Daniela Hathorn, analyst at market analytics company DailyFX wrote through email.

The rise looks healthier this time as momentum has built steadily from the $40,000 area without facing rejection before crossing $50,000, as it has done many times before, Hathorn wrote.

Bitcoin reached an all-time high at around $64,889 in April, according to CoinDesk data.

Matt Blom, global head of sales and trading at crypto exchange Eqonex, wrote in his Tuesday notes that bitcoin has shrugged off the impact of the most recent China ban, like all the bans before it.

On Tuesday, when asked by North Carolina Rep. Ted Budd whether the U.S. would implement similar crypto bans like China, Gensler told the Congress, I think our approach is really quite different.

Original post:
Bitcoin rallies above $55,000 for first time in five months - MarketWatch

The age of crypto is upon us and it isnt just in the resurgence of bitcoins price back above $50,000 after a protracted period of listlessness.

At last check, bitcoin BTCUSD, -1.73% was changing hands at above $54,000 on Thursday, scaling a wall of worry for digital assets after hitting a summer intraday low around $29,000 on June 22 undermined by fresh crackdowns in China.

However, prices have recovered and bitcoins market value is back at $1 trillion, making it the most highly valued crypto, according to CoinMarketCap.com. The worlds No. 2 crypto by market value, Ether ETHUSD, +1.33% on the Ethereum blockchain, meanwhile, was at nearly $3,600 on Thursday.

The moves over the past several months highlight the promise and peril of crypto, which is increasingly moving closer to the mainstream adoption but not without dramatic and sometimes seemingly nonsensical swings in the market. El Salvador became the worlds largest currency testing ground after adopting bitcoin as legal tender a month ago.

Twitter Inc. TWTR, +4.39% is offering bitcoin tipping, Visa V, +1.76% is dabbling in nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, and decentralized finance, or DeFi, looks set to battle traditional exchanges, or boil an ocean, as Galaxy Digitals GLXY, -2.58% Michael Novogratz once told MarketWatch.

Barrons and MarketWatch journalists will convene top specialists in crypto and other financial pros to make sense of it all and identify the opportunities and risks that lie ahead for investors.

Well continue to explore whether and how investors should think about digital tokens ina two-day eventto be held Oct. 27 and Nov. 4 starting at 1 p.m. Eastern Time. Sign up now.

Among a number of superstars in the field, subscribers will hear from MicroStrategy MSTR, +2.82% CEO and Chairman Michael Saylor, Commissioner Hester M. Peirce, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and Commissioner Dawn DeBerry Stump at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, as well as Sam Bankman-Fried. founder and CEO at exchange FTX.

The sessions will be moderated by reporters and editors from MarketWatch and Barrons, with the hope of helping readers navigate the rapidly evolving digital landscape.

Themes include: a market check up, an exploration into DeFi and how regulation is shaping and informing the crypto landscape.

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Where's crypto headed after bitcoin's recent rally? MarketWatch gathers pros to discuss the outlook. Sign up! - MarketWatch

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) spiked by more than 10% on Friday, joining cryptocurrencies in a broad relief rally as investors cheered constructive remarks from officials about the industry's regulation.

Battered by developments in China and a volatile environment for risk appetite, digital currencies had a rough September. However, signals this week from U.S. regulators also appear to have given sentiment a boost, sending Bitcoin to its biggest intraday rally since July.

Other cryptocurrencies like Ethereum (ETH-USD), Cardano (ADA-USD) and Dogecoin (DOGE-USD) followed suit, adding at least 6% on the day.

Traditionally, with Bitcoin, September is the weakest month, so yes, were finally out of September, CryptosRus Founder George Tung told Yahoo Finance.

"Also there's just a lot going on. Yesterday we had a $3 billion options expiry for Bitcoin," Tung explained. "That could have been holding Bitcoin back this final week but now we're in October and things are looking a whole lot better."

On Wednesday, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler reiterated his support for approving a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) for U.S. investors, even as the agency has been criticized for some of its efforts to oversee the crypto industry.

And Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell eased fears even more for U.S. crypto asset holders by telling Congress he had "no intention" of banning cryptocurrencies, including stablecoins. However, like Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, he does see a reason to regulate stablecoins.

With Wall Street indices under pressure, the leap in crypto prices suggested a de-coupling from stocks and other risk-sensitive assets. Last week, digital coins sank alongside stocks on news that Chinese real estate company, Evergrande could be headed for default, or a government bailout.

More uncertainty weighed on the market last Friday, when the Chinese government doubled down on its crypto mining crackdown by outlawing trading in all cryptocurrencies and related services.

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"Crypto is rallying today because of regulation," Matthew Hougan Chief Investment Officer of the crypto asset manager, Bitwise, told Yahoo Finance. "We should get used to that sentence because I think you are going to hear it a lot in the next year."

Hougan believes that Powell's clarification, in addition to reports that the Biden administration is looking to regulate stablecoins but not outright ban them, has "salved the market's worst fears about regulatory overreach."

Those fears, Hougan said, have been holding back what would otherwise be a very strong market. "Crypto has so many tailwinds right now: The growth of DeFi, exploding interest in NFTs, the rise of Web 3.0, the entry of institutional investors, surging venture capital investment," said Hougan.

Despite the crypto sector's rapid growth, both traditional U.S. based institutional investors as well as average Americans are still looking for safer opportunities to invest into cryptocurrencies.

Bakkt President Adam White told Yahoo Finance that for many institutional investors, betting on crypto involves "having exposure to assets like bitcoin." Financial offerings like regulated custody for crypto assets and futures allow institutions to ease into the sector in a way that feels familiar and safe, White added.

A Bitcoin ETF presents even greater access, mostly by deepening the links between cryptocurrencies and the U.S. financial sector.

It could also send BTC on another bullish leap. The benefits of a crypto sector fund are numerous, Gabor Gurbacs, VanEck's Director of Digital Asset Strategy, told Yahoo Finance.

"You basically get the benefits of the US capital markets that are currently not available for Bitcoin and other digital assets," said Gurbacs whose team has worked on launching ETFs for the last five years.

"With a crypto ETF, you get better price transparency, better holdings transparency, straightforward tax documents, more liquidity and protections for us," he added.

Currently, the SEC is reviewing dozens of Bitcoin ETF proposals. Many of their approvals have been pushed to the end of this year.

David Hollerith covers cryptocurrency for Yahoo Finance. Follow him @dshollers.

READ MORE:

For more information about cryptocurrency, check out:

Dogecoin, what is it? How to buy it

Ethereum: What is it and how do you invest in it?

The top 21 crypto leaders to watch in the back half of 2021

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Bitcoin retakes $47,000 in broad crypto rally as anxiety eases over regulation - Yahoo Finance

Mining machines

FEDERICO PARRA/ Getty Images

Crypto miner Riot Blockchain tripled its production of bitcoin in September, as demand for all things digital continued to flourish, and is building up a sizeable reserve of coins itself, according to a company press release earlier this week.

The company mined 406 bitcoin in September, marking a 346% increase compared with the same month a year ago. Year to date, the company has produced 2,457 bitcoin, a rise of 236% over the same period last year.

The company, which is publicly listed, said it now holds 3,534 bitcoin - worth around $190.7 million at the current price of roughly $55,000 - but did not say why it was storing them.

Michael Saylor, the CEO of data platform MicroStrategy, which has invested heavily in bitcoin, said the decision was significant in a tweet on Tuesday.

"In September, @RiotBlockchain mined 406 BTC, sold none of its production, and ended the month with 3,534 BTC on its balance sheet. Publicly traded Bitcoin miners aren't selling bitcoin, they are accumulating bitcoin. The game has changed," Saylor tweeted.

Crypto mining is the process where coins like bitcoin are extracted from their blockchains through solving complex mathematical problems that require intense computing power and high levels of energy.

Since the recent exodus of miners from China, which has been steadily clamping down on all aspects of crypto production and ownership, mining activity has increased elsewhere. Riot said it currently has a fleet of around 25,646 mining machines, and said it plans to increase this to more than 27,000 by November.

Continued here:
Riot Blockchain says it's tripled its bitcoin production in a year - Markets Insider

Bitcoin is down almost 3% on Thursday but generallythe cryptocurrency'sprices have been roaring.

The crypto's slip follows yesterdays 7.5% surge and comes on the heels of a strong run.

Bitcoin rallied for four days before Thursday and in seven of the past eight sessions.

Amid that run, it was up almost 35% coming into Thursday. The move comes as equities have largely been struggling.

Bitcoin helped give a boost to Ethereum, as well as Marathon Digital (MARA) - Get MARATHON DIGITAL HOLDINGS INC Reportand Microstrategy (MSTR) - Get MicroStrategy Incorporated Class A Report, and more recently, Square (SQ) - Get Square, Inc. Class A Report.

The question now is, how far can bitcoin rally and what levels does it need to hold?

Daily chart of Bitcoin.

Chart courtesy of TrendSpider.com

After topping out at $52,900 in September, bitcoin was hit with a quick ABC correction down to $39,579.

It did a good job, however,holding the $41,000 area, as it hammered out a bottom and rebounded.

That rebound is the current rally were seeing now, which sent Bitcoin back above $50,000 and to new multimonth highs.

Now, a pullback after Wednesdays 7.5% gain is actually pretty healthy price action.

From here, Id love to see bitcoin hold the September high as support, at $52,900.

That gives more credibility to the monthly-up rotation that began with Wednesdays action.

If this level is lost, Bitcoin still looks OK as long as it holds the 61.8% retracement and the $50,000 level.

Below $50,000 and the 10-day moving average is in play, along with $47,200.

On the upside, a move above this weeks high opens the door to the 78.6% retracement near $57,175. Above that could put $60,000 in play, followed by a push to the highs near $65,000.

Should bitcoin make that big of a push, it is bound to dip along the way. The key for bulls will be for the cryptocurrency to hold key levels and short-term trend measures.

If it can do this, we could see a strong fourth-quarter push.

But given the recent volatility, we also cant rule out a deeper pullback. For now, keep an eye on $52,900, then $50,000.

Read more:
Bitcoin Heading to Highs? Here's How to Trade It Now. - TheStreet

Fr Sonneveld on Unsplash

The popularity of Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies like Ethereum (ETH) and Dogecoin (DOGE) has exploded.

Celebrities like Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) are constantly tweeting about it. And institutional money has flooded in from the likes of Greyscale Bitcoin Trust (OTCMKTS: GBTC) and CitiBank (NYSE: C).

This increased popularity has driven adoption and, in so doing, created an arms race between large-scale Bitcoin mining companies like Marathon Digital Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: MARA), Riot Blockchain Inc. (NASDAQ: RIOT), and Mawson Infrastructure Group Inc. (NASDAQ: MIGI). These companies contribute huge amounts of computing power to the Bitcoin network and, in so doing, help secure it. They are essential to keeping the network running smoothly.

At the core of their business is power. Electrical power. Bitcoin mining employs specialized computers called application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) to process incredible numbers of computations per second. These computations allow the network to function. And these ASICs are very power-hungry.

For context, the Antminer S19, a popular ASIC, uses 3,250 watts of power. The machines run 24/7, 365. So 1 ASIC consumes 78 kilowatt-hours (kWhs) of energy in a day and 28,470 kWhs in a year. Thats almost as much energy as 3 average American households use in the same amount of time. And thats 1 machine. Most of these companies run tens of thousands of machines at once.

If one thing is true for these companies, it's that power is king. Access to cheap, abundant power is perhaps the single most important factor in a Bitcoin mining operations ability to thrive.

These companies know this and are competing to secure the most reliable and cheap energy they can find. This is not easy. As the companies grow their operations, access to power is often a bottleneck. It is the limiting factor.

Mawson has worked diligently to provide itself with room to grow. It builds its own facilities, chooses its sites carefully, and secures long-term leases. This means the company is in the drivers seat and not at the whim of a 3rd-party hosting company.

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The company currently has 2 U.S. facilities with a combined 200 megawatt (MW) capacity by Q1 2022, and significant opportunity to expand the size of these facilities over time. Mawson recently announced a new 100MW facility in Pennsylvania. It is building out these facilities and plans to secure another U.S. site and 2 Australian sites to grow to a 1,000 MW capacity by 2023. This 5 times increase will allow Mawson to deploy tens of thousands of additional miners and continue to grow that capacity without fear.

In the race to secure cheap, reliable (and sustainable) power, Mawson seems to have a leg up on the competition.

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Power Play: The Race to Secure Energy Access in Bitcoin Mining - Yahoo Finance