Tuesday, 1 December 2020

Bitcoin Points to Fresh Record Highs after Powell Testimony; Here’s Why

Bitcoin dropped on Tuesday, with its bull run foreshadowed briefly by short-term profit seekers.

The benchmark cryptocurrency plunged almost 1.5 percent to $19,385 ahead of the New York opening bell, suggesting that traders secured their gains at local tops.

The modest sell-off sentiment surfaced after Bitcoin established a new record high of $19,873. It also occurred as futures tied to the BTC/USD exchange rate surged above $20,000 but fell to as low as $19,000 just ten minutes later.

The traders favoring a bullish outcome, nevertheless, outnumbered those with a bearish bias. They caught up the price right before it was about to break below the $19,000-mark, showing a higher risk-appetite for the cryptocurrency amid a favorable macroeconomic outlook.

Bitcoin, cryptocurrency, BTCUSD, BTCUSDT
Bitcoin targets a close above $20,000 heading into the Tuesday New York session. Source: BTCUSD on TradingView.com
Bitcoin targets a close above $20,000 heading into the Tuesday New York session. Source: BTCUSD on TradingView.com

Heading into the Tuesday session, Bitcoin’s short-term outlook looked tilted towards bulls. It is because of a critical event on the economic calendar. The Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell will appear before the Senate Banking Committee to provide his testimony on the “Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act.”

More Relief

In his prepared remarks, Mr. Powell has stressed the need to have unprecedented lending programs in place, a breakaway view from US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who ordered to end the facilities on or before December 31.

The Fed programs in the spotlight helped it purchase corporate bonds, assisted medium and small-scale businesses during the pandemic, and channeled money to local and state governments. With the coronavirus cases still surging in the US, Mr. Powell noted that they would require them further.

“These programs serve as a backstop to key credit markets and have helped restore the flow of credit from private lenders through normal channels,” he said. “We have deployed these lending powers to an unprecedented extent.”

The US dollar index fell below long-term support levels after Mr. Powell prepared remarks made to the wire. Its downside move appeared as investors remained hopeful about extra monetary stimulus in the short-term, coupled with hopes of developing a working coronavirus vaccine that may accelerate the US economy’s recovery.

Good for Bitcoin

Bitcoin, which behaves as a safety net against a depreciating US dollar, therefore eyed to extend its gains after Mr. Powell’s testimony. Traders also stayed long on the cryptocurrency as more and more institutional investors started speaking in favor of holding it in a traditional investment portfolio.


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source https://cryptonews.wealthsharingsystems.com/2020/12/bitcoin-points-to-fresh-record-highs-after-powell-testimony-heres-why/

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Bitcoin price hits new all-time high as crypto market matures

Bitcoin (BTC) price has officially reached a new all-time high on Dec. 1 above $19,892 after nearly three years, according to data from Coinbase and Tradingview.

BTC/USD weekly chart (Coinbase). Source: Tradingview.com

Despite the Thanksgiving crash last week, BTC price has managed to rebound throughout the weekend. BTC then easily passed the $19,000 mark on Monday to reach its all-time high, albeit on a couple of exchanges.

There are three key trends that fueled BTC’s rise from sub-$3,600 in March to over $19,892. These include the rise in institutional demand, lower selling pressure, and the resilience of BTC throughout 2020.

Data suggests institutional demand propelled the rally

Most on-chain data points show that the demand for Bitcoin from institutions has been rapidly increasing.

In November, Grayscale recorded all-time high net inflows, and the CME Bitcoin futures market saw its open interest climb near $1 billion.

Grayscale, in particular, said that more institutions invested in cryptocurrencies during the third quarter of 2020 than ever before.

The figures Grayscale sees are important to gauge the institutional interest in Bitcoin because the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust is typically the first point of entry for most institutions to gain exposure to BTC.

In the United States, there is no exchange-traded fund (ETF) for Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies. Hence, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust is the closest investment vehicle to an ETF in the U.S. market. The Grayscale report read:

“More institutions invested in 3Q20 than ever before and have increased their average allocation from $2.2 million in 3Q19 to $2.9 million in 3Q20. Institutions that are comfortable with multiple products within the Grayscale suite of products, have averaged nearly double the commitments of single-product investors during 3Q20.”

As Cointelegraph reported in August, MicroStrategy purchased $450 million worth of BTC, adopting Bitcoin as its primary treasury asset. This was likely the spark that triggered the current wave of institutional demand for the digital store of value.

This was accompanied throughout the summer by high-profile allocations to Bitcoin from the likes of Square, Paul Tudor Jones, and later Stanley Druckenmiller, which only further fueled the positive market sentiment.

In November, Druckenmiller explained that Bitcoin is likely here to stay as it has significantly outperformed gold in 2020, saying:

“It’s been around for 13 years and with each passing day it picks up more of its stabilization as a brand.”

Low whale inflows

Six months after the halving, November also saw low selling pressure from whales according to on-chain data. In other words, the amount of Bitcoin being sent to exchanges from high-net-worth investors have been consistently decreasing throughout the month.

Bitcoin Exchange Whale Ratio. Source: CryptoQuant

CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju pinpointed the Exchange Whale Ratio as an indicator for long-term bullish market sentiment. He said:

“Dear $BTC shorters, You can call me a moon boy, but unfortunately, there won’t be a mass-dumping like March this year. Exchange Whale Ratio(90-day MA) is still very low. Long-term bullish is inevitable.”

The low selling pressure on BTC helped sustain its rally throughout the month, eventually allowing the dominant cryptocurrency to reach a record high.

Bitcoin’s resilience has been a big factor

On June 13, JPMorgan said in a note that Bitcoin’s recovery from the March crash showed it had staying power. The recognition of Bitcoin’s resilience by the largest investment bank in the U.S. likely acted as a major confidence boost, especially for institutional investors.

Ultimately, the impressive performance over the past decade and Bitcoin’s strong momentum since dropping below $3,600 across major exchanges in March demonstrated BTC’s resilience and long-term potential as a digital store of value. 


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source https://cryptonews.wealthsharingsystems.com/2020/12/bitcoin-price-hits-new-all-time-high-as-crypto-market-matures/

Analysts Eye Ethereum Move to $800 as ETH2 Upgrade Nears

Ethereum is exploding higher as Bitcoin has pushed to new year-to-date highs just shy of $20,000. The price of the leading cryptocurrency currently is $615, slightly below the year-to-date highs but far above where it was just a week ago.

Bitcoin and Ethereum’s latest surge higher comes seemingly as a result of institutional buying pressure. Along with many public fund managers on Wall Street announcing their support for cryptocurrencies, analysts have noted a spot bid pushing the market higher.

Analysts are optimistic that Ethereum, especially will soon move higher as a result of positive fundamental trends. Bitcoin continuing to rally could give ETH further fuel to move higher as well.

Related Reading: Here’s Why Ethereum’s DeFi Market May Be Near A Bottom

$800 Is Next for Ethereum? 

An analyst recently shared the chart seen below, noting that Ethereum could move to $800 as it manages to move above key technical levels.

The chart shows that ETH reclaimed the key $420 level as support during the correction in October. Ethereum confirming this level as support should confirm a move toward $800, the analyst suggests.

Image

Chart of ETH's price action over the past few years with an analysis by crpyto trader Inmortal Technique (@Inmortalcrypto on Twitter).
Source: ETHUSD from TradingView.com
Related Reading: Tyler Winklevoss: A “Tsunami” of Capital Is Coming For Bitcoin

Bitcoin is Bullish Too

Bitcoin is expected to move higher in the medium to long run as well, boosting Ethereum’s probability of moving seriously higher.

Jim Cramer, the prominent ex-hedge fund manager and CNBC host, recently commented that he thinks Bitcoin as a long-term investment makes sense now:

“I just need something that my kids will understand … and they will never understand gold and the reason why they’ll never understand gold is they think gold’s dangerous. It’s dangerous because it can be stolen. It’s dangerous because they don’t want to take it out of the bank. My kids, when they get my inheritance, won’t feel comfortable with gold and will feel comfortable with crypto.”

Commenting on Bitcoin recently, Raoul Pal, CEO of Real Vision, revealed that he has deployed basically all of his liquid net worth in the leading cryptocurrency:

“Ok, last bomb – I have a sell order in tomorrow to sell all my gold and to scale in to buy BTC and ETH (80/20). I dont own anything else (except some bond calls and some $’s). 98% of my liquid net worth. See, you can’t categorize me except #irresponsiblylong Good night all.”

Analysts are optimistic that further strength in the Bitcoin price could lead to a bullish bid for altcoins.

Related Reading: 3 Bitcoin On-Chain Trends Show a Macro Bull Market Is Brewing
Featured Image from Shutterstock
Price tags: ethusd, ethbtc
Charts from TradingView.com
Analysts Eye Ethereum Move to $800 as ETH2 Soon to Arrive


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Ripple (XRP) Signaling Sharp Increase To $0.72 In Near-Term

Ripple started a fresh increase above the $0.6000 resistance level against the US Dollar, similar to bitcoin and ETH. XRP price is likely to continue higher towards $0.7000 and $0.7200.

  • Ripple started a fresh increase above the $0.5800 and $0.6000 resistance levels against the US dollar.
  • The price is now trading well above $0.6250 and the 100 simple moving average (4-hours).
  • There was a break above a major contracting triangle with resistance at $0.6200 on the 4-hours chart of the XRP/USD pair (data source from Kraken).
  • The pair is showing positive signs and it might continue to rise towards $0.7000 or even $0.7200.

Ripple’s XRP Price Could Rally Again

After a sharp downside correction, ripple’s XRP price found support near $0.4500 level. The price started a fresh increase and recovered above the $0.5000 and $0.5200 resistance levels.

Bitcoin and Ethereum gained pace in the last 2-3 days, resulting in an upside break in XRP above $0.5800. The price even climbed above the $0.6000 resistance level. The bulls pushed the price above the 50% Fib retracement level of the downside correction from the $0.7887 high to $0.4504 swing low.

There was also a break above a major contracting triangle with resistance at $0.6200 on the 4-hours chart of the XRP/USD pair. The pair is now trading well above $0.6250 and the 100 simple moving average (4-hours).

Ripple’s XRP Price

Source: XRPUSD on TradingView.com

It seems like the price is struggling to gain momentum above the $0.6600 level or the 61.8% Fib retracement level of the downside correction from the $0.7887 high to $0.4504 swing low. A clear break above the $0.6600 and $0.6650 levels might call for a move towards the $0.7000 resistance. The next key resistance sits at $0.7200, where the bulls might take a stand.

Downsides Limited in XRP?

If ripple fails to surpass the $0.6600 resistance, there could be a downside correction. An initial support on the downside is near the $0.6200 level.

The first major support is now forming near the $0.6000 level. Any more losses could lead the price towards the $0.5500 support level in the coming sessions. An intermediate support is near the $0.5850.

Technical Indicators

4-Hours MACD – The MACD for XRP/USD is losing pace in the bullish zone.

4-Hours RSI (Relative Strength Index) – The RSI for XRP/USD is currently above the 60 level.

Major Support Levels – $0.6200, $0.6000 and $0.5500.

Major Resistance Levels – $0.6600, $0.6800 and $0.7000.

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source https://cryptonews.wealthsharingsystems.com/2020/12/ripple-xrp-signaling-sharp-increase-to-0-72-in-near-term/

Bubble or a drop in the ocean? Putting Bitcoin’s $1 trillion milestone into perspective

On Feb. 19, Bitcoin’s (BTC) market capitalization surpassed $1 trillion for the first time. While this was an exciting moment for investors...