Friday, 26 February 2021

Bitcoin price ‘macro top’? Not so fast — data shows the real FOMO isn’t even here

Bitcoin (BTC) bears thinking that $58,000 was this cycle’s top will be sorely disappointed, fresh investment data from past bull markets shows.

Compiled by on-chain analytics resource Whalemap, statistics covering BTC buys of between $5 million and $7 million conclude that even at recent all-time highs, Bitcoin was far from a “macro top.”

“No FOMO in sight” for BTC

During the 2017 and shorter 2019 bull market, Bitcoin saw mass buy-ins of a similar size — $5-7 million. 

When investments of that amount hit a peak, price action began to reverse, signalling the start of consolidation or a heavier retracement. 

According to Whalemap, cash injections in that area have been far from their previous peaks this year, indicating that the current correction will likely be temporary and on par with BTC’s typical corrections during a bull run.

“Previous macro tops have occurred when thousands of transactions worth 5 to 7 million dollars each were flooding the blockchain. True FOMO,” researchers tweeted on Feb. 25.

“Currently, no such FOMO in sight for BTC.”

Bitcoin $5-7 million transaction volume vs. BTC/USD chart. Source: Whalemap/ Twitter

The expectation of further buy-ins supports existing data that came to light this week, notably from Coinbase Pro, which has seen multiple tranches of over 10,000 BTC leave its books for private or custody wallets.

The first negative premium on the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) since early 2017 may also point to the conclusion that the 2021 bull cycle still has a lot more room to run.

“Another significant Coinbase outflows at 48k. US institutional investors are still buying $BTC,” Ki Young Ju, CEO of fellow monitoring resource CryptoQuant, tweeted on Friday.

“I think the major reason for this drop is the jittering macro environment like the 10-year Treasury note, not whale deposits, miner selling, and lack of institutional demand.”

Liquidity grab?

The start of the turnaround maybe sooner than many think. In his latest analysis, pseudonymous cryptocurrency trader Rekt Capital eyed the 4-hour BTC/USD chart for proof of a turnaround.

“Pulls back but still holds the wick-to-wick Higher Low. Turn $46720 in to support (black) and BTC will move higher. Strong bullish divergences on the 4HR are appearing as well,” he commented alongside an annotated screenshot of the chart.

BTC/USD 4-hour candle chart. Source: Rekt Capital/ Twitter

Speaking to Cointelegraph, the Whalemap team noted that short-term the spent output profit ratio (SOPR) — which tracks overall market profit and loss — was indicating that a deeper sell-off is off the cards, at least for now.

“Hourly SOPR shows potential for at least a short term bounce,” they said.

BTC/USD SOPR chart. Source: Whalemap

Friday further sees a major expiry event on Bitcoin options, something which has dictated temporary downward pressure on BTC in the past. 

The day’s low of $44,150, some say, was merely an attempt to suck up liquidity before the next leg higher.

“Yes, market dumped after ‘mega-whales’ sold into the rally (as warned), but since then, they have been buying dips!” the creator of exchange orderbook data analysis service Material Indicators observed.

“With stonks uncertainty, I don’t know how many more dips there will be, but they’re being bought!”

That “uncertainty” is being exacerbated by concerning trends in bond yields, Cointelegraph reported this week, with behavior seen as similar to before the Global Financial Crisis of 2008.


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source https://cryptonews.wealthsharingsystems.com/2021/02/bitcoin-price-macro-top-not-so-fast-data-shows-the-real-fomo-isnt-even-here/

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Why is Bitcoin $86K in Nigeria? Here’s why the BTC premium is huge in some countries

Since the start of 2021, the price of Bitcoin (BTC) has been chasing new highs on a weekly and daily basis. On Feb. 21, BTC reached a new all-time high of $58,300. However, an interesting phenomenon is that even with many global cryptocurrency exchanges in existence, BTC’s price can still vary greatly depending on geography.

This raises an intriguing question: How can Bitcoin simultaneously trade at $53,047 in Malaysia, $49,727 in Singapore, $51,133 in India and over $86,000 in Nigeria? Is the reason simply a temporary imbalance between buyers and sellers, taxes, or regulations? Or is there something else at play?

As shown in the chart below, there really isn’t a set price for BTC, as nearly every country has its own digital asset valuation.

Bitcoin price premiums. Source: BitcoinPriceMap.com

At any given time, cryptocurrency prices will differ between countries, even after adjusting the currency rate. Indeed, some additional buying or selling pressure could create discrepancies, but that should not be continuous and steady.

What’s causing the huge BTC price discrepancies?

This phenomenon isn’t something new or exclusive to cryptocurrencies, however. Exxon Mobil stocks, for example, are traded in United States, Russian, Argentine, German, Mexican and Swizz markets.

While there may be different reasons for the friction, including bureaucracy and nation-specific laws, they’re basically the same asset. Nevertheless, their prices usually differ after adjusting for currency exchange rates.

Unlike stocks, however, transferring cryptocurrencies usually takes less than an hour, and it doesn’t depend on custodians and depositary receipt administrators. Therefore, bureaucracy can not be the reason for the big price differences for Bitcoin, which is borderless.

On the other hand, suppose one just bought BTC in the U.S. or Europe and is willing to sell it in Argentina to profit from the 6.5% difference. Even if there were no trading fees involved, the result would be the local currency, the Argentine peso.

Things get more complicated though, as one will need to convert this fiat money back to dollars or euros. There might be domestic restrictions, taxes or, even worse, a different currency rate for foreigners. Moreover, traditional currency remittances don’t take place on weekends and usually take one or two business days.

2020 index of economic freedom. Source: heritage.org

Not surprisingly, the countries with the highest BTC valuations consistently score low on investment and financial freedom global rankings. Barriers and taxes created by strict government controls translate into additional risks and costs for the fiat conversion and remittance. This all contributes to the premium seen versus the remaining countries.

Government action might create extreme situations

Extreme capital control situations such as the Central Bank of Nigeria recently shutting down all cryptocurrency-related bank accounts could be behind the current 70% premium versus global BTC markets. But Nigeria likely has the highest premium in the world because the country, in particular, is also the leader when it comes to Bitcoin adoption, based on the latest data. 

Eventually, arbitrage traders will find a solution to bypass sanctions, and the price gap should tighten. But right now, there is no effective way to “profit” from the arbitrage.

For those wondering what would cause Bitcoin to trade below most liquid markets such as the U.S., there is no definitive answer. It is most likely some regulatory hurdle for depositing fiat money on local exchanges, thus creating an imbalance favoring the sell-side.

The negative premium is less common, however, and stablecoins could be used to mitigate this effect. Meanwhile, when a hefty premium is seen in local fiat currency, it does not justify a similar price gap for dollar-denominated stablecoin trading.

Thus, such differences in pricing across various countries represent the risks, red tape, taxes and inefficiencies of converting fiat between currencies and sending fiat money across borders.

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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source https://cryptonews.wealthsharingsystems.com/2021/02/why-is-bitcoin-86k-in-nigeria-heres-why-the-btc-premium-is-huge-in-some-countries/

7th Consecutive Record for Pennsylvania Online Gambling



It took a while to get going, but now it seems there’s no stopping Pennsylvania online gambling. The state set a record for revenue in December with over $70 million, which was a jump of nearly 500% from  January of 2020.

Collectively, the online betting market in Pennsylvania was over $80 million… and that is not counting sports betting. Web based casino games such as slots and table games had the largest growth, while poker revenue remained steady.

A major trend in Pennsylvania is that table games are outpacing the growth of slot machines. Betting activity for the table games has exceeded slots since last November, and monthly revenue has been better for table games since at least July.

Land-based casinos still make up the majority of income for the state, however. Total gaming growth for the year did offset losses associated with the pandemic… but not by much. Revenue for 2020 ended the year with a modest 2.7% growth overall.

To read more about Pennsylvania online gambling, including figures provided by the Gaming Control Board, visit Online Poker Report.


Tagged Pennsylvania online gambling

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source https://cryptonews.wealthsharingsystems.com/2021/02/7th-consecutive-record-for-pennsylvania-online-gambling/

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Bitcoin price nears $44K as large Coinbase outflows fail to stop the sell-off

Bitcoin (BTC) hit fresh local lows on Feb. 26 despite what appear to be ongoing largescal institutional buy-ins.

New lows despite bullish signs

Data from Cointelegraph Markets and TradingView showed BTC/USD $44,150 during Friday trading — last seen two weeks ago — after a rebound to $50,000 fizzled overnight.

Bitcoin had seen good news in the form of asset manager Stone Ridge planning to become the first Bitcoin mutual fund, along with major corporate purchases from MicroStrategy and Square. These, however, failed to stem the bearish mood, with 24-hour losses standing at near 10% at the time of writing.

“Everyone wants 42k, so we probably just go up now or drop to 38k on a savage wick. Crowd rarely gets what it wants,” popular trader Scott Melker summarized on Twitter.

Cointelegraph Markets analyst Michaƫl van de Poppe had prevously forecast ultimate support lying at around $38,000 should Bitcoin not find buying volume at higher levels.

“Bitcoin doesn’t look too great for a bull continuation coming period,” he said on Thursday.

“Still, retest at $54,000-55,000 could happen, but I’m cautious when we get there. If we lose $47,000, then I’m looking at $42,000-44,000 and $37,000-38,500 next. That should be the low.”

BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart. Source: Tradingview

Institutions are still buying: data

Data from the professional trading arm of U.S. exchange Coinbase meanwhile showed another major tranch of BTC leaving its books for a private or custody wallet — something which traditionally suggests institutional buying.

The latest spike of 12,100 BTC is the second this week, such large volumes themselves being a rarity, a fresh chart from on-chain monitoring resource CryptoQuant confirms.

Coinbase Pro outflow annotated chart. Source: Lex Moskovski/ CryptoQuant

The so-called “Coinbase premium,” the difference in price between Coinbase and Binance, flipped to negative for several brief moments as Bitcoin dropped to nearly $44,200. 

Coinbase premium vs. BTC/USD chart. Source: CryptoQuant/ Tradingview

As Cointelegraph reported citing CryptoQuant, whales appear to favor buying at current price levels, with the result that a dip much below $44,000 would be “unlikely,” according to CEO Ki Young Ju.

On Thursday, Ki described the last Coinbase Pro spike, which occurred at $48,000, as “the strongest bullish signal” he had yet seen in Bitcoin.


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source https://cryptonews.wealthsharingsystems.com/2021/02/bitcoin-price-nears-44k-as-large-coinbase-outflows-fail-to-stop-the-sell-off/

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...