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Italy’s Economic Pain Is the Bitcoin Price’s Gain

Italy's Economic Pain Is the Bitcoin Price's Gain

Italy’s Economic Pain Is the Bitcoin Price’s Gain

 

Perhaps it took an economic crisis of another kind to lift the cryptocurrency markets. Italy’s economy is reeling amid a political crisis that has placed a spotlight on the cracks in the EU’s economic foundation.
 

Bitcoin Price Trends up as Italy’s Economy Falters

Italian bonds are going bust, and the negativity has spilled over into stocks as well. But as the global financial markets are reeling, bitcoin is finally beginning to see the light of day again, and it could just have something to do with the fact that a potential threat to the euro highlights the benefits of a decentralized currency like bitcoin.

 

The bitcoin price is currently trading above the $7,400 threshold after falling to a May low earlier in the day.

Reason to Rally

The cryptocurrency markets have been searching for a reason to rally, and many of us have been looking to the centralized governments of the world to provide that catalyst.
 

Meanwhile, the mechanics of the cryptocurrency markets are working just fine, and have pulled off a rally — albeit on modest trading volume — on a development that highlights the very strengths of a decentralized world. Bitcoin and its altcoin peers have proven once again the power of a digital currency that is not controlled by the central bank but instead the masses.
 

The crisis in Italy has placed a great deal of pressure on the euro, sending Europe’s common currency to its lowest levels against the USD in months. Italian bonds have similarly sold off amid the possibility of Europe’s third-largest economy staging a Brexit of its own. A decentralized currency like bitcoin becomes even more attractive when the common currency of Europe becomes unstable.
 

Fundstrat’s Thomas Lee cheered the crypto market’s response, telling Business Insider:
 

“To an extent, I think its good to see Bitcoin rallying with Gold, as the adverse developments in Italy and globally are pushing investors to risk-off. It’s good to see Bitcoin as an uncorrelated trade on a risk off day.”

 

Take the Latin American economy of Venezuela as an example. While the economic conditions in Venezuela are specific to the region, comprised of hyperinflation, food crisis and a broke government, the end result is a currency whose value has been destroyed. As a result, Venezuela’s currency was being exchanged for bitcoin at a record pace in mid-April, when more than $1 million in “bolivar-to-bitcoin” conversions occurred in a single day.
 

Italy’s fate in the EU has yet to unfold, and a snap election appears to be taking shape for the coming months there. In the meantime, it’s not just bitcoin that’s benefitting. Other leading digital currencies including ethereum, ripple, bitcoin cash and litecoin were all trading between 2%-4% higher while cardano soared nearly 10%.
 

AUTHOR Gerelyn Terzo CNN

Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member

A New Twist On Lightning Tech Could Be Coming Soon to Bitcoin

A New Twist On Lightning Tech Could Be Coming Soon to Bitcoin

Bitcoin's lightning network may be just starting to send transactions over the blockchain, but already its developers are looking to rearchitect the technology.
 

That's because, while touted as a way to significantly boost bitcoin's capacity, the network itself does require users to store a significant amount of data, which makes it difficult to download and run. As such, several lightning developers – Lightning Labs co-founder 'Laolu' Osuntokun and Blockstream's Christian Decker and Rusty Russell – have published a new proposal which imagines an alternative, "simplified" way of making off-chain transactions called eltoo.
 

But the new proposal isn't only about condensing the amount of data users need to store, it's also about keeping users' cryptocurrency safe.

 

For instance, all this data poses another problem in that if users accidentally broadcast older data, they might lose money. As such, this data has been coined "toxic information."
 

Eltoo, on the other hand, only stores the most recent off-chain transaction data, solving the well-known "information asymmetry" problem – that is if something happens to the device you're running your lightning app on – say your smartphone – you might lose access to the whole history of data.
 

"With eltoo, we reduce the risk of funds being swept away. We remove this toxic information," said Decker, who noted that the proposal's name is a joke of sorts – the phonetic spelling of "L2," which stands for layer-two, what many people call technology like lightning that pushes transactions off-chain.
 

And this is something Decker is very interested in since he's experienced the problem personally.
 

"This actually happened to me," he said, adding:
 

"I had an old lightning node on my laptop. I restored it. I didn't know I didn't have the newest state. The guy closed the connection because they knew it was an old state! Because he could steal it. Which he did, by the way."
 

All about revoking

Developers have long been trying to come up with a way for users to make a bunch of transactions using bitcoin, without bloating the blockchain with unnecessary data.
 

That's really what most of the scaling debates are all about.

 

But the first attempt to do this was way at the beginning of bitcoin's history when off-chain transaction capabilities were experimented with using so-called "sequence numbers" to keep track of which off-chain transaction is the most recent.
 

The idea was simple – if Alice has $10 and sends a $1 transaction to Bob, obviously her balance dwindles to $9.00. This then gets a sequence number "1." If later, she sends Bob $4, her balance is now $5, and this most recent transaction gets a sequence number "2."
 

But according to Decker, the mechanism "didn't work out," because miners didn't have any reason to enforce the rules and replace old transactions with the more recent ones.
 

Miners could just broadcast the one transaction where Alice's balance drops to $9 (even though she had made another transaction that dropped her balance to $5). While it's unclear why a miner might want or decide to not revoke a transaction for another one, they could decide to do so since there was no enforceability.
 

In this way, revoking old transactions in crucial otherwise Bob might not get the second transaction and Alice could run away with the money.
 

This "lack of enforceability" is a problem that wasn't solved until 2015.

 

And the lightning network is the best-known solution to this problem so far. Today, revoking old state is accomplished with the "L2-penalty" model – whereby a lightning wallet or node stores all of these intermediary states, then, if someone tries to broadcast an earlier, now-invalid state, this is detected and the cheating user is punished by losing money.

 

Eltoo and L2

But, three years on, the researchers are, in fact, going back to the idea of using sequence numbers to revoke old transactions.
 

Unlike bitcoin's old code, which didn't have an enforcement mechanism for these sequences, eltoo adds a procedure that makes every state update prescribed. Every state update – Alice sending Bob money, for instance – is composed of two transactions, each of which both parties store and which totally replace the prior update transaction.
 

"Only the last settlement transaction can ever be confirmed on the blockchain," the introductory blog post explains.
 

The tangential advantage of this system is that it increases lightning's scalability. With eltoo, each lightning node doesn't need to store all the intermediary states, rather, it stores only the most recent version and some information about the transaction itself, such as it's corresponding settlement transaction and potentially the HTLCs that spend from that settlement, the post notes.

What's perhaps the most beneficial part of the proposal, though, is that it isn't built on a "winner takes all" model.
 

Instead, eltoo and older L2 penalty schemes can be used side-by-side.

 

"Eltoo has quite different tradeoffs. I'm not implying it's better in all senses," Decker told CoinDesk, pointing to some arguments on the bitcoin developer mailing list about the technology increasing waiting times for transactions to be settled.
 

Still, overall, he's pretty excited about eltoo and the simplicity it brings, adding:

 

"We don't know which one is nicer, but I would like eltoo as the better option. I think eltoo is easier to explain and to extend later on."

 

Code obstacle

Not only are developers still discussing the proposal's merits, but there's another thing standing in the technology's way – "sighash_noinput."

 

This long-anticipated code option needs to be added to the bitcoin codebase for the cryptocurrency to be able to support eltoo (at least in an efficient form).
 

To understand why, it's important to know what the basic sighash function does. It works as a flag of sorts that specifies what part of the transaction data needs to be signed when it's transferred over to someone else. Users can choose from a range of options – for instance, the default flag, sighash_all, indicates that all parts of the transaction need to be signed, meaning that none of these parts can be changed throughout the process.
 

The proposed "sighash_noinput" function could flag that the "input" data going into a transaction doesn't need to be signed. And in turn, that the input data can change over time, from when the transaction was created to when it's written to the blockchain.
 

And this is exactly what eltoo needs, since the concept is that all the state in between the beginning and final transaction will be deleted, meaning the input will be different from the start and the end.
 

When asked whether he thinks the sighash_noinput proposal will get merged into the bitcoin codebase, Decker laughed and said, "Ever since SegWit, I stopped making these predictions."
 

He's pointing to the fact that Segregated Witness (SegWit) had broad support from the bulk of bitcoin's most active developers, but ended up stirring up a years-long battle within the community. The code change was only added to bitcoin last August, even though it was proposed more than two years prior.
 

Still, even though it's early, the sighash_noinput function is a relatively easy change to make to bitcoin's codebase, Decker said.
 

Plus, it's been theorized for some time that the change would have many positive implications for developers, he continued. Because of these potential benefits, a handful of Twitter users have begun adding the code change to their profiles to express their support, much like Twitter users did during the scaling debate (with #No2X becoming popular among those who were opposed to the Segwit2x initiative).
 

Remaining hopeful, Decker concluded:
 

"Every day new use cases join the sighash_noinput front."

 

 

Author Alyssa Hertig May 29, 2018 at 04:00 UTC

Posted by David Ogden Entrepreneur

Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member

Bitcoin (BTC) Price Analysis – Reversal Candlestick At Make-Or-Break Level

Bitcoin (BTC) Price Analysis - Reversal Candlestick At Make-Or-Break Level

Bitcoin (BTC) Price Analysis – Reversal Candlestick At Make-Or-Break Level

 

Bitcoin is down to the last line of defense for bulls but a reversal candlestick is forming.

BITCOIN PRICE ANALYSIS

Bitcoin is consolidating inside a symmetrical triangle on its daily time frame and is currently testing support. This could be the last line of defense for buyers, as a break below support could signal that a longer-term selloff is underway.

 

However, a reversal candlestick or a doji appears to have formed right on support, and it would need the next candle to close above the high to confirm the possible bounce. If so, bitcoin could still climb up to the top of the triangle around $8,750-9,000.

 

The 100 SMA is below the longer-term 200 SMA, though, so the path of least resistance is to the downside. In other words, the selloff is more likely to persist than to reverse. The gap between the moving averages is also widening to reflect stronger selling pressure.

 

Meanwhile, RSI is already hovering around oversold levels to reflect exhaustion among sellers. Similarly, stochastic has reached the oversold region to signal that the drop may be over. Turning higher could draw buyers back in and allow bitcoin to pull up from its drop.

 

 

There are still no positive developments being reported from the industry so far, which might keep bitcoin exposed to risk flows throughout the week. In the previous week, geopolitical risk has led to some demand for the safe-haven dollar even as the FOMC minutes signaled a slower pace of rate hikes later on.

Up ahead, the NFP report could be the main catalyst for the dollar, although market watchers will likely keep close tabs on US-China and US-North Korea talks. Further tensions could keep the lower-yielding dollar supported versus bitcoin.

Another factor that’s limiting bitcoin gains is the selling of Mt. Gox coins to pay off its creditors. This exchange held thousands of bitcoin, so it’s understandable that the liquidation of massive amounts has affected the market.

 

By Rachel Lee On May 28, 2018

 

Posted by David Ogden Entrepreneur

Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member

Bitcoin (BTC) Price Watch – Can It Finally Bounce?

Bitcoin (BTC) Price Watch - Can It Finally Bounce

Bitcoin (BTC) Price Watch – Can It Finally Bounce?

 

Bitcoin Price Key Highlights

 

  • Bitcoin price is still inside its symmetrical triangle formation and is currently testing support.
  • A bounce could take it back up to the resistance around $9,000 while a break lower could lead to a test of the next support at $6,500.
  • Technical indicators are showing mixed signals, so the move could mostly depend on market catalysts.

Bitcoin price has sold off to the very bottom of its symmetrical triangle formation, still pending a bounce or a break.

Technical Indicators Signals

 

The 100 SMA is below the longer-term 200 SMA so the path of least resistance is still to the downside. This suggests that a breakdown is more likely to happen than a bounce.

The gap between the moving averages is also widening to show accelerating bearish momentum. Also, price is below the 100 SMA dynamic inflection point to reflect continued selling pressure.

RSI is heading south to show that sellers have the upper hand, but the oscillator is already dipping into oversold territory to signal exhaustion. Turning higher could draw buyers back in and lead to a bounce back to the resistance. Similarly, stochastic is indicating oversold conditions but has yet to turn higher to signal a return in bullish pressure.

 

Market Factors

Regulatory fears are being blamed for the recent leg lower in bitcoin price, although this could prove positive for the industry in the longer run. The US Department of Justice is reportedly conducting a criminal probe into price manipulation practices involving cryptocurrencies.

It’s worth noting that the dollar has been on weaker footing following the FOMC minutes release and the recent announcements related to North Korea. Trump has cancelled his meeting with Kim Jong-Un for next month, reviving geopolitical tensions but weighing on the US currency. However, bitcoin price has been unable to take advantage of this as it also seems to have been dragged lower by risk sentiment.

 

Author SARAH JENN | MAY 25, 2018 | 4:28 AM

 

Posted by David Ogden Entrepreneur

Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member

Bitcoin and Ethereum Price Forecast – BTC Prices Crash Through Support

Bitcoin and Ethereum Price Forecast – BTC Prices Crash Through Support

Bitcoin and Ethereum Price Forecast – BTC Prices Crash Through Support

The BTC prices have fallen hard over the last few hours and the prices now trade below the $7500 region as of this writing. We had mentioned yesterday that the support region around $7800 was under severe pressure and if and when there is a break through this region, we should see the bears back in control and that’s what we are seeing now. There are no specific reasons for the fall in prices, as the BTC prices lack fundamentals but we could say that the general risk off sentiment that is seen in the markets could also be one of the reasons.

Prices Below $7800

The lack of fundamentals is also telling and the lack of momentum from the bulls could also be attributed to this fall. The prices have been trading near the support region for far too long and the investors and the traders, who are weak holders, have got tired of this loss of momentum and they were looking for the first opportunity to exit the market and once they saw that the prices began to fall slightly, they have taken the opportunity to sell off and push the prices even lower. Now, we are probably looking even further below for support which could once again come in the $6600 region but if and when the prices get there, we could be seeing some serious panic in the markets.

 

The ETH prices have also crashed lower and the prices are now trading below the $600 region as of this writing. Just as how the move higher in the prices was strong, we are seeing the move lower also being quite strong and this has led the markets to be under a lot of pressure of late. We believe that the market is likely to find some support in the $580 region but we have to see whether that would be enough to hold off the selling that we are seeing.

 

Forecast

Looking ahead to the rest of the day, we could see the selling continue for the short term though some decent supports are nearby in both the BTC and ETH markets. We would wait to see a turnaround in the risk sentiment and if and when that happens, we could see the prices move up higher.

 

Author Colin First

 

Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member

Brian Kelly – Bitcoin Cash Could Go Up Following More Use Cases

Brian Kelly -  Bitcoin Cash Could Go Up Following More Use Cases

Brian Kelly – Bitcoin Cash Could Go Up Following More Use Cases

 

Brian Kelly, the founder and CEO of BKCM LLC, an investment company focused on cryptocurrencies, came out bullish on Bitcoin Cash (BCH) on CNBC May 21.

On Saturday, BCH miners reportedly had a meeting dedicated to funding for a BCH development fund. Miners are looking to allocate some part of the reward they receive from mining and invest it to expand the BCH ecosystem, Kelly explained. The fund development could aid the rise of the cryptocurrency’s value. He continued:

"That's how blockchains gain value. You're going to be getting more use cases to the extent that usefulness translates into value. That could be a positive for bitcoin cash."

After the price surge to $1600 on May 5, BCH subsequently declined to the 50-day SMA and formed a head and shoulders pattern, which has a target objective of $650. Over the last 24 hours, BCH has lost almost 5.8 percent in price, from $1290 to $1205. Still it is valued significantly higher than its April level of $760.

BCH is a peer-to-peer digital currency established in mid-2017 as a result of the hard fork of Bitcoin that took place to solve the scalability problem. With upgraded consensus rules, BCH is able to grow and increase the size of blocks, allowing more transactions to be processed.

Earlier this month the pro-Bitcoin community dropped its plans to level a lawsuit at the site Bitcoin.com. Members were outraged that the crypto and wallet service, which is run by BCH evangelist Roger Ver appeared to be misleading buyers by muddling the distinction between BTC and BCH.

 

 

Author Ana Alexandre

Posted by David Ogden Entrepreneur

Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member

Bitcoin Price Analysis – Consolidation continues

Bitcoin Price Analysis - Consolidation continues

Bitcoin Price Analysis – Consolidation continues

 

 

Bitcoin (BTC) has continued to seesaw, sliding 20% since May 6th and then recovering slightly over the past few days. The market cap now stands at US$144.86 billion, with US$1.64 billion traded in the past 24 hours.

On the network side, hash rate and difficulty continue to push record highs, with ongoing shipments of ASICs from multiple mining companies, including Bitmain and Halong. Although the original Bitcoin Whitepaperdescribed Proof of Work (PoW) as “one-CPU-one-vote,” the lead SIA coin developer David Vorick argues that “for any algorithm, there will always be a path that custom hardware engineers can take to beat out general purpose hardware.”

 

Furthermore, ASIC chips are typically manufactured by a small number of technology companies, meaning the bulk of the network is running on the same hardware. If that hardware is found to be faulty or exploitable, the entire network is at risk.

Concerns over PoW have not been limited to ASIC proliferation. A recent presentation by Alex de Vries of Price Waterhouse Cooper in the Netherlands, “Bitcoin's Growing Energy Problem,” concludes that Bitcoin currently consumes at least 2.55 GW of electricity, and is on pace to consume 7.67 GW in the near future. This leaves the networks energy consumption comparable to countries such as Ireland now (3.1 GW) and Austria in the future (8.2 GW).

Others see this as an energy revolution opportunity. Peter Van Valkenburg of CoinCenter, a non-profit research and advocacy center focused on the public policy issues facing cryptocurrency in Washington D.C., has argued that instead of destroying the planet, Bitcoin will push the energy market towards more sustainable alternatives, driving an energy revolution. Mining in Canada and Iceland uses hydro and geothermal power, while wind and solar are among the cheapest energy sources available. Bitcoin advocate Andreas Antonopoulos shares this view and has questioned the hidden resource needs required by other payment platforms.

However, the number of network nodes has fallen slightly over the past few months after reaching more than 12,500 in November. These statistics include mining and non-mining nodes. Although archival nodes are not incentivized directly with a block reward, they ensure network consensus. Based on global distribution, the United States and Germany have the highest percentage of nodes.

 

Transactions per day remain down sharply from the record high in December, above 400k, and are currently below 200k per day. Transactions have not only declined due to a lack of usage but also transaction batching, where one transaction is sent to many addresses at once instead of each transaction being sent individually.

Using an adjusted network value to transactions (NVT) ratio, BTC remains in the upper-third of historical NVT value. While NVT has not been this high since January 2015 it has begun to turn downward recently, which suggests increasing on-chain network utility based on the dollar amount being transacted.

Although NVT is difficult to compare between coins, which use different transactions types, the ratio can be used to assess the network’s relative utility over time. DOGE is the only coin that has had an NVT consistently lower than BTC (not shown). Additionally, inflexion points in NVT ratio can be correlated to extreme highs or lows in price.

Transaction fees, which increased dramatically throughout 2017, have also declined significantly. This fee reduction is also multifactorial. Although a decrease in transactions per day means fewer transactions needing to be cleared, SegWit, which currently accounts for 39% of transactions, has also been a significant contributing factor to the average fee decline.

The SegWit soft fork also enabled second layer network upgrades like the Lightning Network. Since going live on March 15, the Lightning Network (LN) has continued to gain traction as new channels come online and apps are created.

The software solution enables trusted, bidirectional, off-chain, hub and spoke payment channels and also promises the possibility of instant payments, microtransactions, and increased scalability. The channels work much like a tab at a restaurant, which remains open until the client settles the bill. This format allows for numerous transactions to occur without a network fee until the channel is closed.

At Consensus NYC, Square co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey and Lightning Labs co-founder and CEO Elizabeth Stark discussed their vision for the future of payments. Dorsey, who had an early interest in hacker and cypherpunk movements, was also an investor in a Lightning Labs seed round.

Dorsey focused on the need to keep Bitcoin an open source project and the need for a native currency of the internet. He also hinted at a Square and Lightning partnership down the road saying, "We want to go back to that original idea of being able to purchase a coffee with it. And that's why we're working with Lightning Labs. Whatever it takes to get there, we're going to make sure it happens."

During his keynote speech at Consensus, eToro CEO Yoni Assia announced a new American crypto platform which will be trading Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, XRP, Dash, Bitcoin Cash, Stellar, Ethereum Classic, NEO, and EOS. Cryptocurrency trading on eToro increased by 4,500% in 2017, according to MarketWatch.

Bitcoin exchange traded volume this week has been led by the Tether (USDT) and USD markets for the fourth consecutive week, mostly on Binance, OKEX, and Bitfinex. In Asia, the JPY volume strongly leads the pack, thanks to friendly regulations and oversight, including declaring Bitcoin legal tender. The KRW premium is currently at 1.78%. CNY volume continues to fade.

Globally reported over the counter (OTC) volume from LocalBitcoins.com remains sharply down from December and January but has begun to increase again. Venezuela continues to post record highs in Bolivar volume, fueled by hyperinflation. Thus far, the hyperinflation rate has followed an almost identical trajectory as the Weimar Republic. The Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro Moros, won the national election earlier today.

 

Technical Analysis

Bitcoin continues to drift sideways on low volume, with an inability to establish a clean trend on high timeframes. The status of any emerging or nascent trend can be determined using Moving Averages, Chart Patterns, Ichimoku Cloud, and Pitchforks. Further background information on the technical analysis discussed below can be found here.

On the daily chart, open long/short interest on Bitfinex leans long, with shorts flat and longs rising (top panel, chart below). Exponential Moving Averages (EMAs) have gone flat, suggesting price consolidation. Price has fallen below the 200EMA with a bearish 50/200EMA cross.

Price structure shows a multi-month symmetrical triangle, or coil. In Technical Analysis of Stock Trends (1948), Edwards and Magee suggest that roughly 75% of these triangles lead to a continuation of the trend, while the rest mark reversals. In any case, this pattern will be a ‘trade the breakout’ situation because it will likely lead to weeks of trend follow through. Breakouts post consolidation typically occur after at least 66% of the triangle has completed (yellow highlight).

Turning to the Ichimoku Cloud on the weekly chart, there are four metrics; the current price in relation to the Cloud, the color of the Cloud (red for bearish, green for bullish), the Tenkan (T) and Kijun (K) cross, and the Lagging Span. The best entry always occurs when most of the signals flip from bearish to bullish, or vice versa.

The Cloud metrics on the weekly time frame are; price above Cloud, bullish Cloud, bullish TK cross, and Lagging Span above price and Cloud. Together, these signals suggest the trend is bullish, and will remain bullish until a bearish TK cross or price dips below the Cloud.

Price itself is below the Kijun and, seemingly, in no-man’s land. Price and volume structures suggest the possibility of an unconventional inverted head and shoulders, a bullish reversal pattern. A long entry would not be warranted until price is above the Kijun, essentially also above the neckline of the head and shoulders chart pattern.

The Cloud metrics on the daily time frame are; price inside Cloud, bearish Cloud, bullish TK cross, and Lagging Span above price but below Cloud. A long entry based on traditional Cloud rules does not occur until the Cloud is breached by price, currently at ~US$11,586. However, a long reversal trade opportunity known as the Edge to Edge (E2E) trade can be taken advantage of with the current Cloud structure.

A long entry based on the E2E trade occurred several days ago, with a stop loss below the Kijun. Price dropped out of Cloud and below the Kijun, suggesting any active longs should be closed at that time. Although price has breached Cloud resistance for the second time, traders may avoid entering a second E2E trade this quickly as the previous E2E trade failed.

An E2E failing to reach its target is often an indication of additional consolidation being needed before price momentum returns. Price typically follows through with the direction of the E2E trade, but not until the Kumo twist, which in this case will occur after June 19th.

The Cloud metrics on the four hour time frame are; price below Cloud, bearish Cloud, bearish TK cross, and Lagging Span above price and below Cloud. A traditional long entry will not occur until price is above Cloud at ~US$8,942. An E2E long entry would trigger after a breach of Cloud at US$8,300. The previous four hour Kumo breakout led to a 27% price increase and both of the previous four hour E2E moves occurred in very few candles.

Penultimately, price has returned to the original upward trending Pitchfork beginning in 2015, with anchor points in January, May, and August of that year. Price broke North of this trend in October 2017 and again currently sits in the upper limits. A downside target of US~$5,700 is possible should price return to the mean (red line) of the prior trend.

astly, another Pitchfork on the daily chart starting in 2017, with anchor points in January, May, and July, shows price reaching a similar distance below the mean (red line) as was reached above the mean in December. Price has closed this pitchfork for several days suggesting bearish invalidation. If price returns to inside the Pitchfork, a return to the mean is possible.

 

Conclusion

ASICs continue to drive conversations about the network, both in terms of centralization and increasing power consumption. Network usage and fees remain relatively low with SegWit and Lightning metrics steadily increasing. Exchanges and go-to-market apps continue to be developed.

Technicals suggest ongoing consolidation with several failed bullish reversal attempts, based on Ichimoku Clouds and a longstanding Pitchfork. The structure of price consolidation suggests bullish continuation, which may occur as early as May 31st. If the consolidation results in further downside a bearish target of ~US$5,700 is likely, based on a multi-year Pitchfork.

 

 

Author Josh Olszewicz, 21 May 2018

Posted by David Ogden Entrepreneur

Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member

Bitcoin Cash Price Weekly Analysis: BCH/USD Recoveries Remain Limited

Bitcoin Cash Price Weekly Analysis: BCH/USD Recoveries Remain Limited

Bitcoin Cash Price Weekly Analysis: BCH/USD Recoveries Remain Limited

 

Key Points

  • Bitcoin cash price got bid near the $1.130 level and started a recovery against the US Dollar.

  • There is a crucial bearish trend line forming with resistance near $1,320 on the 4-hours chart of the BCH/USD pair (data feed from Kraken).

The pair may continue to rise in the short term, but it is likely to face sellers near $1,320-40.

Bitcoin cash price is showing positive signs above $1,150 against the US Dollar. However, upsides in BCH/USD are likely to be limited by the $1,320 resistance zone.
 

Bitcoin Cash Price Upside Hurdle

This past week, there was a sharp increase in selling pressure on bitcoin cash price above $1,400 against the US Dollar. The price started a downside move and traded below the $1,350 and $1,280 support levels. There was even a break below the $1,200 pivot level, which opened the doors for more losses. It traded close to the $1,120 support level and a low was formed at $1,131.
 

Later, the price started an upside correction and moved above the $1,120 resistance. It also moved above the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the last drop from the $1,506 high to $1,131 low. However, there are many barriers on the upside near $1,300. An initial hurdle is near $1,128, which was a support earlier and it may now prevent gains. There is also a crucial bearish trend line forming with resistance near $1,320 on the 4-hours chart of the BCH/USD pair. Moreover, the 50% Fib retracement level of the last drop from the $1,506 high to $1,131 low is positioned near $1,318 to act as a hurdle.

Looking at the chart, the price may continue to rise in the near term towards $1,300. However, a break above $1,300 and $1,320 won’t be easy.
 

Looking at the technical indicators:

4-hours MACD – The MACD for BCH/USD is moving back in the bullish zone.

4-hours RSI (Relative Strength Index) – The RSI for BTC/USD is heading towards the 50 level.

Major Support Level – $1,150

Major Resistance Level – $1,320

 

Author: AAYUSH JINDAL | MAY 20, 2018 | 4:08 AM

Posted by David Ogden Entrepreneur

Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member

JPMorgan Looks Into Crypto Months After Their CEO Called Bitcoin ‘Stupid’ and ‘Dangerous’

JPMorgan Looks Into Crypto Months After Their CEO Called Bitcoin ‘Stupid' and ‘Dangerous'

JPMorgan Looks Into Crypto Months After Their CEO Called Bitcoin ‘Stupid’ and ‘Dangerous’

Back in September of 2017, JPMorgan’s CEO Jamie Dimon called Bitcoin “stupid” and “dangerous.” Dimon also said if he caught anyone buying or selling Bitcoin he would “fire them in a second.” His words carry heavy weight as one of the most prominent voices in the global finance world.

However, it appears his opinion changed. JPMorgan is looking into the use of cryptocurrencies despite their purported threat to the bank’s current business model.

Oliver Harris was the bank’s former head of developing new financial technologies – now, he is looking into the risks and rewards associated with digital assets and blockchain technology as Bitcoin moves towards mainstream adoption.

The move may be related to JPMorgan’s competitor Goldman Sachs’ decision to hire Justin Schmidt, a trader specializing in exchanging cryptocurrencies. However, JPMorgan’s decision to look into blockchain assets is surprising, especially considering Dimon’s harsh remarks towards Bitcoin only nine months ago.

In January of 2018, Dimon recanted his prior statements when he told Fox he is open-minded with regards to blockchain assets:

“The Bitcoin to me was always what the governments are gonna feel about Bitcoin as it gets really big, and I just have a different opinion than other people. I’m not interested that much in the subject at all. The blockchain is real. You can have crypto yen and dollars and stuff like that. ICO’s you have to look at individually.”

in addition to researching cryptocurrency assets for the banking giant, Harris will also be leading Quorum, the bank’s in-house blockchain project. According to a report from Reuters’ Anna Irrera, JPMorgan is considering turning Quorum into an independent company.

Bitcoin has been growing at a rate of 165% per year for the past six years, according to Pantera Capital’s CEO Dan Morehead. Cryptocurrencies are becoming a hot commodity, and institutions such as JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs’ are finally looking for ways to get in on the action.

The CME and CBOE recently launched Bitcoin futures trading platforms– now, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan are investigating cryptocurrencies as well. The acknowledgment of large banks and corporations toward the vast potential of blockchain technology is significant because it will increase awareness of the crypto scene.

 

Author Jacob Tuwiner

 

Posted by David Ogden entrepreneur

Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member

Bitcoin (BTC) Price Analysis: Heading For $7,000?

Bitcoin (BTC) Price Analysis -  Heading For $7,000?

Bitcoin (BTC) Price Analysis: Heading For $7,000?

Bitcoin continues to slide and may be setting its sights on new last month's lows.

Bitcoin has formed higher lows and lower highs on its 4-hour time frame to create a symmetrical triangle. Price is on its way to the bottom around the $7,000 level.

The 100 SMA has crossed below the longer-term 200 SMA to signal that the path of least resistance is to the downside. In other words, the selloff could continue from here and support might even break. Note that the chart pattern spans $6,000 to $12,000 so the resulting downtrend could be of the same height.

RSI is on the move down so bitcoin could follow suit while sellers have the upper hand. Stochastic is also moving down to signal that bearish pressure is in play. If support holds, though, bitcoin could make another move to the top at $9,000 or even attempt to break higher.

Investor sentiment appears to have turned sour as bitcoin has been unable to break out of its slump, drawing even more selling pressure. Traders could keep holding out for positive industry updates before reviving their long positions.

Meanwhile, the dollar has been on a tear for the most part of the week, drawing strength from both fundamentals and risk sentiment. Geopolitical risk has supported the flight to safety while a few upside data points have supported tightening expectations and US bond yields, making the dollar the preferred safe-haven currency.

For now, it looks like bitcoin is still reeling from the selling of Mt. Gox units and the ongoing investigation into South Korea’s UPbit. This has revived regulatory concerns and once again put the trust of bitcoin exchanges to question.

Looking ahead, this slump could go on until there’s another set of developments in the industry. For now, the focus seems to be on institutional investors looking to trade products based on digital assets as firms and exchanges prepare to include these in their offerings.

 

By Rachel Lee On May 18, 2018

posted by David Ogden Entrepreneur

Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member