Bitcoin trading volume drops to a two-year low in March

Bitcoin volume in the top five digital currency exchanges totalled $2.14 billion last month, the lowest since April 2017 when volume was just $845.7 million

Bitcoin's trading volume dropped to a two-year low in March, digital currency trading tool provider TradeBlock said in a report on Thursday, as investors remained spooked by increased regulatory scrutiny.

Bitcoin volume in the top five digital currency exchanges totalled $2.14 billion last month, the lowest since April 2017 when volume was just $845.7 million.

The original cryptocurrency, bitcoin has dropped more than 70 pper centsince hitting an all-time high of nearly $20,000 in December 2017, a slump that has spread to all digital currencies.

A global regulatory crackdown led by the US Securities and Exchange Commission has created concerns about greater oversight and acceptance of digital currencies as payments, taking the wind out of the once red-hot virtual assets.

Early this week, however, bitcoin recovered somewhat to hit a roughly five-month high of $5,345 on the Bitstamp platform, after a major order by an anonymous buyer set off a frenzy of computer-driven trading, analysts said.

TradeBlock said in its research that as bitcoin trading volumes fell, digital asset exchanges started increasing the number of assets listed. It cited Coinbase, which has historically listed fewer assets than its peers, taking on two new currencies – Ripple and Stellar Lumens – over the last few months.

Coinbase's trading volume for March was $1.6 billion, a two-year low as well, TradeBlock data showed.

TradeBlock's research also showed that as volumes declined, digital currency exchanges began raising trading fees in 2018 and 2019.

"An increase in trading fees is in line with expectations that exchanges are looking to protect revenues, amidst continually dampened trading volumes," TradeBlock said

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

Algo-Influenced Crypto Traders Could’ve Catalyzed Bitcoin (BTC) Surge To $5,000

Algorithms Might Have Boosted Bitcoin

Just 72 hours ago, Bitcoin (BTC) suddenly spiked. Within minutes, the asset surmounted $4,200, $4,400, and $4,600, causing a cascade of Twitter activity related to the cryptocurrency market. And since then, BTC has been on the up-and-up, somehow grinding higher to $5,300 on Wednesday night — the highest level the asset has traded at since November, during the sell-off following the contentious Bitcoin Cash hard fork. Save for a few soothsayers, this move caught many traders with their pants down.

But, it purportedly didn’t catch advanced trading bots, which harness complex algorithms, off guard. In fact, Bloomberg claims that the move was catalyzed by such “algos.” The outlet explains that these “computer-run strategies” have historically been notorious for catalyzing market volatility and exaggerated price movements. And with algo-centric crypto traders recently flooding into the market, with there being 17 algo hedge funds launched since September, a series of computers might be what was behind Bitcoin and its brethren’s sudden moonshot.

In fact, The now-infamous $100 million order, spread across platforms like Coinbase, was described by Oliver von Landsberg-Sadie, chief executive officer of London-based crypto firm BCB Group, as likely triggered by automated software. Interestingly, Landsberg-Sadie describes algos as a way to make markets more efficient, potentially hinting that a move higher was in the works for a while now.

Other Crypto Catalysts?

While algorithms are purported to be behind this move, but not the subsequent slow and steady uptrend, others claimed that this move was catalyzed by something else entirely.

As reported by Ethereum World News following Monday’s price action, industry trader The Crypto Dog explained that this move was simply price seeking liquidity. With there being relatively little volume, as seen by the lack of a large green candle below, this might not have been the ‘whale buy order’ that some looked to. And once $4,200 was breached, there was little friction in the order books in the mid-$4,000s, in spite of there being important resistance zones in that region. Thus, a short squeeze, or “cascading liquidations” as The Crypto Dog called it, perpetuated Bitcoin’s brief spike to $5,000+.

Crypto Quantamental expressed a similar sentiment, but with a more bullish tone. He explained that the move was simple, with there being weeks of consistent gains, a clear move to test the $4,200 resistance, a declining long-short ratio, and massive “air” above $4,200 to drive the move.

However, these clear-cut explanations haven’t stopped mainstream media outlets and common Joes and Jills from continuing to throw theories, as they try to make their narratives stick. As we explained earlier today, CNBC’s “Squawk Box” drew attention to an April Fools’ Day joke from a fellow trade publication as a catalyst. This, of course, wasn’t the case at all, as the article in question was released 18 hours prior to the price surge. By the same token, Gizmodo explained following the price bump that Bitcoin wasn’t sustainable, bringing up the whole debate of a monetary asset that uses electricity isn’t viable

By Nick Chong April 4, 2019

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

Crypto Strategist Says Bitcoin Futures Pushed BTC Price, As Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin Futures Volumes Soar

Bitcoin futures had a strong start on Tuesday as the Cboe and CME April contracts increased by over 16% to $4,805.

#Bitcoin futures soaring 16 percent to their highest levels since November pic.twitter.com/WLW4yDumYv

— CNBC Futures Now (@CNBCFuturesNow) April 2, 2019

In a note to Barron’s, Gabor Gurbacs, digital asset strategist at VanEck, says he believes Bitcoin’s recent price spike to its highest level since November 2017 was triggered by the futures market.

Says Gurbacs,

“CME Bitcoin futures expired last Friday. A large chunk of positions were rolled (buying) into the new front month BTC futures contract. Over the weekend, heavy spot Bitcoin and over-the-counter buying followed the Bitcoin futures contract expiration pushing BTC price up slowly and gradually. As the price moved up in increments, over $500 million shorts have been liquidated on leveraged crypto derivatives trading platforms around the world.”

Bitcoin surged over 17%, reaching as high as $5,100 on Tuesday, followed by a widespread altcoin rally with double-digit gains. Bitcoin is currently trading at $5,012 at time of writing, according to data compiled by CoinMarketCap.

Trading volumes of altcoin futures including Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin have also experienced higher growth in recent weeks. Crypto Facilities, a subsidiary of San Franciso-based crypto exchange Kraken reports trading volume of $150 million for its crypto-derivative products.

Before Crypto Facilities was acquired by Kraken, its Litecoin futures contracts had an average notional volume of $15 million per month, and its Bitcoin Cash contract volumes were roughly $10 million per month.

Last month those volumes soared, reaching $100 million and $50 million for Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash, respectively.

In an interview with CoinDesk, Sui Chung, head of indices and pricing products at Crypto Facilities says,

“We began to onboard Kraken users … [and] that’s basically given us better exposure to the communities around Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash, and I think what we’re seeing is those communities have a pretty strong interest in trading derivatives for Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash, respectively,”

Based in London, Crypto Facilities is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. According to Chung, customer demand for regulated crypto futures that pay out in the underlying cryptocurrencies are driving the market.

“I think there was always demand from those communities for a strong derivatives contract that is collateralized and paid out in that coin because there are contracts in other markets … where the base asset is Litecoin but they pay out in Bitcoin. Our contracts are paid out in Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash.”

In February, after the Kraken acquisition, Crypto Facilitates reported that $1 billion in Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash futures were traded on its platform.

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

Bitcoin (BTC) Encounters Resistance As Crypto Attempts To Break Higher

Bitcoin Holds Key Support But Remains Under Resistance

On Monday, Bitcoin (BTC) continued to move higher. As of the time of writing, the cryptocurrency is currently sitting at a valuation of $4,164, up 1.25% in the past 24 hours.

Per Josh Rager, an advisor to Blackwave and TokenBacon, this only cements the fact that Bitcoin is holding above its 200-week moving average (200 WMA), which has been an essential level of resistance for the asset since 2015. In fact, a number of analysts have looked to this line of support as an indicator of Bitcoin’s long-term health. Rager touches on this himself.

He writes that if BTC breaks under the 200 WMA, “new lows and a prolonged bear market” would likely be in the asset’s cards, underscoring the importance of that level. And he may have a point. Considering the fact that Bitcoin has held above this support for years, and at extremely important ‘make or break’ periods, like now, a foray under the level could deal a large blow to long-term believers.

However, taking Bitcoin’s recent price action into account, some are adamant that a continued move higher is more likely. But, Rager makes it clear that are continued rally isn’t likely to come easy. The 200-day moving average (200 DMA) — the spiritual successor of the 200 WMA, if you will — has been a foreboding presence in crypto markets since early-2018, as it has become an overarching level of resistance for Bitcoin. And in spite of BTC’s recent move above the auspicious $4,000 level, the 200 DMA still sets above, at a casual ~$4,500.

If history is any indicator, BTC will have immense trouble breaking past that level, unless there is an ample amount of buying pressure.

Bitcoin’s Move Higher Won’t Be Easy

Recent order book analysis done by Bleeding Crypto has confirmed that Bitcoin perpetuating the ongoing rally won’t exactly be an easy task. He explains that as it stands, there is an $80 million sell wall above BTC at $4,200. This, of course, is a sign that should make bulls wary. It accentuates that market whales aren’t exactly ready for a move higher, as such entites look to continue to depress the cryptocurrency market through foreboding sell orders.

And this sell wall, which recently resulted in a rejection of a $4,200 breakout, has led some traders to lean bearish for the time being. Crypto UB recently explained that with this market continuing to see “long lower wicks” with little follow through, coupled with decreasing buy orders heading into resistance at $4,200, he remains in a “day trade short position.”

In other words, unless Bitcoin sees an uptick in buying pressure shortly, a slight pullback could very well be in the cards.

By Nick Chong April 2, 2019

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

Bitcoin market update – BTC/USD has the second positive monthly closing in succession

• BTC/USD settled above $4,100 during Asian hours.
• The coin is positioned for further upside towards $4,200.
• Bitcoin (BTC) hit the highest level since the end of February during early Monday trading and settled above $4,100. Moreover, the first digital asset logged the second winning month in succession for the first time since the end of 2017.

At the time of writing, BTC/USD is changing hands at $4,110, mostly unchanged both since the beginning of Monday and on a day-on-day basis. Meanwhile, compared to the previous Monday, the coin grew by 2.4%.

“Bitcoin is at its highest level in more than a month this morning, currently testing resistance around $4,200 per coin. Some analysts might note that it seems the long-term bear trend line has now been broken. However, trendlines may be drawn differently by each chartist so this isn’t the purest indicator out there. What’s more pertinent at the moment is the 200-day moving average that draws ever nearer,” Mati Greenspan, senior market analyst at eToro commented.

Bitcoin’s technical picture

BTC/USD continues moving within an upside channel with the upper boundary at $4,161. As the RSI points to the North, which means that BTC/USD has a chance to test the above-said barrier. This level may serve as a short-term resistance and trigger a downside correction towards $4,100, and, possibly, $4,000. This critical support must remain unbroken to allow for another bullish leg towards $4,200.

On the downside, a sustainable move below $4,000 will trigger a strong sell-off with the initial aim at $3,900.

BTC/USD, 4H chart

Tanya Abrosimova

FXStreet

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

Bitcoin – The Bulls Hit $4,200 but Need $4,500 to Really Shift Sentiment

Bitcoin sees red early on but moving back through to $4,160 levels could signal another run at $4,200 levels later in the day.

Bitcoin slipped by 0.34% on Saturday. Partially reversing a 2.11% gain from Friday, Bitcoin ended the day at $4,165.1.

A choppy start to the day saw Bitcoin rise to an early morning intraday high $4,210 before hitting reverse.

Coming within range of the first major resistance level at $4,223.37, Bitcoin fell to an early morning intraday low $4,112. The pullback saw Bitcoin come within range of the first major support level at $4,108.47 before steadying.

For the Bitcoin bulls, it was the first visit to $4,200 levels since 24th February. For the current week, Bitcoin was up 8.68% Monday through Saturday.

Elsewhere

Across the top 10 cryptos, the majority of the majors were in the red on the day. EOS had the heaviest losses, down by 3.66%, with Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash ABC falling by 1.66% and 1.67% respectively.

While Ethereum and Stellar’s Lumen also saw red, it was a different story for Binance Coin, Cardano’s ADA and Ripple’s XRP. Leading the pack on the day was Binance, which rallied by 2.54%. Cardano’s ADA and Ripple’s XRP both rose by 0.93%.

In spite of the day’s rally, Binance was in the red for the current week. In contrast, Cardano’s ADA was the pacemaker, rallying by 17.4% to the end of Saturday. Coming in a close second was EOS, which was up by 14.68%, in spite of Saturday’s 3.66% reversal.

On the news wires,

News of Bithumb falling victim to another hack had limited influence on EOS. The reversal in EOS on Saturday was likely to be down to profit taking rather than investor reaction.

Fortunately for Bitcoin and the broader market, the $12.5m hack was relatively modest, and more importantly reported to be an inside job.

The good news is that the EOS coins stolen actually belonged to Bithumb and not investors. An inside job would have muted a broad-based market reaction. Bithumb was one of a number of Crypto exchanges that was given a clean bill of health by the Korea Internet & Security Agency.

Following a series of hacks in South Korea, the Cyber agency carried out a review of security measures implemented by exchanges last year. If the latest theft is an inside job, then there will be little for the SEC to consider as it prepares to deliver its decision on the Bitcoin ETF applications.

The bad news on the Bitcoin ETF decision was that the SEC has yet again delayed the deadline by an additional 45 days. This takes the decision every closer to the anticipated summer rollout of rules and regulations by the G20.

Hopes are for approval of one or possibly two of the ETFs in the coming months. The delay is certainly better than an outright no…

At the time of writing, Bitcoin was down 0.17% to $4,158.0. A bullish start to the day saw Bitcoin rise to a morning high $4,182.9 before easing back. The early moves saw Bitcoin leave the day’s major support and resistance levels untested.

For the day ahead

A move back through to $4,160 levels would support another run at $4,200 levels later in the day. Bitcoin would need support from the broader market, however, to take a run at the first major resistance level at $4,212.73. Barring a broad-based recovery from early losses, Bitcoin will likely struggle on a run at $4,200 on the day.

Failure to move back through to $4,160 levels could see Bitcoin fall deeper into the red. An extended reversal across the broader market would bring the first major support level at $4,114.73 into play.

Barring a crypto meltdown, however, we would expect sub-$4,100 support levels to be left untested on the day.

Bob Mason

in 10 minutes (Mar 31, 2019 5:25 AM GMT)

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member