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Tim Alper

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Tim Alper

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Tim Alper is a British journalist and features writer who has worked at Cryptonews.com since 2018. He has written for media outlets such as the BBC, the Guardian, and Chosun Ilbo. He has also worked...

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June 26, 2023

Source: Jezael Melgoza/UnsplashThe crypto exchange Coinbase Japan has almost doubled the number of tokens it lists on its platform, taking the total of coins listed from six to 11 – a suggestion that Japanese exchanges could start significantly expanding the number of tokens they handle.

On Twitter, the exchange’s Japanese arm wrote that it had begun trading chainlink (LINK), enjin Coin (ENJ), OMG (OMG), ethereum classic (ETC), and basic attention token (BAT).

The firm launched its Japanese branch in August last year, listing an initial three tokens. It has since added another three. But the listing process is notoriously difficult in Japan. Until very recently, all token listing applications had to be approved by the self-regulatory Japan Virtual and Crypto Assets Exchange Association (JVCEA) – in a process that could often take several months to complete.

Source: CoinbaseEarlier this year, however, the JVCEA announced its intention to streamline the process and allow exchanges to cut corners, particularly in instances whereby an exchange wants to list a token that has already been listed on a domestic rival’s platform.

The regulatory Financial Services Agency says it wants to have the final say on listing policy changes, but looks to be begrudgingly following suit with the government’s relatively pro-crypto stance.

Japanese Exchanges Hope to List More TokensPrime Minister Fumio Kishida has spoken about Web3 in glowing terms, and has agreed to make a number of concessions to the domestic crypto sector. Japanese businesses working in the crypto space have claimed of over-regulation, while political opponents say that Japanese crypto talent and capital are both flowing overseas.

As such, exchanges have been taking advantage – and some are now rapidly expanding the number of coins they list. While at the start of the year, no exchange listed more than 20 tokens, some are on course to end the year with as many as 30 coins on their platforms.

Coinbase’s own entry into the Japanese market was a slow process. Japan’s crypto exchange scene is dominated by domestic startups like bitFlyer.

Source: CoinMarketCapLarger Japanese conglomerates’ crypto subsidiaries are also active on the scene, as are platforms that are run by local securities firms – such as Coincheck.

Source: CoinMarketCapBut Coinbase’s entry made headlines after the firm last year announced its launch in partnership with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, one of the largest banks in the country.

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Analyst: Micron’s financial report indicates short-term fluctuations can be ignored as long as earnings prospects underpin its high valuation.

Senior Market Analyst Daniela Hathorn stated, "As Micron Technology's earnings report once again confirms that the AI investment cycle remains solid, the U.S. stock market has recouped some of its losses. This has boosted market sentiment across the entire semiconductor sector—after high-growth individual stocks underperformed earlier—indicating that as long as profit prospects continue to support high valuations, investors are still willing to overlook short-term fluctuations."

4 minutes ago

Circle partners with Nomura Securities to enter the Japanese yen foreign exchange settlement service market.

Stablecoin issuer Circle plans to collaborate with Nomura Securities to launch instant foreign currency settlement for Japanese corporate clients as early as 2027. The initiative will enable large cross-border transactions to be completed immediately, aiming to boost cross-border investment and trade. This will mark the first entry of a major stablecoin issuer into Japan’s corporate transaction market, allowing companies to convert yen into US dollar-denominated stablecoins for investment and instant transfers.

4 minutes ago

Institutions' Preview: Overview of US May Core PCE Price Index Monthly Rate

The US May core Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Price Index monthly rate will be released tonight at 20:30 (UTC+8). Below are the forecasts from multiple institutions: Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation: 0.2%; Royal Bank of Canada: 0.2%; JPMorgan Chase: 0.3%; Goldman Sachs Group: 0.3%; Bank of Montreal: 0.3%; Moody's Corporation: 0.3%; Standard Chartered: 0.3%; UniCredit: 0.3%; ING Group: 0.3%; HSBC Holdings: 0.3%; BNP Paribas: 0.4%; Wells Fargo: 0.4%; Capital Economics: 0.4%; Citigroup: 0.4%; Deutsche Bank: 0.4%; Nomura Securities: 0.4%; Pantheon Macroeconomics: 0.4%; Société Générale: 0.4%; Scotiabank: 0.4%; Morgan Stanley: 0.4%

4 minutes ago

DA Davidson Raises Micron’s Price Target to $2,000, Retains Buy Rating

U.S. investment bank DA Davidson released a research note stating that Micron Technology has entered a new phase with one of the best performance visibility in the semiconductor industry, a stark contrast to its past standing in the sector. Driven by another quarter of results that handily exceeded expectations and positive forward guidance, Micron’s stock price surged sharply. These signals indicate that the current memory chip boom cycle is far from over. While the company is ramping up capacity investments (with capital expenditure (CAPEX) projected to hit $10 billion in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, which will bring additional supply), management expects the memory market to remain tight on supply and demand at least through 2027. Against this backdrop, DA Davidson reiterated its "Buy" rating on Micron and raised its price target from $1,500 to $2,000, equivalent to a 20x price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio based on the company’s 2026 calendar year expected earnings per share (EPS).

4 minutes ago

Morgan Stanley raises Micron's price target to $1,200, maintains 'Overweight' rating.

Morgan Stanley released a report raising Micron Technology (MU.O)’s price target from $1,050 to $1,200, while maintaining an "Overweight" rating. The investment bank lifted its fiscal 2027 earnings per share (EPS) forecast for the chipmaker by roughly 40% to $168, and upgraded its free cash flow (FCF) projection from $104 billion to $140 billion. Aligning with Micron’s management, the bank holds that AI will push DRAM demand to consistently outpace supply significantly after 2027. Micron’s last fiscal quarter results matched this trend, with both its quarterly performance and outlook showing notable upside potential.

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You can’t really discuss the topic of cryptocurrency mining without getting into issues surrounding the concept of centralization. One of the greatest aspirations of cryptocurrency communities is to decentralize the monetary system and create “trustless” transactions.

While Bitcoin made a lot of headway towards a trustless currency, there are still concerns. The concentration of power among ASIC miners in a few locations make some people wonder if mining is becoming too centralized.

GPUs And Decentralization At present there are two leading forms of mining, as Crypto Briefing has previously explained. Bitcoin, Litecoin and other leading cryptocurrencies can be mined with ASICs, highly specialized devices which can only perform a specific algorithm. Monero, Zcoin and some other cryptocurrencies can only be mined by commercially-available GPUs and CPUs

GPUs are common and relatively inexpensive. A standard gaming PC has at least one GPU in it, sometimes two. These video cards, distributed all over the world, allow for a widespread and highly decentralized network.

ASICs on the other hand, are more specialized, very expensive, and much harder to find. Because they are expensive and harder to set up, ASIC networks tend to be centralized among the wealthier people who have the means to purchase them and set them up on a large scale.

Bitmain Versus Everybody Else It doesn’t just stop at individuals. Relatively few entities control the large mining  pools which dominate the most popular Proof-of-Work coins, particularly Bitcoin. Bitmain, which manufactures the most popular ASICs (there are some competitors emerging on the scene) controls two of the largest Bitcoin mining pools, Antpool and BTC.com.

In fact, at one point in time, their pools controlled nearly 50% of  Bitcoin hashrate, although their share has diminished over the past year.

But just because a pool is centralized, that does not necessarily mean that the miners within the pool are also centralized. If miners notice that their pool is acting maliciously, they can simply switch to another pool.

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Even a leading pool operator, like Bitmain, would still have to work in concert with a massive number of miners, which would cost much more than it would return. In an article examining Mining Centralization Scenarios, Jimmy Song points out the extreme costs of attempting to maintain such a large-scale attack.

But when a single manufacturer produces the most popular mining equipment, “back-doors” exploits become more likely. For example, Bitmain could surreptitiously install a “kill-switch” that would reduce block productivity on non-Bitmain pools. However, these back-door tricks would also run the risk of being discovered and decimating Bitmain’s balance sheet as miners switch to different equipment in the future.

So while large entities like Bitmain may be a centralizing force in Bitcoin and a number of other cryptocurrencies, free market dynamics tend toward decentralization, competition, and innovation. Due to competition and improving profitability, the distribution of ASIC mining pools is diversifying, trending away from the possibility of monopolization.

Electricity Costs Around The World There’s also a possibility of geographic centralization, as miners flourish in areas with the cheapest energy. This can be due to economic conditions or because of the availability of cheap sources such as hydro-electric dams.

In much of the United States, residential electricity rates range around the 13 cent per kilowatthour average, but can be as high as 20 cents in some regions and as low as nine cents in a few states. For larger mining operations, industrial rates are quite a bit cheaper, but it can still be pretty tough to compete against regions where electricity is much less expensive.

Because the cost of electricity is hugely important in figuring out the profitability of any PoW mining operation, high-capacity ASIC mining operations are drawn to locations where the electricity is cheap.

That’s why so much cryptocurrency mining is performed in China, where electricity is cheaper than almost anywhere else. Quebec is also attracting attention due to its surplus of hydro-electricity. This could be another weak point, as mining hashpower concentrates in certain regions.

Multi-million Dollar ASIC Farms Versus Multi-million Dollar GPU Farms But even if ASICs fell by the wayside, one could also set up a hugely expensive GPU farm.  GPUs themselves do not negate the centralization problem, although they may reduce it due to their widespread availability and usage.

It would be considerably more difficult to gain control of a GPU network, simply because there are already so many GPUs distributed around the world. But if someone designed a new GPU that was highly powerful, efficient, and expensive, it could result in a similar problem.

Higher Hashrates Theoretically, the more decentralized a PoW network is, the more secure it should be, but it may sacrifice speed for safety. Miners are incentivized to increase their hashing power for more frequent block rewards, which also increases network security.

A high hashrate means that there is more competition among miners, making the network more expensive to mine. The higher the hashrate, the more expensive it is to to set up or rent the necessary hashing power to launch a 51% attack. At some point, it becomes so costly that it just isn’t worth attempting such an attack.

51% Attacks If any single entity or group of colluding entities manage to control 51% of a network, lots of bad things can happen. Most importantly, the 51% controlling entity can essentially double-spend the currency. 

In a typical double-spend, attacker creates a public transaction that spends some currency, typically by moving it to an exchange. Meanwhile, they use their superior hashing power to create a secret, longer chain, which does not include that transaction, and broadcast it to the rest of the network. Since consensus defaults to the longer chain, they have effectively spent the same tokens twice.

Some lower hashrate PoW networks like Bitcoin Private and Bytecoin are susceptible to 51% attacks because it requires relatively little hashing power to take over these networks. Even bigger names like Bitcoin Cash and Ethereum Classic have fallen victim to such attacks.

ASICs can contribute to centralization if a few wealthy and powerful parties manage to gain more than 51% of a network’s hashrate. Bitmain and some of its affiliates control somewhere around 40% of all of the Bitcoin network’s hashing power. Of course, it would not be in Bitmain’s best interests to diminish the value of the Bitcoin network since they have so much invested in it. Yet, there is a degree of trust that is necessary because of the extent of their influence in the present conditions.

Still, it looks like ASICs are here to stay, with their collectively massive computational power ensuring the security of Bitcoin and a number of other PoW-based networks. In the next and final installment in this series on mining, we will take a closer look at the numbers involved in profitable mining and will conclude with an examination of the ongoing battle for greater decentralization.

This is Part 2 of a series on cryptocurrency mining. For Part 1, click here. 

Disclosure: This article was edited by Darren Kleine. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

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The leading crypto exchange Binance has removed 30 trading pairs from its platform.

Binance says it axed the pairs to “improve liquidity and user trading experience among our wide range of available assets.”

The sweep included the removal of BitTorrent Token’s (BTT) relatively recent pairing with Bitcoin. BTT remains paired with Binance Coin, Tether (USDT), Paxos Standard (PAX), TrueUSD (TUSD) and USD Coin (USDC).

Here’s a look at all of the pairs on the chopping block.

ANKR/PAX ANKR/TUSD ANKR/USDC BCPT/PAX BCPT/TUSD BCPT/USDC BTT/BTC DENT/BTC DOGE/PAX DOGE/USDC ERD/PAX ERD/USDC FTM/PAX FTM/TUSD FUEL/ETH GTO/PAX GTO/TUSD GTO/USDC LUN/ETH NCASH/BNB NPXS/BTC ONE/PAX ONE/TUSD PHB/PAX PHB/USDC TFUEL/PAX TFUEL/TUSD TFUEL/USDC WAVES/PAX WIN/BTC [adinserter block="1"]

Back in April, Binance delisted Bitcoin SV (BSV) from its platform entirely.

At the time, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao denounced the rhetoric of BSV creator Craig Wright and called him a “fraud.”

The exchange also removed Bytecoin (BCN), ChatCoin (CHAT), Iconomi (ICN) and Triggers (TRIG) in October of last year, citing a broad list of criteria required for coins to remain on the platform.

Commitment of team to project Quality and level of development activity Network/smart contract stability Level of public communication and activity Responsiveness to our periodic due diligence Evidence of unethical/fraudulent conduct Contribution to a healthy and sustainable crypto ecosystem [adinserter block="1"] [the_ad id="42537"] [the_ad id="42536"]

After last week’s plunge of over $1,500, Bitcoin rattled its 2020 positive run. The question remained if the $8,500 critical support level could hold the downfall, and, so far, it has.

The largest cryptocurrency dipped below it to $8,440, but it managed to recover quickly. At the time of this writing, Bitcoin is trading at approximately $8,700.

If BTC continues to increase, the first significant resistance level lies at $8,800, followed by $9,000. The latter also serves as a major psychological line.

BTC/USD. Source: TradingView Most of the cryptocurrency market notes small upwards movements today. Ethereum, Litecoin, Tezos, and EOS are all up with around 1%.

Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin SV are the most significant gainers among the top 10 coins by market cap. The former is up with 2.66% to $322 and the latter with 4.6% $234.

Contrary, Huobi Token records the largest decline in the top 20. HT is down with over 4% and is currently trading at $4.66.

Cryptocurrency Market Overview. Source: coin360.com Total Market Capitalization: $248B | Bitcoin Market Capitalization: $159B | Bitcoin Dominance: 64%

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Interestingly, OKEx went through an unscheduled system update on the same day, as well.

Beating the Odds? Insolvent FCoin To Resume Operations And Attempt To Refund Users. FCoin exchange became insolvent in February and was unable to pay its customers an estimated amount of $115m worth of Bitcoin. A few weeks later, however, the firm promised to refund the affected users and to start operating again.

Ripple Partners With European Remittance Company Azimo But Legal Troubles Continue. Ripple partnered up with a European online remittance service company Azimo to serve customers in the Philippines. At the same time, though, the company’s legal issues with Bradley Sostack continue.

Significant Daily Gainers and Losers Bytecoin (23%) BCN skyrockets today with 23% gains against the U.S. dollar to $0.0005. It rises with 21.6% against the largest cryptocurrency, and BCN/BTC currently trades at 6 SAT.

With the most recent price increase, the total market capitalization of Bytecoin is well above $92 million.

AELF (12.32%) Elf is in the green today, as well. It rises to $0.1, after a 12% price jump. Elf trades at 1163 SAT after an 11% increase against Bitcoin.

The company recently published a comprehensive guide on how to utilize its network mechanism securely.

Kyber Network (-12.45%) On the other side of the scale sits KNC’s price. After yesterday’s surge to $0.85, KNC drops to $0.7. It also goes down to 8074 SAT, following a 13.5% drop.

Despite the most recent decrease, Kyber Network still has a total market cap of above $125 million.

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The last few days were quite turbulent for Bitcoin and the entire cryptocurrency market. BTC went to retest the support at $5,800, losing $800 of its dollar value in the process. However, it has since bounced, and it’s currently trading at another important support level at $6,300.

BTC/USD. Source: TradingView This weekend saw $5,850 as the current weekly low, and that’s far from being a coincidence. As Cryptopotato reported, the $5,900 area holds very strong support as it also represents the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement level from the massive drop on March 12.

Looking at the bigger picture, Bitcoin would still have to close affirmatively above $7,168 to overcome the slump from the night of March 12. Until this happens, the cryptocurrency is likely to be considered in a bearish trend.

The rest of the market is following in Bitcoin’s footsteps. Throughout the past seven days, most of the large-cap cryptocurrencies are also in the red. ETH is down about 2.8%, EOS is down 2.19%, and so forth. Ripple (XRP) is the recent winner, as it increased by 6.7% throughout the week despite the declining market.

Cryptocurrency Market Overview. Source: Coin360 Major Crypto Headlines Russia’s Legislative Ban On Cryptocurrency Delayed Because Of The Coronavirus. The unexpected outbreak of COVID-19 has an impact on legislative procedures in Russia. According to a government official, the law which would ban cryptocurrencies from being used as a means of payment will be delayed.

Bitcoin HODLers: BTC Daily Transfer Volume Hits 15-Months Low. March has clearly been a devastating month for Bitcoin as the cryptocurrency lost almost $3,000 of its value. Moreover, on-chain transactions on the Bitcoin network have also declined to their 15-months low, according to data from Bitinfocharts.

Analysis: Gold Price Should Be $8,900 (5x Higher) And Here Is Why. The global financial markets were seriously affected by the spread of COIVD-19. This also had an impact on the price of gold, which was also unusually turbulent. According to one model, however, its fair value right now should be around $8,900.

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ICON (14%) ICON (ICX) is another altcoin that marked serious gains throughout the past day. It’s up 14% against the USD and 15% against BTC. At $0.23 per coin, the cryptocurrency has a total market capitalization of $125.6 million and a daily traded volume of about $52 million. It’s the 38th largest cryptocurrency on the market.

Bytecoin (-14.4%) The past day hasn’t been particularly lucrative for Bytecoin as it becomes the worst-performing cryptocurrency over the last 24 hours. It lost about 14.4% against the USD and 13% against Bitcoin. BCN changes hands at $0.000196 and sits on a market cap of $36 million. Its daily traded volume is about $9,000, which is quite insignificant. BCN is the 85th biggest cryptocurrency on the market.

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Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (“CZ”) has commented on Twitter about the Department of Financial Services’ (NYDFS) directive to Paxos Trust Co. to stop minting new BUSD. As reported by the Wall Street Journal today, Paxos will continue to manage redemptions of the product.Existing BUSD’s remain fully-backed and redeemable through at least February 2024.

CZ explained that Paxos is regulated by the NYDFS and BUSD is a stablecoin wholly owned and managed by Paxos. As a result, BUSD’s market capitalization will only decrease over time.

Regarding the alleged lawsuit filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission against Paxos, the Binance CEO has no inside information, although CZ did announce product changes on Binance regarding BUSD.

Binance CEO Is Puzzled Rumors are currently circulating in the crypto community that U.S. authorities SEC and NYDFS could target stablecoins, attacking a cornerstone of the crypto ecosystem. Crypto journalist Frank Chaparro tweeted:

SEC is on an absolute warpath. […] I wouldn’t be surprised if they are reviewing USDC, specifically. One senior executive at an exchange told me a few days ago that the SEC was effectively embarking on its own crypto version of the ‘Night of the Long Knives.’

Whether the situation is really as dramatic and U.S. authorities want to put an end to stablecoins per se, remains to be seen and is not really clear at the moment.  Binance CEO Zhao, for example, said that while he is “not an expert on U.S. laws,” but agrees with Miles Deutscher’s opinion in a tweet that stablecoins cannot be a security themselves.

“The SEC has labeled BUSD as an ‘unregistered security,’ and is suing its issuer, Paxos. But how on earth is a STABLECOIN considered a security, when it clearly doesn’t meet the Howey Test criteria. No one has ever had ‘the expectation of profit’ when buying BUSD,” Deutscher wrote.

Are US Authorities Starting A War On Stablecoins? This argument will be difficult for the SEC to refute, which illustrates that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission may not have a problem with stablecoins per se, but with the issuers’ interest products.

This is further evidenced by the SEC suing Kraken over its interest product, which was not a “true on-chain” staking product, as Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong explained. Another hint is that Paxos’ USDP stablecoin is not included in the announcement, and that the SEC’s crackdown on BUSD may be solely related to its deposit and interest product.

And Circle has a similar product that earns interest. Presumably that’s why the USDC issuer could come under SEC scrutiny, but not because of the stablecoin itself.

It is hard to imagine how a stablecoin can be classified as a security, otherwise the US dollar would have to be. But since Paxos and Circle operate on U.S. soil and offer interest products, they are easy targets for U.S. authorities.

Therefore, the current news and rumors must be considered carefully. Nevertheless, the attack by the U.S. authorities is of course a risk that stablecoin issuers will have to cope with.

In the long run, however, the current situation should pass and stablecoins should continue to flourish and serve as a cornerstone of the crypto ecosystem, even in the US.

At press time, Bitcoin was dragged down by the news and traded at $21,560. For the moment, BTC was able to stay above the support at $21,465 in the 1-hour chart, although the price saw a dip to a new February low at $21,429.

Bitcoin price, 1-hour chart | Source: BTCUSD on TradingView.com Featured image from Edwin Hooper / Unsplash, Chart from TradingView.com

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On-chain data shows that stablecoin sharks and whales have been strongly accumulating recently, something that could be positive for Bitcoin.

Sharks & Whales Of Stablecoins Like DAI & USDP Are Accumulating According to data from the on-chain analytics firm Santiment, large holders of some stablecoins have been expanding their holdings recently. The relevant indicator here is the “Supply Distribution,” which measures what percentage of the total supply of an asset (in this case, a stablecoin) is being held by which wallet groups in the market.

The addresses are divided into these wallet groups based on the total number of coins that they are currently carrying in their balances. The 1-10 coins cohort, for instance, includes all addresses holding between 1 and 10 tokens of the asset.

In the context of the current discussion, the investor groups of interest are sharks and whales. These are the large investors in the market, who hold some power due to the sheer scale of coins that they can potentially move at once.

Generally, their holdings lie in the $100,000-$10 million range, so in the case of stablecoins, the relevant address group would be the 100,000-10 million coins cohort (as the stables being considered here are those pegged to the USD, one token of theirs has a value of $1).

Now, here is a chart that shows the trend in the Supply Distribution of the sharks and whales for two stables: USDP and DAI.

Looks like both the metrics have observed their values going up in recent days | Source: Santiment on Twitter As displayed in the above graph, the sharks and whales of both of these stablecoins have expanded their supplies recently. In the case of DAI, these humongous investors have bought 2% of the entire circulating supply of the stable during the last couple of weeks or so.

Following this buying spree, the combined supply of the addresses holding between $100,000 and $10 million in the stablecoin has grown to about 40% of the circulating supply.

As for USDP, the stablecoin’s sharks and whales have added 11% of the total supply to their addresses in the past eleven days. This has taken their combined holdings to 29% of the supply.

Usually, investors shift their coins into stables whenever they want to escape the volatility associated with the other cryptocurrencies in the sector. When such holders eventually feel that the time is right to jump back into the other coins, they simply exchange their stablecoins for them.

This shift naturally provides a bullish boost to the asset that they swap into. Thus, the supply of the stables may be looked at as the available “buying supply” for volatile coins like Bitcoin.

Since the sharks and whales of USDP and DAI have loaded up their supplies, Bitcoin and others may benefit from it when they use these reserves for buying (which may not be in the near future, however).

BTC Price At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading around $30,500, down 1% in the last week.

BTC has only been moving sideways in the last few weeks | Source: BTCUSD on TradingView Featured image from Jake Gaviola on Unsplash.com, charts from TradingView.com, Santiment.net

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The value of the stablecoin Pax Dollar (USDP), issued by the Paxos Trust Company, experienced a surge to a high of $1.28, triggering the liquidation of $529,000 in USDC for a market participant. 

Like regular stablecoins, USDP is designed to maintain a stable value equivalent to a U.S. dollar, providing a safe haven for traders against the volatility often associated with cryptocurrencies. However, the recent unexpected increase in price, spotlighted by PeckShield, has raised concerns.

The stablecoin uncharacteristically spiked to $1.2848 yesterday at 16:10 UTC before eventually witnessing a subsequent drop to its usual price of $1 four hours later. While the depeg went unnoticed by most, it had far-reaching effects on a trader’s loan position, triggering liquidations.

USDP price – April 17 | Source: Trading View The liquidation occurred on the decentralized finance (defi) platform Aave, where the trader had used USDP as collateral to secure a loan in USDC. Notably, in the defi ecosystem, loans are backed by other assets, with mechanisms in place to manage sudden shifts in market dynamics. 

On-chain data confirms that the trader lost the 529,000 USDC across sixteen uneven transactions from 16:16 to 20:09 UTC, coinciding with the period USDP lost its peg. The transaction label indicates that the liquidation process was automatically initiated by Aave’s built-in risk management algorithms.

While the USDP value spiked, the platform likely predicted a possible correction or a return to its normal pegged rate. Such a forecast can prompt preemptive liquidation to mitigate potential losses, especially if the borrower’s loan-to-value (LTV) ratio becomes unfavorable.

Issued by Paxos, USDP has faced certain setbacks in recent times, marked by occasional depegs. A 2023 research from SP Global suggested that USDP records the highest deviations from the U.S. dollar among the top stablecoins, having witnessed 7,581 mild depeg events in the 24 months leading to June 2023.

Cover image via U.Today Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by our writers are their own and do not represent the views of U.Today. The financial and market information provided on U.Today is intended for informational purposes only. U.Today is not liable for any financial losses incurred while trading cryptocurrencies. Conduct your own research by contacting financial experts before making any investment decisions. We believe that all content is accurate as of the date of publication, but certain offers mentioned may no longer be available.

The bullish wave that began to form in late February appears to have stalled out, and XRP's recent attempt at recovery is losing structure.

The asset was able to create a series of higher lows and momentarily move closer to the $1.50 area, but there isn't any follow-through. The price is returning to hesitancy just below a significant resistance cluster rather than continuing. The rejection close to the short-term resistance trendline and the inability to maintain movement above it are the most telling indicators.

XRP/USDT Chart by TradingViewAlthough XRP broke out of a local ascending structure, it did not develop into a long-term trend. Instead of expansion, what you are currently witnessing is a flattening of momentum. Instead of committing, the market tested upside liquidity.

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Technically speaking, XRP is still below its main moving averages, such as the 100 and 200 EMA, both of which are still declining. It defines the larger trend, so it is not just a small detail. Any bullish move is, by definition, a counter-trend as long as the price remains below those levels, and they usually fail unless they are backed by significant volume and persistence.

Another flaw is the volume itself. The recent push higher did not result in any notable expansion, indicating that buyers were not sufficiently aggressive to flip market structure. Without that involvement, rallies are susceptible to swift reversals, which is precisely what appears to be occurring right now.

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The rounding bottom formation, which appeared promising, could now be invalidated. The entire recovery attempt will restart if XRP begins to lose the higher-low structure around $1.35-$1.38, and the market will probably return to consolidation or even continue the downtrend.

Although the likelihood is changing, there is still a small window of opportunity for XRP to stabilize and try another push. The bullish wave exhausted itself before regaining crucial resistance, so it did not enter a breakout phase.

Bitcoin is not yet readyWith the $80,000 mark getting farther and farther out of reach, Bitcoin's most recent price action is beginning to resemble a rejection phase rather than a recovery attempt.

Following a brief surge toward the mid-$70,000s, Bitcoin was unable to maintain its momentum and is currently stagnating just below a declining resistance trendline that has been capping the price for months.

The structure is obvious: Bitcoin is trading inside a tightening formation, but it keeps failing at lower highs rather than creating pressure for a breakout. The notion that sellers continue to control the larger trend is reinforced by the fact that every attempt to recover higher levels is sold into.

BTC/USDT Chart by TradingViewThe inability of Bitcoin to clearly break and hold above the 100 EMA is a serious warning sign for bulls, as it continues to be a significant barrier overhead.

As far as trends go, nothing has changed. Both the 100 and 200 EMAs, which slope downward, are still locked above the asset. Instead of a reversal, that alignment indicates a continuation bias.

The recent recovery from the $60,000-$65,000 range offered some short-term respite, but it has not resulted in a structural change. Nor does volume lend credence to a breakout story. Although there was some expansion during the initial rebound, there hasn't been consistent follow-through volume, indicating that the move does not have strong institutional support. In the short term, recovering $80,000 becomes increasingly implausible without that.

Expectations of a return to $80,000 should be lowered unless Bitcoin can confidently reclaim the 100 EMA and break above the declining resistance.

For the time being, BTC is essentially saying goodbye to that level. The likelihood that the market will turn its attention to consolidation or another downward leg increases with the length of time it remains below resistance.

Shiba Inu's worrisome signalAt a time when price action is still structurally weak, Shiba Inu is displaying a well-known but unsettling signal: increasing exchange netflows.

More than 10 billion SHIB are reportedly shifting toward centralized exchanges, according to the most recent data. This trend usually corresponds with rising sell-side pressure rather than accumulation.

In terms of price, SHIB remains trapped in a wider downward trend. The 100 and 200 EMAs serve as dynamic resistance overhead as the asset continues to trade below its major moving averages. The market has entered a low-volatility consolidation phase close to local lows after recent attempts to push higher were swiftly capped.

This type of compression frequently precedes a more significant move, but the likelihood of a downward continuation is skewed with increasing exchange inflows.

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Exchange netflows are important because they reveal intent. Tokens that leave exchanges typically indicate long-term holding behavior. Moving on to exchanges, particularly in large quantities, suggests getting ready to sell or reposition. Reaching the 10 billion mark is a significant liquidity event that expands the market's supply, not just noise.

The weak demand absorption is what makes this configuration more vulnerable. During recent bounces, volume has not significantly increased, indicating that buyers are not intervening forcefully enough to offset incoming supply. Even mild selling pressure can drive down the price in the absence of that demand.

This is not a time for investors to believe that the bottom is in. Although the sideways movement may appear stable, distribution rather than accumulation is more likely.

A crypto expert has highlighted a recurring pattern on the Dogecoin (DOGE) price chart that led to its historical 2020 price rally. At the time, the DOGE price had skyrocketed by more than 26,000%, turning many early investors into millionaires in just a few months. Now, with the current chart structure repeating the same pattern, the analyst believes that Dogecoin may be preparing for another historic rally, this time to a $2 price target.

Dogecoin Price Repeats Historic 2021 Bull Run Pattern In one of his latest Dogecoin analyses on X, market analyst Crypto Patel stated that DOGE is currently sitting within the same strong accumulation zone from 2021 that sent its price to an all-time high. He marked this zone at around $0.10, noting that Dogecoin traded around this level before jumping over 26,834% to $0.74 in the previous bull run. 

Crypto Patel noted that during that time, tweets from SpaceX and Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, had acted as a major catalyst to the meme coin’s upward price action. With renewed attention on Dogecoin, the analyst now believes that the fractal pattern from that past bull market is repeating in this cycle. 

He noted that the bull run between 2020 and 2022 had moved through Waves 1 to 5, with significant price fluctuations before finally peaking in the last wave. In his accompanying chart, Crypto Patel showed that in Wave 1, Dogecoin experienced its first breakout before jumping again to a new high in Wave 2. This bull run continued, with Waves 3, 4, and 5 all showing price moving higher before the peak finally triggered a bearish downtrend. 

Source: Chart from Crypto Patel on X Fast forward to the current cycle, Crypto Patel’s chart shows the market mirroring the same moves. Around 2024, Dogecoin experienced two breakouts similar to those in the previous cycle. After the second breakout, the price retested the former lows before experiencing another strong rally, marking Wave 3. 

Based on Crypto Patel’s analysis, the market is currently in Wave 4, following months of significant volatility and price declines. If history repeats, the analyst predicts Dogecoin could see another parabolic rally soon. His chart points to an upper price target around $2.0, representing a more than 2,767% rally from the current accumulation zone between $0.07 and $0.10.  

Dogecoin Whale Activity Surges Alongside Price While analysts maintain their bullish stance on Dogecoin, the meme coin is also seeing a surge in whale activity and price. Recent data shows that whales are accumulating Dogecoin in droves. 

A crypto analyst, Mando CT, reported that whale wallets holding DOGE have reached a new all-time high of 108.52 billion tokens valued at approximately $11.6 billion. He noted that large-holder activity has also spiked to its highest level in six months, reflecting renewed interest and demand for the meme coin. At the same time, CoinMarketCap data reveals that the DOGE price has risen by more than 3.4% in the last 24 hours, fueled by Bitcoin’s recent reclaim of the $80,000 level. 

DOGE trading at $0.11 on the 1D chart | Source: DOGEUSDT on Tradingview.com Featured image from iStock, chart from Tradingview.com

Analyst: Micron’s financial report indicates short-term fluctuations can be ignored as long as earnings prospects underpin its high valuation.

Senior Market Analyst Daniela Hathorn stated, "As Micron Technology's earnings report once again confirms that the AI investment cycle remains solid, the U.S. stock market has recouped some of its losses. This has boosted market sentiment across the entire semiconductor sector—after high-growth individual stocks underperformed earlier—indicating that as long as profit prospects continue to support high valuations, investors are still willing to overlook short-term fluctuations."

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Circle partners with Nomura Securities to enter the Japanese yen foreign exchange settlement service market.

Stablecoin issuer Circle plans to collaborate with Nomura Securities to launch instant foreign currency settlement for Japanese corporate clients as early as 2027. The initiative will enable large cross-border transactions to be completed immediately, aiming to boost cross-border investment and trade. This will mark the first entry of a major stablecoin issuer into Japan’s corporate transaction market, allowing companies to convert yen into US dollar-denominated stablecoins for investment and instant transfers.

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Institutions' Preview: Overview of US May Core PCE Price Index Monthly Rate

The US May core Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Price Index monthly rate will be released tonight at 20:30 (UTC+8). Below are the forecasts from multiple institutions: Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation: 0.2%; Royal Bank of Canada: 0.2%; JPMorgan Chase: 0.3%; Goldman Sachs Group: 0.3%; Bank of Montreal: 0.3%; Moody's Corporation: 0.3%; Standard Chartered: 0.3%; UniCredit: 0.3%; ING Group: 0.3%; HSBC Holdings: 0.3%; BNP Paribas: 0.4%; Wells Fargo: 0.4%; Capital Economics: 0.4%; Citigroup: 0.4%; Deutsche Bank: 0.4%; Nomura Securities: 0.4%; Pantheon Macroeconomics: 0.4%; Société Générale: 0.4%; Scotiabank: 0.4%; Morgan Stanley: 0.4%

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DA Davidson Raises Micron’s Price Target to $2,000, Retains Buy Rating

U.S. investment bank DA Davidson released a research note stating that Micron Technology has entered a new phase with one of the best performance visibility in the semiconductor industry, a stark contrast to its past standing in the sector. Driven by another quarter of results that handily exceeded expectations and positive forward guidance, Micron’s stock price surged sharply. These signals indicate that the current memory chip boom cycle is far from over. While the company is ramping up capacity investments (with capital expenditure (CAPEX) projected to hit $10 billion in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, which will bring additional supply), management expects the memory market to remain tight on supply and demand at least through 2027. Against this backdrop, DA Davidson reiterated its "Buy" rating on Micron and raised its price target from $1,500 to $2,000, equivalent to a 20x price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio based on the company’s 2026 calendar year expected earnings per share (EPS).

3 minutes ago

Morgan Stanley raises Micron's price target to $1,200, maintains 'Overweight' rating.

Morgan Stanley released a report raising Micron Technology (MU.O)’s price target from $1,050 to $1,200, while maintaining an "Overweight" rating. The investment bank lifted its fiscal 2027 earnings per share (EPS) forecast for the chipmaker by roughly 40% to $168, and upgraded its free cash flow (FCF) projection from $104 billion to $140 billion. Aligning with Micron’s management, the bank holds that AI will push DRAM demand to consistently outpace supply significantly after 2027. Micron’s last fiscal quarter results matched this trend, with both its quarterly performance and outlook showing notable upside potential.

3 minutes ago

editor-in-chief

Posted: April 16, 2020

The cryptocurrency market is one that has a host of altcoins existing under its umbrella. However, not every crypto in the market reports movements independent of each other. In fact, a majority of them remain significantly under the influence of Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, which is why many such altcoins often record similar market trends. The cases of Cardano, IOTA, and Steem are very much the same.

Cardano [ADA]

Cardano, the 15th ranked crypto on CoinmarketCap, has not always lit the community on fire with its rapid price movements. Cardano has, however, revealed a host of developments recently, all of which have been received very well by Cardano’s very vocal community. In fact, just recently, IOHK’s Charles Hoskinson’s announcement revealing that the Byron reboot went ahead without any issues was greeted very well by many. At the time of writing, Cardano was trading at a price of $0.03, having recorded a fall of over 10% in the last 10 days.

However, surprisingly, the fall in value took its own sweet time being reflected on the MACD indicator, with a bearish crossover yet to come. Further, the uniformity of the Bollinger Bands would suggest that volatility is going to be low over the next few days for ADA.

IOTA 

IOTA, once a regular entry in the top 10 of the cryptocurrency charts, was languishing at 25th on CoinMarketCap’s charts. At the time of writing, IOTA was being traded at a price of $0.152, with the token having fallen by over 11% over the last 7 days.

Here, it is interesting to note that IOTA’s aforementioned fall followed a period of relative growth that followed the Crypto Ratings Council, a self-governing body committed to a framework for digital asset adoption in the United States, giving IOTA a score of 2.0. At the time, IOTA had welcomed the same, claiming,

“This is a strong score for the IOTA technology, community, and ecosystem, as it shows our commitment, since day one, of positioning the IOTA token as a real-world value transfer mechanism between humans and devices in the machine economy.”

That being said, the technical indicators for IOTA weren’t so skeptical. While the Parabolic SAR remained bullish, the Awesome Oscillator suggested the lack of momentum in the market.

Steem

At the time of writing, the token was inching towards stabilizing its position in the market, with STEEM priced at $0.149. However, while some stability was found, the token was still dangerously close to its level of support that is placed at $0.109. Despite the token maintaining its level to some degree, it did register a fall of almost 14% over the past 7 days.

The aforementioned hint of stability was evidenced by the token’s technical indicators. While the Relative Strength Index had evened out on the charts, the Chaikin Money Flow had, at the time of writing, inched just above 0.

In a recent development, Binance has expanded its support for Phala Network (PHA), Steem (STEEM), and Usual (USUAL). Although this development provides a bullish outlook for these coins, they have experienced significant price drops due to the current bearish sentiment in the broader crypto market. Notably, these declines come amid Bitcoin dipping below the $92K mark. Phala Network (PHA) has seen a 13% drop in the last 24 hours, while Steem and Usual also experienced significant declines. While Binance’s move may bring enhanced liquidity and user engagement, the broader market conditions could still impact these coins’ potential to rally.

Binance Unveils New Trading Pairs for PHA, STEEM, USUAL, and PLN On January 9, Binance’s announcement revealed new trading pairs for Phala Network, Steem, Usual, and Polish Zloty. The new pairs, PHA/USDC, STEEM/USDC, USUAL/USDC, and PLN/USDC, will be available for trading starting January 10 at 08:00 (UTC). This move further expands its trading options, catering to a wider range of users.

The announcement also confirmed the introduction of trading bot services for these pairs. Notably, PLN represents the Polish Zloty, a fiat currency, not a digital asset. These trading bots will enhance user experience by enabling advanced trading strategies across Binance Spot.

However, users in certain restricted regions, including the United States, Canada, and North Korea, will not be able to trade these pairs due to regulatory constraints. The leading crypto exchange, Binance, continues to prioritize compliance with international regulations to maintain a secure trading environment globally.

Phala Network Expands Its Reach with Ethereum Layer 2 Solution Phala Network (PHA), a prominent player in Polkadot’s ecosystem, has launched a Layer 2 network on Ethereum. Developed in collaboration with Succinct Labs and Conduit, this rollup leverages OP Succinct technology, combining optimistic and zero-knowledge proofs. This transition allows PHA to connect with Ethereum’s robust user base while offering cryptographic computing solutions.

The project introduces Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) technology for secure, private smart contracts. With this, Phala Network aims to expand its AI capabilities, enhancing privacy and reliability for decentralized applications. Notably, the recent listings of Phala’s perpetual contract on Binance triggered a 300% price surge, showcasing growing interest in the project’s innovative solutions.

What’s Next For PHA, STEEM, And USUAL Coins Phala Network’s (PHA) price saw a 13% drop in the last 24 hours, trading at $0.2970. The token recorded a 24-hour low of $0.296 and a high of $0.365. With a market cap of $237 million and a trading volume of $152 million, PHA remains up 82% over the last month and 170% in the last quarter.

PHA Price STEEM price traded at $0.3028, with a 24-hour range of $0.28–$0.36. The coin was up 26% this month and 70% over the last quarter. It has a $146 million market cap and $613 million in trading volume.

However, USUAL price declined by 11%, trading at $0.65. It had a 24-hour low of $0.64 and a high of $0.75. The coin’s market cap stands at $341 million, with a $166 million trading volume, though it is down 36% in the past week.

Binance previously delisted trading pairs for Axelar (AXL), Coin98 (C98), and Enjin (ENJ) led to price declines for these tokens, as delisting reduces liquidity and market access. However, Binance’s listing of new pairs for tokens like PHA, STEEM, and USUAL could have the opposite effect. Listings on major exchanges generally improve token visibility, liquidity, and investor confidence, potentially resulting in price rallies. In other words, these tokens are expected to witness recovery ahead, given the exchange’s strong dominance in the market.

PANews reported on January 16th that, according to SoSoValue data, the cryptocurrency market sector declined for the second consecutive day. The DePIN sector led the decline with a 4.22% drop in the past 24 hours. Within the sector, Filecoin (FIL) fell 8.55%, and Golem (GLM) fell 10.07%. Additionally, Bitcoin (BTC) fell 0.74%, dropping below $95,000, while Ethereum (ETH) remained relatively resilient, declining 0.21% and still hovering around $3,300.

In other sectors, the CeFi sector fell 0.37% in the last 24 hours, but NEXO (NEXO) rose 1.13%; the Layer 1 sector fell 1.32%, while TRON (TRX) rose 2.30% intraday; the PayFi sector fell 2.11%, while Dash (DASH) bucked the trend and rose 3.50%; the Layer 2 sector fell 2.52%, while Mantle (MNT) rose 0.99%; the DeFi sector fell 2.59%, while River (RIVER) still rose significantly by 8.12%; and the Meme sector fell 2.93%, while MemeCore (M) rose 1.65%.

Crypto markets hit another new 2019 high yesterday; Bitcoin holding gains, TRX moving up ETH, XRP, LTC, BCH and EOS falling back.  Market Wrap It has been a wonderful weekend for crypto markets, the best so far this year. Bitcoin’s push through five figures has lifted total market capitalization to a one year high of over $325 billion. Monday morning markets remain buoyant as BTC has held on to most of its gains yet again.

The Bitcoin parabola has continued as it topped out at $11,250 during Sunday trading. It was the second time over the weekend that BTC broke above $11k but it could push no further and fell back twice. Bitcoin is currently starting to consolidate around the $10,750 level during Asian trading today. Daily volume peaked at $30 billion over the weekend which pushed market cap to $200 billion.

Ethereum also got a lift from its big brother as it finally broke above the $300 barrier. ETH hit a top of $320 yesterday before pulling back a couple of percent today to settle at around $305. Gains were solely on the back of Bitcoin as ETH remains slow to recover in comparison.

Altcoin Outlook The crypto top ten is starting to correct during Monday trading across Asia. Most altcoins are shedding their weekend gains with XRP, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, and EOS dropping 4 percent each. Only Tron has made a gain today with 4 percent added to reach $0.038. Justin Sun did not miss the opportunity to point out that TRX has flipped Stellar for a top ten slot as market cap topped $2.5 billion:

Back to Top 10 now. #TRON #TRX $TRX #BitTorrent #BTT $BTT pic.twitter.com/0OevisDE6M

— H.E. Justin Sun 👨‍🚀 🌞 (@justinsuntron) June 24, 2019

The top twenty is all red today as altcoins drop gains and remain weak. Cosmos and IOTA have dumped over 4 percent while Stellar and NEO are close behind. Monero and LEO have remained flat on the day.

FOMO: Lambda Launches Today’s crypto top one hundred pump is going to LAMB which has surged by 48 percent to reach an all-time high of $0.17. The Chinese decentralized data storage token has recently been listed on Bittrex and OKEx which is likely to be driving momentum.

Aeternity is also spiking at the moment with a 13 percent boost and Hedge Trade is the third altcoin with a double digit gain. Insight Chain is getting dumped hard as it falls to the bottom of the pile losing 30 percent. MaidSafeCoin and KuCoin Shares are also in pain with 10 percent dropped a piece.

Total market cap 24 hours. Coinmarketcap.com Total crypto market capitalization hit a one year high of $336 billion yesterday. Bitcoin’s push above $11k has contributed to most of it and altcoins dumping today has dropped total cap back to $324 billion. Daily volume peaked at almost $100 billion on Sunday but has since cooled off as markets correct slightly.

‏Market Wrap is a section that takes a daily look at the top cryptocurrencies during the current trading session and analyses the best-performing ones, looking for trends and possible fundamentals.

The end of the week brings the market back to a familiar situation. Bitcoin remains largely uneventful, gaining only $100 on yesterday’s price. Top altcoins appear to be on the same boat with the exception of ATOM and DASH, which gained 23.67% and 10.67% respectively.

Binance Coin has recovered from yesterday’s hiccup, while MaidSafeCoin has now posted a new ATH since July.

Cryptocurrency market dynamics since September 12. Source: Coin360 As the world focuses on Venezuela, Bitcoin is making inroads in another Latin American country: Cuba.

According to a report by Reuters, Cubans are appreciating crypto’s borderless nature. The country has been subjected to a decades-long embargo from the U.S., which completely disconnected it from international finance and made it impossible to obtain a simple debit or credit card.

Cryptocurrency’s potential is exemplified by Jason Sanchez, who is reported to have used bitcoin to purchase spare parts for his cellphone repair shop from an online store in China. Alex Sobrino, the founder of Telegram channel CubaCripto, provided more details on crypto adoption in the country. “We are using cryptocurrencies to top up our cellphones, to make purchases online, and there are even people reserving hotel rooms with (it),” he explained, estimating that there are 10,000 users active users in Cuba.

Still, crypto operates in an opaque grey field in Cuba. The central bank of the country has stated in July that it would explore the potential of crypto payments. But just like Iran, it might decide that a centrally-controlled digital currency could make for a better option – even though the pioneering Petro has failed to achieve its goals.

Cosmos recovers amid continuous software releases The ATOM token has had a strong performance this week. After posting its ATL on September 5, it has rebounded by 58% in the past seven days – most of it due to today’s 23% gain.

Excitement is building for the upcoming release of IBC, the Inter Blockchain Communication protocol. The third Release Candidate version of its Interchain Standards was published a few days ago. This will be an important resource for developers on IBC, paving the way for additional attention by the community. The project has also announced Game Of Zones, a gamified network test for the system.

What Games of Stakes was for Cosmos Hub, Game of Zones is for IBC 🤺

Are you ready for 3 weeks of back-to-back gaming? 🛠️

📌 Week 1: Test connections between zones
📌 Week 2: Test token transfers
📌 Week 3: Adversarial zones

🔜 Stay tuned for updates!

— Cosmos – The Interchain ⚛️ (@cosmos) September 12, 2019

Excitement around the fundamental drivers, in addition to a fertile technical picture, are likely to have contributed to ATOM’s cosmic performance this week.

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Coinbase Pro Announces DASH listing The markets have reacted to yet another Coinbase announcement. Trading is set to start on Monday, after a 12 hour period in which only deposits will be open. The coin will only be available on Coinbase Pro, previously called GDAX.

The announcement is responsible for almost the entirety of DASH gains this week, which are currently set at 12%. It’s worth noting that Dash will not be available for New York and UK-based traders, likely due to concerns about its privacy features, which led to Zcash trading restrictions last month.

MaidSafe price sees steady rise MaidSafeCoin, the token of the decentralized internet project Safe Network, has seen a steady rise in the last few weeks.

MaidSafeCoin price chart by CoinMarketCap What’s noteworthy about the project is that it had its ICO back in 2014. While the development journey was expected to be quite long, the fact that it is active after all these years is giving hope to its traders. Many other project tokens have simply flatlined since 2018.

The excitement is likely coming from MaidSafe reaching its Phase 1 milestone at the beginning of the month. Timely development updates and meaningful activity have also compounded the initial effect.

Last week we were beyond delighted to announce that we released real Vaults and therefore, we've landed at the Phase 1 milestone!

But what are Vaults, what's Phase 1, and why is this such big news? https://t.co/ja1tW8mmxk

— Autonomi (@WithAutonomi) September 6, 2019

Bitcoin Commentary By Nathan Batchelor Bitcoin is starting to push lower as we head into the U.S trading session, after the cryptocurrency ran into a wall of technical selling above the $10,400 level. Yesterday I highlighted this key technical area as the likely short-term bullish target.

The $10,000 level is now a possible short-term bearish target if we continue to see the BTC / USD pair losing upside momentum over the weekend.

The one-hour time chart clearly shows that a bullish falling wedge breakout occurred yesterday, once price moved above the $10,150 level. We are likely to see a re-test of the triangle breakout if we continue to hold below the $10,400 level; technical analysis shows that key trendline resistance from the triangle pattern is now located at the $10,000 level.

The $10,600 level still remains the overall short-term bullish target, should a more bullish scenario happen today or even over the weekend. A test towards the current monthly trading high is even possible if the BTC / USD pair finds renewed technical buying interest above the $10,600 level.

Via TradingView The Money Flow Index on both the one-hour and daily time frame has turned bullish, while the Relative Strength Indicator on the daily time frame has risen to its highest level since September 6th. The improvement in these indicators is definitely a positive sign Bitcoin.

*The recent bullish wedge breakout on the one-hour time frame remains valid while the BTC/USD pair trades above the $10,000 level.*

SENTIMENT

Intraday bullish sentiment for Bitcoin has notably increased from yesterday, to 60.00%, according to the latest data from TheTIE.io. Long-term sentiment for the cryptocurrency is largely unchanged, at 66.50 % positive.

UPSIDE POTENTIAL

If the recent bullish moves continue, we should then expect the $10,600 level to be a major area of interest for BTC / USD buyers.

The $10,960 level will be the next technical region for bulls to break, with the $11,700 and $12,400 levels then becoming the next targets for further breakouts.

DOWNSIDE POTENTIAL

The $10,120 and $10,000 levels are the main support areas to watch today, with the $9,876 level the most important technical area to watch below.

We should also consider the weekly price close. If BTC / USD bulls fails to close the weekly candle above the $10,600 level we should expect downside pressure to resume next week.

A full version of Nathan Batchelor’s Daily Bitcoin Commentary, together with his calls, is available to SIMETRI Research subscribers earlier in the day.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Andrey Shevchenko. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

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