Categories
Crypto Videos

Crypto User Recovers Lost Private Keys to Over $4M in Bitcoin! $$$


Crypto User Recovers Lost Private Keys to Over $4M in Bitcoin

A student has claimed to have found their long-lost private keys that accidentally HODLed Bitcoin starting as early as 2011. By finding the keys, he will be able to unlock more than $4 million in Bitcoin.

According to a Reddit throwaway account from BitcoinHolderThankU, they were able to cash out roughly $4.2 million in Bitcoin after finding the lost keys to 127 BTC on Dec 22, 2020. At that time, the price of the crypto asset was in the $23,000s. The user stated that they later liquidated the coins somewhere in the bull run.

“I spent the next week just trying to figure out how to safely and securely liquidate such a large Bitcoin position for the lowest price possible,” stated the Redditor. “I went back and forth between different OTC principal desks and ultimately ended up selling every single one of my 127 Bitcoin for a price of $33,439.02 per coin. The net was roughly $4.24 million.”

They claim to have earned the aforementioned Bitcoin in 2011 or 2012 through various “surveys, watching videos, as well as completing random tasks” to ultimately use the Bitcoin for purchasing in-game currency for the online game DarkOrbit. The lost private keys were reportedly never really missing, but rather forgotten on an older model Dell computer.

Unfortunately, if the Redditor’s story is true, they missed out on $1 million in additional profit by not just holding for a few more weeks. Since December 2020, the price of Bitcoin has experienced a lot of volatility and even hit $42,000 to reach new all-time highs. BitcoinHolderThankU stated that they “would not have sold all 127 Bitcoin” if the same situation presented again.

“To give myself credit, I did hold it for 8-9 years, which is more than the vast majority of cryptocurrency users,” they said. “I definitely would’ve done things a bit differently if I were given a second chance.”

Despite their sudden fortune, they said that they would avoid “expensive luxuries,” as well as that they intend to put the bulk of the funds into the S&P 500 index, adding:

“I don’t want to end up like one of those people who happen to win the lottery and then blow it all in a matter of months or years. I’m going to continue living my life the same way I was living it on Dec 21 and every day before that.”

Categories
Crypto Videos

Morgan Stanley Bought 10% Stake in Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy!


Morgan Stanley Bought 10% Stake in Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy

MicroStrategy has been in the crypto news for months now – this time regarding a major player joining in on their venture to become a major Bitcoin HODLer. Per a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission released on Jan 8, an investment bank mogul Morgan Stanley had acquired 792,627 shares in the business intelligence firm MicroStrategy. This massive investment represents a 10.9% stake in the company that has recently made astonishing investments in Bitcoin. 

While the purchase itself mostly likely happened on Dec 31, the news was released to the public nine days after that. The Morgan Stanley investment into MicroStrategy came after Michael Saylor’s company performing incredibly and its shares moving from $289 on Dec 8 to a whopping $545 as of Jan 8.

In August 2020, MicroStrategy took some very bold steps by investing crypto, making Bitcoin its primary reserve asset. At the time of investing, CEO Michael Saylor talked about why his company decided to invest so much into Bitcoin:

“This is not a speculation, nor just a hedge. It is a deliberate strategy to adopt the Bitcoin Standard.”

Just a couple of weeks ago, MicroStrategy announced a whopping $400 million securities offering, stating that the purpose of raising funds is to buy even more Bitcoin. As of Dec 21, 2020, the firm had managed to stockpile 70,470 Bitcoin. 

At current prices, MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin holdings came up to a worth of over $2.8 billion. 


Institutional investors such as Morgan Stanley have warmed up to cryptocurrencies considerably over the past year. Many analysts have attributed Bitcoin’s recent bull market to this institutional uptick, compared to the FOMO coming almost strictly from the retail market that was so critical to Bitcoin’s 2017 highs, which subsequently fell apart. 

 

Categories
Crypto Market Analysis

Daily Crypto Review, Jan 13 – Polkadot Outperforms the Market as it Heads Towards $10; Crypto Sector in the Red

The crypto sector ended up mostly trading in the red as cryptocurrencies such as Ether, Litcoin, and Bitcoin Cash dropped over 5% on the day. Polkadot was one of the few cryptocurrencies that managed to score double-digit gains and outperform the market by a large margin. However, this is purely due to fundamental reasons (immense support coming from the Binance exchange) rather than technicals.

Bitcoin is currently trading for $34,223, representing a decrease of 3.03% compared to yesterday’s value. Meanwhile, Ethereum’s price has decreased by 4.09% on the day, while LTC lost 3.07% of its value.

Daily Crypto Sector Heat Map

Metacoin gained 103.61% in the past 24 hours, making it the most prominent daily crypto gainer by far. It is followed by OVR’s 98.72% and Latamcash’s 92.88% gain. On the other hand, Amun Bitcoin 3x Daily Short lost 75.44%, making it the most prominent daily loser. It is followed by Zugacoin’s loss of 73.82% and KIMCHI.finance’s loss of 66.82%.

Top 10 24-hour Performers (Click to enlarge)

Bottom 10 24-hour Performers (Click to enlarge)

Bitcoin’s market dominance has moved down very slightly since our last report, with its value currently being 68.6%. This value represents a 0.1% difference to the downside than the value it had when we last reported.

Daily Crypto Market Cap Chart

The cryptocurrency sector’s capitalization has decreased since we last reported, with its current value being $948.23 trillion. This represents a $17.92 billion decrease when compared to our previous report.

_______________________________________________________________________

What happened in the past 24 hours?

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

Technical analysis

_______________________________________________________________________

Bitcoin

Bitcoin spent the day hovering between the $33,320 support level and the $36,640 resistance level, with its price mostly being in the bottom part of the range. The price even breached the support level and went past it on several occasions, but it always returned back up. While it currently seems stable and on decreasing volume, Bitcoin might experience a stronger pullback and an attempt to retest $30,000 once again.

BTC/USD 1-hour chart

Bitcoin’s technicals on the daily and monthly time-frame bullish, but contain some neutrality alongside the bullishness. However, its weekly overview is completely bullish, while its 4-hour chart is completely bearish.

BTC/USD 1-day Technicals

Technical factors (1-hour Chart):

  • Price is between its 50-period EMA and its 21-period EMA
  • Price is near its middle Bollinger band
  • RSI is neutral (50.24)
  • Volume is descending

Key levels to the upside:          Key levels to the downside:

1: $36,640                             1: $33,200

2: $40,000                             2: $30,640

3: $42,000                             3: $27,960

Ethereum

Ethereum has traded almost exactly like Bitcoin in the past 24 hours, both in terms of price direction and intensity. The second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap is currently in an extremely narrow and unsustainable range, bound by the Fib retracement level of $1,060 to the upside and a 2017 Fib retracement sitting at $1,047.

Ethereum’s 21-hour and 50-hour moving averages play a significant role in determining price direction and should be considered by the traders at all times.

ETH/USD 1-hour Chart

Ethereum’s technicals on the daily and monthly time-frame bullish, but contain some neutrality alongside the bullishness. However, its weekly overview is completely bullish, while its 4-hour chart is completely bearish.

ETH/USD 1-day Technicals

Technical Factors (1-hour Chart):

  • Price is between its 50-period and its 21-period EMA
  • Price is at its middle Bollinger band
  • RSI is neutral (48.60)
  • Volume is descending

Key levels to the upside:          Key levels to the downside:

1: $1,129                               1: $1,060.5

2: $1,211                               2: $1,047.5

3: $1,226.5                             3: $992

Litecoin

Litecoin has been pretty stable in the past 24 hours, with its price trading within a range bound by $128.4 to the downside and $142.1 to the upside. These support/resistance levels, alongside the 21-hour and 50-hour EMAs, will determine Litecoin’s future price intensity, while Bitcoin’s next move will most likely determine its price direction.

LTC/USD 1-hour Chart

Litecoin’s technicals on the daily and monthly time-frame are completely bullish. However, its weekly overview shows slightly less bullishness, while its 4-hour chart is almost completely bearish.

LTC/USD 1-day Technicals

Technical factors (1-hour Chart):

  • Its price is between its 50-period EMA and its 21-period EMA
  • Price slightly below its middle Bollinger band
  • RSI is neutral (51.37)
  • Volume is descending

Key levels to the upside:          Key levels to the downside:

1: $142.1                               1: $128.42

2: $161.5                               2: $114.75

3: $181.3                               3: $98

Categories
Forex Daily Topic Forex System Design

Building a Trading System: Elements of a Trading Plan

Now that we know the importance of having a plan, let’s discuss the necessary components of a trading plan.

A trading plan should consist of at least these elements:

  1. A basket of instruments
  2. A trading system consisting of timeframes, permissioning filter, entry rules, trade management: stop-loss, take profits.
  3. A position sizing methodology
  4. A trading record
  5. Trade-forensics analysis.

In this article, we will provide an overview of these elements.

A basket of Instruments

Every asset has its characteristics, and its market movement differs from others on volatility, liquidity, and ranges. Therefore, professional traders track a limited basket of instruments to trade. A few, even, specialize and trade just one instrument.

 

The best criteria to decide which are best are:

  • Liquidity: It means how much trading volume it moves. Illiquid assets are easy to manipulate, spreads (the difference between the bid and ask prices) are wider, and the trading rules fail more often.
  • Price Action: The instrument should have enough swings in the trading timeframe to merit trading it. Instruments that do not move or move too erratically are prone to failed trades. A security that trends are the best.
  • Familiarity: As said, your trading results improve if you’re familiar with how an asset moves, its usual support and resistance levels, the typical length of swings, and so on.
  • Economic Data: Economic news releases affect the security and trading signals fail at the time of the release. Therefore, it is advisable not to trade it in the vicinity of a news release.

The Trading System

As said in our previous video, financial markets are unbounded territories where each trader needs to set his own rules; otherwise, they will be influenced by his emotions and fail. A trading system is their set of rules that enable them a long-term success.

 

Timeframes

The chosen timeframe should match the availability to trade. A trader with a day job would need to select a daily or a 12-hour timeframe, whereas a full-time trader could use shorter frames, such as 15-min, one, two, or four-hour timeframes.

Similarly to asset selection, the trader must familiarize himself with how his assets move in these timeframes and evaluate the liquidity and range at different times and weekdays to choose the best periods to trade.

Permisioning filter

A permisioning filter is a way to avoid trading under determined circumstances. It can be a filter that allows only trading in the direction of the primary trend or an overbought/oversold sign that should be on for a determined candlestick or pattern formation to be valid.

The key idea of the permisioning filter is to screen the trades and pick the ones with the best odds of success.

Entry rules

Entry rules can be technical or fundamental rules to time the market, although we will focus on technical rules.

 

There are two philosophies regarding entries.

  • Enter on the trend’s weakness

This methodology aims to profit from pullbacks of a primary trend to optimize the price entry. Different indicators and patterns may help time the entry: MA crossovers, Oscillators, or reversal candlestick patterns such as the engulfing pattern or morning star and evening star.

  • Enter on the trend’s strength.

Enter on strength aims to profit from an increasing momentum of the price. We acknowledge the trend’s strength is increasing and recognize the trend will continue for a while. Technical indicators such as the Momentum, RSI, and MACD may help time the entry. Price action patterns, such as range breakouts, are quite useful too.

Trade Management

Trade management is a vital element of any trading system. It is responsible for getting out of unprofitable positions, trails the stops to break-even, and above to optimize profits or close the trade when the target is hit or when a technical signal warns of a trend reversal.

Many top traders value more trade management than entries. The money is won on exits, they say.

Money management should be consistent with the concept of cutting losses short and letting profits run. A sound trading system should present an average reward/risk ratio at least over 1.5, and ideally above 2.

Position sizing

Position sizing is the part of your plan that tells you how much risk you should take on a trade. We have had a complete video section on this subject, which we encourage you to study. To summarize it here, position sizing is the tool to help you reach the trading objectives and put drawdown under the levels that fit you. Finally, proper position sizing enables you to minimize the risk of ruin while optimizing your trading account’s growth.

The trading record / Trade-forensics

The path to improvement is an analysis of past results. Nobody is perfect, and, also, markets aren’t immutable but changing. A trading record is necessary to evaluate your system’s performance, detect and correct weaknesses, such as stops or target placements, errors in timing – too late or too early on a trade, and evaluate how permisioning filters work. Finally, the trading record will help traders know their system’s key parameters: the average profit and its standard deviation, percent winners, and average reward/risk.

Key Elements of the trading record:

The main data you should record on the spreadsheet record are:

  • Entry date/time
  • entry price
  • trade size
  • entry level
  • stop-loss level
  •  $risk of the trade
  • planned take-profit level
  • Exit price
  • Exit date/ time

Other desirable parameters that would help optimize stops and take-profit targets are:

maximum adverse price of the trade if there were no stops.

maximum favorable price of the trade if not considering the take-profit

The first one would help you find better places for the stops, and the second one will show you the best place for the take-profit placement.

Main Parameters:

With the suggested trading record entries, you will be able to measure the key parameters of your system:

Average profit: Total profits/ number of trades

Standard deviation of profits: Use Excel’s Standard Deviation formula

Percent winners: Nr of Winners/ total trades x 100.

Average Reward/ risk:  Sum of Profits / sum of $risk

You may find an example of a trading record in this forex.academy article. Furthermore, since we consider it an essential element to your trading success, we offer you to download our freely available trading log. You are free to adapt it to your taste and needs.

Forensics

After the closure of a trade, you should analyze its quality, regarding execution and goals. A losing trade does not have to be of low quality if executed according to your system’s rules. But it is necessary to determine if you’re acting according to the rules and assess how much of the available profit did you take.

Points to consider

  • Percent of the available profit ( if any)
  • percent of the loss you’ve taken ( if any)
  • Timing: has it been right, too early, or too late?
  • Exit timing: right, too early, or too late?
  • Stop-loss: Can stop-loss settings be improved?
  • Take profit: Can they be improved?
  • Average Reward/risk: is it according to your settings?

Also, after  a determined number of trades/weeks, you should assess:

  • Is the system improving or worsening over time?
  • Losing streaks: are normal for the system you’re using or due to bad stop-loss settings?
  • How many trades could be on profit if you’ve loosened your stops?
  • How much profit could you pocket if your take-profit levels were moved here/there, based on the maximum favorable price data?

 

This ends our overview of the main elements of the trading plan.

Categories
Cryptocurrencies

The Major Risks of Investing in DeFi and How to Mitigate Them

For a crypto enthusiast, there could never be a better time to be alive. First, there’s their growing acceptance as a store of value. Additionally, developers keep churning out exciting products promising to revolutionize our financial lives. One such product is Defi, and 2020 has seen its popularity grow in leaps and bounds.

To the Defi proponents, it is the magic pill that will cure the shortfalls of conventional finance. Often Defi Investments are portrayed as a sure way to wealth. Though, a keen look at the sector reveals the presence of pitfalls amidst the opportunities always touted. Making headway in this space, therefore, demands prudence.

What then are the risks accompanying Defi Investments? What are the ways of mitigating them? Stay with me as we unearth the risks to expect when you invest in the sector and the measures to protect your investments from them.                

Which are the Major Risks in Defi Investments?

We can categorize the risks in the Defi sector into three, namely, technical risk, financial risks, and procedural risks. We shall now embark on explaining each of these briefly.

Technical Risks

Technical risks arise from malfunctions in the protocols, hardware, and software of a Defi platform. They are critical since they compromise the platform’s functions. They include:

Smart Contract Risks

Smart contracts are the lifeline of Defi. They are central to the execution of most functions. Therefore any error in their operation will impact the Defi they run on and imperil users’ funds.

Smart contracts are human-made and, therefore, prone to bugs and other vulnerabilities. Unscrupulous individuals will exploit these to gain unauthorized control over the protocol’s functions. Recently, there have been reports of incidences of smart contract exploits that led to the loss of funds.

Hardware risks 

Hardware is the foundation on which Defi services run. Compromised hardware impacts the proper functioning of a Defi platform. Common hardware risks affecting DeFi systems include:

  • The power issues may cause unreliability of the service or application, diminished service life and performance.
  • Sensitivity risks result from degradation, humidity, dust, or other similar issues.
  •  Incompatibility risks can limit the speed of the system and other issues.

Software Risks

The entire Defi ecosystem runs on software. A corrupted software impedes the proper functioning of the Defi platform. These risks present in different ways:

  • Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks disrupt the normal functioning of an app or service.
  • Injection risks introduce malicious code into the DeFi software, for instance, SQL injection into web apps.
  • Uncontrolled format strings execute malicious code in a web app.
  • Overflow risks cause the software to skip certain functions or implement them in error.

Financial Risks Related to DeFi

Most information on Defi only speaks of the profit-making part. Whereas it is true that with wise investments, one can make a ton, there’s also the possibility of incurring losses. Financial risks are those that put you in danger of losing your funds. These include:

Impermanent loss

Impermanent loss occurs when you fund a liquidity pool, and the price of your deposited assets falls compared to when you deposited them. In an ironic twist, you discover that you’d have been better off hodling them.

Currency Fluctuations

The whole crypto space is very volatile. Cryptocurrencies experience upturns and downturns spectacularly. If you invest funds in a particular crypto asset, then its price falls, you experience a loss. The same obtains for staked assets. Should the supporting asset decline in value, it will take the supported down with it.  

Scams

The Defi Sector is crawling with persons and entities of dubious intentions. These fashion different kinds of scams to the detriment of unsuspecting investors. Some of the means they employ include:

Exit Scams

Unscrupulous promoters dupe investors by setting up a project with a seemingly attractive concept. They collect funds through an ICO and melt away with the loot. A case in point is YFDEX. Finance’s heist.

Pump and Dump Schemes

Whales create an artificial demand for a coin/token, thereby drawing in investors. Later they withdraw their funds at a profit. Consequently, the market plummets, leaving the rest counting losses.

Fake Airdrops and Rewards

Scammers create fake Airdrops and giveaways to access private keys and personal info. They then use these to defraud you of your funds.

Defi Rug Pulls

Defi rug-pulls scams involve minting new tokens, marketing, and listing them on Uniswap. The masterminds inject liquidity, convincing trusting investors to swap their ETH for the token. After that, the cons withdraw the funds leaving holders high and dry.

Procedural Risks in DeFi

These are the risks arising from one’s usage of the Defi platforms and attendant infrastructure. They include:

Phishing Attacks 

Here a malicious player duplicates a website or service, duping the unsuspecting into sharing sensitive information. Alternatively, they could send emails that install malicious code on their devices. Then they use the victim’s sensitive information siphoning their funds.

Pretexting 

A hacker poses as a representative of a DeFi service and convinces users to share sensitive information.

Exposure of Login Credentials

At times a user may knowingly or unknowingly expose their login details. Anyone with ill motives will use these to access their accounts.

Loss Of Login Details

Users may forget their login credentials. They, therefore, cannot access their accounts, leading to a loss of investments.

How Do You Mitigate Risks Associated With Defi Investments?

The Defi space can be unforgiving to anyone who navigates it without caution. One needs to guard their investments jealously. Here’re a few pointers on how to protect yourself from the risks outlined above:

Deal with Authentic Products and Services Only

Use products and services whose authenticity you’re sure about. Before settling on a product/service, DYOR! Look at reviews and recommendations about them. From there, you’ll get a good feel of what you’re getting into. Negative reviews are your cue to take off.

Use Multi-Factor Authentication

Secure your logins with several verification instruments. Examples include email confirmations, two-factor authentication, and multi-sig authentication.

Keep it Private

Treat your Defi investments like any other sensitive and personal information: private! Doing so helps ward off hackers’ attention.

Secure Your Digital Assets

The security of your investment is a wallet away. Hot wallets are ideal for actively accessing DeFi services. Cold wallets, on the other hand, are suitable for offline storage. Invest in a dependable wallet

Make Updates and Backups Your Friends

You must keep a backup of your sensitive information, including login credentials. Besides improving user experiences, upgrades, and patches of Defi solutions resolve vulnerabilities.

Takeaways

Don’t be fooled! Defi is not always about sunshine and rainbows. Behind the much-publicized good lurks danger. The Defi space is full of risks that can wipe out our investments if we don’t exercise caution. These risks present themselves in three broad categories: that is technical, financial, and procedural. Each of these broad categories has its specific shape of risks as has been elucidated. That said, any investor should take comfort that there are mitigation measures that they can take to protect themselves. Their judicious utilization will shield them from funds loss.

Categories
Crypto Videos

Biden’s $3T Stimulus Bill Could Make Bitcoin Explode!

 

Biden’s $3T Stimulus Could Create Another Bitcoin Skyrocket Scenario


The incoming Biden administration’s plan to print almost an infinite amount of money into the US economy and supply it with trillions of dollars could likely ignite the next leg of the Bitcoin bull market, as more investors seek refuge from the United States dollar.
Aan Arlington-based news outlet Axios reported that Joe Biden had asked Congress to provide Americans with a stimulus check of $2,000 to help offset the economic devastation caused by Covid-19. The incoming president has also proposed a tax and infrastructure package as part of his “Build Back Better” program. The package would be worth $3 trillion.

Biden also doubled down on his call for more direct relief to American citizens after Jan 8 disappointing jobs report showing a loss of over 140,000 positions in the last month of 2020.
He stated: “Economic research confirms that, with the current conditions such as the crisis today, especially with such low-interest rates, taking action immediately– even with deficit financing – is certainly going to help the economy overall.”
If 2020 is anything to go by, the new wave of stimulus could be another catalyst for Bitcoin’s rise as more money floods the market and makes prices into assets.

Even the current president Donald Trump, a Republican, has played a role in vast government outlays. Under his leadership, the US passed a historic $2 trillion stimulus package bill in March. Trump also signed a relief package worth $900 billion in December. This document would then pave the way for $600 stimulus checks coming to every American citizen.
The federal government’s inflation-increasing policies have coincided with interventionism coming from the Federal Reserve, which deployed trillions of dollars in 2020 to combat a liquidity crisis and keep overnight rates somewhat under control.

Although the aforementioned policies provided a strong backstop for risk-on assets – a category that has previously included Bitcoin – the emerging narrative surrounding Bitcoin is that it’s a hedge against inflation.
Institutions are currently buying Bitcoin with a clear purpose and are hoping to one day become the industry’s whales.


Bitcoin’s digital gold narrative has recently been one of the biggest catalysts for Bitcoin’s price increase, as well as the institutional shift towards it. This narrative helped fuel BTC’s 300% rally in the previous year, as well as it more than doubling in price in this year alone. This trend could increase in intensity in 2021 as the purchasing power of the US dollar continues to erode.
Even a giant such as JPMorgan Chase publicly acknowledged that Bitcoin is taking market share from gold.

Categories
Crypto Videos

Experts State Investors Are Dumping Gold For BITCOIN!


Experts State – Gold outflows “ALL Going into Bitcoin”

According to multiple experts in the crypto sector, one possible reason for Bitcoin’s incredible recent price rise is massive investor outflows coming from another popular hedge from inflation: gold. 

Spot gold dipped heavily over the past week, losing 4.62% of its value, bringing it to $1,857. The asset has previously been surging in unison with Bitcoin, which managed to increase its price by 40% from $28,000 lows.

In a Tweet that came out on Friday, Jan 8, Charlie Morris, founder and CIO at ByteTree Asset Management, stated that the pullback in gold might be attributable to investors moving from it and into Bitcoin:

Likewise, earlier that week, CNBC’s Mad Money host Jim Cramer stated that the massive outflows coming from gold ETFs are “all going to crypto.” If we track inflows and outflows from Grayscale’s Bitcoin investment trust and gold ETFs back this assertion, as Grayscale has eclipsed gold: 

The moves could possibly be a sign of Bitcoin’s status as a legitimate asset class is on the rise. Gold and Bitcoin have been linked for a long time as both are seen as a way to hedge against inflation and macroeconomic uncertainty. However, if the price movements in the previous period are any indication, Bitcoin may be winning the narrative race due to its unprecedented gains. 

In an interview with Bloomberg, chief revenue officer at Coinshares, Frank Spiteri, said that the narrative surrounding Bitcoin being an inflation hedge is quickly gaining legs “in the face of an environment with highly unconventional monetary policies.”

“It seems like we are in the middle of an awakening among institutions to Bitcoin as a fairly uncorrelated store of value,” he said.

The observations from experts come after a very unique flippening that happened a while ago: as of Friday, Jan 8, a single Bitcoin is worth more than a 20-ounce gold bar.

With that being said, for all the bearish price action and Bitcoin’s skyrocketing, certain high-profile gold bugs still refuse to budge on their positions. In a tweet coming from a longtime Bitcoin skeptic and gold investor Peter Schiff, he claimed that once investors “understand” the risk of inflation, they’ll return to bullion.

Categories
Crypto Market Analysis

Daily Crypto Review, Jan 12 – XLM Back in the top10 Cryptos by Market Cap; Crypto Sector in the Green

The crypto sector has experienced a rally that brought the market to its feed after yesterday’s dip. One of the best daily performers was Stellar Lumens (XLM), which shot up in the past week on great fundamentals (and once again today), gaining over 30% just a couple of hours, reentering the top10 cryptocurrencies by market cap.

Bitcoin is currently trading for $35,887, representing an increase of 1.28% compared to yesterday’s value. Meanwhile, Ethereum’s price has increased by 1.89% on the day, while LTC lost 1.85% of its value.

Daily Crypto Sector Heat Map

Amun Bitcoin 3x Daily Short gained 1186.87% in the past 24 hours, making it the most prominent daily crypto gainer by far. It is followed by PengolinCoin’s 366.58% and Firdaos’s 330.42% gain. On the other hand, Zugacoin lost 94.92%, making it the most prominent daily loser. It is followed by the True Segniorage Dollar’s loss of 85.08% and Zero Collateral Dai’s loss of 62.33%.

Top 10 24-hour Performers (Click to enlarge)

Bottom 10 24-hour Performers (Click to enlarge)

Bitcoin’s market dominance has moved up very slightly since our last report, with its value currently being 68.7%. This value represents a 0.1% difference to the upside than the value it had when we last reported.

Daily Crypto Market Cap Chart

The cryptocurrency sector’s capitalization has increased since we last reported, with its current value being $964.21 trillion. This represents a $58.14 billion increase when compared to our previous report.

_______________________________________________________________________

What happened in the past 24 hours?

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

Technical analysis

_______________________________________________________________________

Bitcoin

Bitcoin managed to stop its descending move and push up slightly after pulling back to the $30,000 mark. The largest cryptocurrency by market cap has (on decreasing volume) seen a price increase to just below the $36,640 level. Many speculate that, while the drop was considered very healthy overall, the institutions bought even more BTC, which brought its price up without affecting the volume as much.

However, BTC/USD doesn’t seem like it currently has the strength to pass the $36,640 level, which may cause another downturn.

BTC/USD 1-hour chart

Bitcoin’s technicals on the daily and weekly time-frame are completely bullish. However, its monthly overview shows slightly less bullishness, while its 4-hour chart is completely bearish.

BTC/USD 1-day Technicals

Technical factors (1-hour Chart):

  • Price is between its 50-period EMA and its 21-period EMA
  • Price is near its middle Bollinger band
  • RSI is neutral (54.63)
  • Volume is descending to average

Key levels to the upside:          Key levels to the downside:

1: $36,640                             1: $33,200

2: $40,000                             2: $30,640

3: $42,000                             3: $27,960

Ethereum

Ethereum has once again matched Bitcoin in direction after hitting the $907 support level, and changed its price direction by pushing to the upside. The second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap is back at its peak from yesterday and seems like it cannot pass $1,129 with conviction at the moment.

Ethereum’s 21-hour and 50-hour moving averages play a major role and should be taken into account when looking for support or resistance levels.

ETH/USD 1-hour Chart

Ethereum’s technicals on the daily and weekly time-frame are completely bullish. However, its monthly overview shows slightly less bullishness, while its 4-hour chart is completely bearish.

ETH/USD 1-day Technicals

Technical Factors (1-hour Chart):

  • Price is between its 50-period and its 21-period EMA
  • Price is between its middle and top Bollinger band
  • RSI is neutral (53.69)
  • Volume is descending to average

Key levels to the upside:          Key levels to the downside:

1: $1,129                               1: $1,060.5

2: $1,211                               2: $1,047.5

3: $1,226.5                             3: $992

Litecoin

Even though Litecoin did follow Bitcoin’s price direction, it did so with less intensity, causing it to ultimately be in the red for the day. Its price is now at a major crossroads, as it is fighting for the $142.1 level. This pivot point will decide whether the price will immediately push towards the upside or downside.

Litecoin has created a strong resistance level near the $150 mark, and traders should pay great attention to it when trading.



LTC/USD 1-hour Chart

Litecoin’s technicals on the daily and monthly time-frame are completely bullish. However, its weekly overview shows slightly less bullishness, while its 4-hour chart is completely bearish.

LTC/USD 1-day Technicals

Technical factors (1-hour Chart):

  • Its price is between its 50-period EMA and its 21-period EMA
  • Price between its middle and bottom Bollinger band
  • RSI is neutral (50.33)
  • Volume is descending to average levels

Key levels to the upside:          Key levels to the downside:

1: $161.5                               1: $142.1

2: $181.3                               2: $128.42

3: $186.3                               3: $114.75

Categories
Forex Daily Topic Forex System Design

Building a Trading System: Why do you need a trading plan?

The necessity of a trading system has been discussed many times. Still,  new traders don’t consider it important when, in fact, it is a crucial element.  Could you conceive building a bridge without a project, playing tennis, or chess, with no strategy?

 

 

 

 

 

The trading profession is alike. If you take this business seriously, you’ll need to have a plan. Else, you’ll be in the loser team, in which are 90 percent of traders.

Reasons for a trading plan

1.- The financial markets are not deterministic

A market is a strange place where you cannot predict an outcome. An engineer can design a bridge, knowing that he can predict the bridge’s strength and behavior under heavy loads with proper calculations.  In the financial markets, you don’t have the benefit of an analytical formula to success. All you can expect is a small edge. Not following your plan is comparable to random trading; thus, losing the edge.

2.- Not following a plan weakens you psychologically

When you buy a lottery ticket or play roulette, you’re entering a bounded game. You know the cost of your ticket, the reward associated with a successful bet, and you don’t need to make any other decision. All parameters of the play, including the exit time, are fixed.

The financial markets are different. Everything there is unrestricted. The trader decides when, how much, exit time, stops, and target levels.  With so many parameters, a trader needs to define his rules and stick to them. Otherwise, he will be shattered by his emotions and lose money.

3.- The need to measure

Traders need to record and analyze their trades for many reasons.  The first is the need to analyze their performance and see if it has improved or not. Also, if the system performs as expected or lags its past performance. The most important reason is that traders need to know the strategy’s main parameters: percentage of winners, reward/risk ratio, the average profit and its standard deviation.

A trading plan that fits you

New traders don’t know much about statistics, and trading is about odds and their properties. One of them is streaks. There are winning streaks and losing streaks. The point is, streaks are mathematically linked to the ods of the system.

Let’s think of a system as a loaded coin, in which the odds of a winner can be different from 50 percent. Let’s say the odds of a system is 60 percent instead.  That means there is a 60 percent chance the next trade is a winner, and, consequently, a 40 percent chance it is a loser.

But what are the odds of a loser after a previous losing trade (a two-losing streak)? For the second trade to be a loser, the first one should also be a loser.  So the odds of two consecutive losing trades in a row is 0.4 x 0.4 = 16%. The odds of three successive losers would be 0.4×0.4×0.4 =6.4%, and so on.

The general formula for the probability of a losing streak is

n-losing-Streak = prob_lossn

which is the probability of one loss to the power of n, the size of the losing streak.

What we have shown here is that streaks are inherent to trading. In fact, inherent to any event with uncertainty. Golf pros, football players, and spot teams are subject to streaks, which are entirely expected. Trading systems are no different.

So, what’s the problem?

There are a variety of trading systems. Some, such as the well-established Turtles Trading System, which is trend-following, have less than 38 percent winners, although with average reward/risk ratios over 5. Other systems show over 70 percent success but reward/risk ratios of less than 1.

The odds of a 10-losing streak on the Turtles system, assuming 38% winners or 62% losers, is about 0.84%. That means we can expect ten losers in a row every 120 trades.

On a 70% winner system, the odds for ten losers in a row are one every 200 thousand trades.

The rationale behind the turtle is to lose small and profit big. When a Turtle trader sees they are right, they add to their position, and on and on, following the trend.

People who use the later system are scalpers that jump for the small profit and get our fast before the movement fades.

Nobody is wrong. They trade what best fits their psychology. You need to know your limits, as well. Many wannabe traders move from system to system after only a five-losing streak, discarding a sound strategy when its first perfectly normal streak occurs. Also, most traders use sizes inconsistent with the expected streaks and lose their entire account.

By now, you should have learned the importance of having a plan that fits your psychology and trading tastes.

In the coming article, we will discuss the components of a trading strategy or system. Stay tuned!

Categories
Crypto Daily Topic Cryptocurrencies

The Best  Crypto Trading Bots Going into 2021

The increased acceptance of Cryptocurrencies is a boon for the financial sector. It promises to improve the inefficiencies of the mainstream financial systems. Again, their adoption expands access to services. Furthermore, it creates a unique investment opportunity. 

Their proliferation, however, is a nightmare to any would-be investor. According to CoinMarketCap, the total number of cryptos stood at 6,955 as of September 2020. Coupled with the fact that the crypto market never sleeps, this makes investments in the space daunting. We need solutions to deal with these challenges better. Here’s where trading bots come in.

Crypto trading bots are software apps that automate trade in cryptos. They scour the market for the optimal buy and sell values aiming to earn the user a profit. The volatility characterizing the cryptos market makes them all the more important. In this article, we look at them, factors to consider when selecting one, and finally, the outstanding bots going into 2021.

The case for Crypto Trading Bots

Crypto bots are essential in organizing one’s trades. Currently, the market is experiencing increased usage. Several factors explain this shift, and here we present the key ones.

i) Bots Eliminate the Human Element in Transactions

Left unchecked, emotions cloud the trader’s judgment. High-risk investments like cryptos require objectivity. Bots make transaction decisions based on rational analysis and interpretation of the market. This way, they eliminate impulsive and speculative trading that could imperil one’s investments

ii) Theirs is A Round The Clock Operation

The cryptocurrency space never sleeps. Again it is volatile. A momentary lapse and one could miss out on opportunities. Alternatively, they could incur losses. Here’s where trading bots come in handy. Their actions are automated. As such, they capture every shift in the market as it happens. This way, they save the trader the need to stay awake to track the market physically. Once configured, they automate transactions even when the trade is unavailable.

iii) They are Better at Multitasking

The crypto market is a maze. There are millions of transactions taking place in any instance. Physically tracking these is demanding even to the seasoned trader. Not so for the bots. They simultaneously track changes across multiple cryptos and exchanges. Thus they’re better at picking the best trades than us humans.

iv) Bots Streamline Transactions

For one to trade profitably, speed is essential. The market could quickly gain as it could fall. Unlike us, Bots execute transactions in a flash. Thus they enable timely settlements. Their use could make the difference between profit and loss.

Which Factors do You Consider When Selecting a Trading Bot?

Bots flood the crypto market. Each of these claims to be the real deal. Separating the quality product from the rest could be challenging. The following pointers will help you ease that decision:

  • Reliability- quality bots guarantee round the clock function.
  • Security- a good bot is robust and able to withstand attacks.
  • User experience- it should be easy to understand and use.
  • Affordability- a good bot offers efficiency at a fair rate.
  • Profitability- Quality bots enable users to achieve consistent profits.

Which are The Best Crypto Trading Bots Going into 2021?

Each crypto trading bot is unique. Moreover, no single bot is perfect. Selecting one boils down to individual preferences and how they fit into one’s trading strategy. Here are our best five picks moving forward. It is a random list, not an indicator of some particular ranking.

1. CryptoHopper

It is easy to use a semi-automated bot seeking to simplify crypto trading. It fashions itself as a tool that makes crypto traders maximize profits while reducing losses. Its key features include:

Social Trading

Through telegram trading, experienced analysts ( signalers) share insight on rising coins with other traders. Users may subscribe directly to these signalers. Moreover, they may automatically respond with a buy or sell order when it comes in.

It’s Cloud-Based

The service is entirely cloud-based. Therefore one can trade 24/7. One can log in anytime from any device.

Enables Exchange and Market Arbitrage

The arbitrage tool enables the user to benefit from the price differences between exchanges or crypto pairs. On enabling the bot, it searches for arbitrage opportunities. Besides, you don’t need to withdraw your funds from one exchange for another.

Market-Making

Through the market making bot, one can easily make markets and trade on the spread.

Strategy Designer

The strategy designer helps a user to develop a strategy enabling them to get the best trading signals. One can harness many indicators and candle patterns, including RSI, EMA, Parabolic Sar, CCI, Hammer, Hanged Man, and many more. Your Hopper will scan the markets 24/7 searching for opportunities for you. 

  • Backtesting/Paper Trading
  • Mirror Trading
  • Trailing Stop Tool

2. 3Commas

Incepted in 2017, 3commas is a popular crypto trading platform offering bot development functions. Its easy usage makes it ideal for users of all levels of technical ability. Its key features include:

SmartTrade

This feature allows trading across several exchanges from a single window. Smart trade allows you the following functionalities:

  • Trailing order- enables you to adjust Take Profit and Stop Loss parameters automatically
  • Smart Cover- allows one to sell and buy back their coins
  • Short orders

Wide Exchange Integration

3commas supports up to 13 different exchanges. This makes it convenient to trade over multiple platforms.

Portfolio Management

Through this feature, one tracks their investment. The user may:

  • Create their coin portfolio(s)
  • View portfolios of other 3commas users
  • Adopt other users’ portfolios to their needs
  • Balance their coin ratios

TradingView Signals

The TradingView signal finder allows instant tracking of the market. The signal finder issues four order types, namely:

  • Buy
  • Strong buy
  • Sell
  • Strong sell

Backtest

Users can simulate trading before executing actual trades. This way, they get to test their trading strategies and get a feel of the platform’s features.

3. Shrimpy

Shrimpy describes itself as the social trading platform for cryptocurrencies. It takes pride in simplifying portfolio management. Among its key features are:

Portfolio Management

Shrimpy enables you to connect all of your crypto exchanges and automate transactions. It helps you build a portfolio strategy. Also, through it, one can monitor the market. Its management tools automate portfolio allocations and rebalancing.

Social Trading

The platform has bet big on its community. Users have a forum for exchanging ideas and strategies. Again they get to educate each other on matters crypto. As a result, they increase their mastery of the sector.

Copy Trading

Shrimpy allows one to follow other investors on the platform. This way, they can model their investments on the leaders’. Copying the strategies of successful traders helps improve one’s profitability.

Robust Security

The platform boasts of robust security features. Each uses FIPS 140-2 security modules to encrypt all the API keys. Additionally, the platform only reads data for trading purposes. Therefore it’s unable to withdraw one’s funds. It also supports two-factor authentication.

Social Leader Reward

Through the social trading platform, Shrimpy creates leaderboards. Users earn $4 for every new follower they gain every month.

Shrimpy Universal Exchange API

Shrimpy offers its users an industry-leading API that facilitates crypto transactions, the instantaneous collection of data, and the management of exchanges.

4. Gunbot

Gunbot is an advanced bot allowing easy transaction of cryptos. After the user identifies a trading strategy, the bot automates it. Its popularity draws from the following features:

Multi-Platform Support

The software is compatible with different platforms. It runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, and ARM devices.

Multi Exchange Support

Gunbot supports the most popular exchanges. Additionally, the platform continues to support new exchanges. Further, it supports lesser-known spot exchanges through the CCXT library.

Strategy Presets for Beginners

For the uninitiated, trading can prove arduous. Gunbot eases things for the newbies. Its strategy presets allow them to trade easily as they learn the ropes. 

Wide Variety Of Trading Options

Gunbot users can buy and sell in 14 different ways. You can use all these methods within a customized strategy. Also, one may employ a set of confirming indicators to specify the trading conditions they want to allow. Including a stop-limit reduces one’s risk exposure.

Dollar-Cost Averaging(DCA)

Gunbot uses the double up method to average down assets automatically. The morbid allows one to reach a lower average price per unit as prices decline. Thus it enables exit at the lowest profitable price. Through DCA, one can set up the following options:

  • Trigger for DCA orders
  • The minimum price difference between buy orders while in DCA
  • Frequency of placing DCA orders
  • The ratio of volume purchased via DCA orders to the amount of quote units already owned.

Reversal Trading

Gunbot can automatically accumulate quote currency when prices go down. It does so without investing more than the initial buy order. This way, it helps bring down the break-even point.

Telegram Integration

Through telegram, one gets to interact with their bot. This feature enables:

  • Profit tracking- get profit/loss statistics for every trading pair.
  • Modify settings- change settings on the go, such as enabling or disabling pairs.
  • Get notifications on trades.
  • Monitor trades.

Final Thoughts

The crypto space is disruptive. Our continuing acceptance of cryptos is reshaping the financial landscape. Thanks to them, there’s the possibility of increasing financial access. Additionally, we can look forward to enhanced efficiencies and the opening up of investment opportunities. 

 As crypto markets are volatile and complex to navigate, we require better analyzing and strategizing tools. Crypto trading bots make this possible. They take the chore out of transactions while seeking profit for the investor. 

 In a market bursting with them, one should exercise caution in their choice. This article outlines the key factors to consider when picking one over the other(s). It goes on to identify the best bots going into 2021. Though not exhaustive, this guide is a good starting point in your crypto bot choosing journey.

Categories
Crypto Market Analysis

Daily Crypto Review, Jan 11 – Crypto Sector Plummets as BTC Drops to $32k

The crypto sector experienced dipped over $100 billion in market cap as Bitcoin, and the rest of the market plummeted. Bitcoin is currently trading for $35,165, representing a decrease of 13.31% compared to yesterday’s value. Meanwhile, Ethereum’s price has dropped up to 20.64% on the day, while LTC lost 23.04% of its value.

Daily Crypto Sector Heat Map

Foglory Coin gained 589.61% in the past 24 hours, making it the most prominent daily crypto gainer by far. It is followed by NewsToken’s 175.33% and BELIEVER’s 166.3% gain. On the other hand, True Seigniorage Dollar lost 78.35%, making it the most prominent daily loser. It is followed by the 3x Long Bitcoin SV Token’s loss of 76.74% and 3x long EOS Token’s loss of 69.18%.

Top 10 24-hour Performers (Click to enlarge)

Bottom 10 24-hour Performers (Click to enlarge)

Bitcoin’s market dominance has moved down over a percent since our last report, with its value currently being 68.6%. This value represents a 1.2% difference to the upside than the value it had when we last reported.

Daily Crypto Market Cap Chart

The cryptocurrency sector capitalization has decreased slightly since we last reported, with its current value being $906.07 1,03 trillion. This represents a $2 billion decrease when compared to our previous report.

_______________________________________________________________________

What happened in the past 24 hours?

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

Technical analysis

_______________________________________________________________________

Bitcoin

Bitcoin has had an interesting weekend, with its price plummeting in recent hours. Its price dipped to the lows of $32,330 just a few hours ago as major buy positions got liquidated. The largest cryptocurrency by market cap slowly fell below the 21 and 50 moving averages, confirmed its position below then, and then headed straight to the downside with almost no pushback.

However, bulls picked up the pace and are currently fighting for the $35,000 level. Investors used this as a buying/accumulation opportunity, while most traders got liquidated (both short and long positions due to the sudden volatility).

BTC/USD 1-hour chart

Bitcoin’s technicals on the daily, weekly, and monthly time-frame show a tilt towards the buy-side with no or slight signs of neutrality, while its 4-hour overview shows a slight tilt towards the sell-side.

BTC/USD 1-day Technicals

Technical factors (1-hour Chart):

  • Price is below both its 50-period EMA and its 21-period EMA
  • Price is near its bottom Bollinger band
  • RSI is near the oversold territory (37.28)
  • Volume is above average

Key levels to the upside:          Key levels to the downside:

1: $36,640                             1: $33,200

2: $40,000                             2: $30,640

3: $42,000                             3: $27,960

Ethereum

Ethereum matched Bitcoin in direction, but did so with increased intensity. The second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap dipped over 20% on the day as its price fell to just above $1,000. This level seems to have held quite nicely, creating space for Ether to recover.

Ethereum is now trading above the $1,060.5 support level and shows no signs of falling again. However, Bitcoin’s movement will greatly affect the future price direction of ETH.


ETH/USD 1-hour Chart

Ethereum’s technicals on the daily, weekly, and monthly time-frame show a tilt towards the buy-side with no or slight signs of neutrality, while its 4-hour overview shows a slight tilt towards the sell-side.

ETH/USD 1-day Technicals

Technical Factors (1-hour Chart):

  • Price is below both its 50-period and its 21-period EMA
  • Price is near its bottom Bollinger band
  • RSI is near the oversold (31.12)
  • Volume is significantly above-average

Key levels to the upside:          Key levels to the downside:

1: $1,129                               1: $1,060.5

2: $1,211                               2: $1,047.5

3: $1,226.5                             3: $992

Litecoin

Litecoin was one of the major gainers today as well, with its price dropping from $172 all the way down to $124. While bulls did pick up the pace and returned its price to the ~$140 zone, Litecoin is still fighting to maintain its position and tackle the $142.1 level.

Litecoin seemingly got hit the hardest out of the three cryptocurrencies, with its price position still being fairly uncertain. This could prove to be a trading opportunity as the cryptocurrency might make a move independent of Bitcoin’s move in the short future (if Bitcoin itself doesn’t move first).


LTC/USD 1-hour Chart

Litecoin’s technicals on the daily, weekly, and monthly time-frame show a tilt towards the buy-side with slight signs of neutrality, while its 4-hour overview shows a strong tilt towards the sell-side.

LTC/USD 1-day Technicals

Technical factors (1-hour Chart):

  • Its price is currently below both its 50-period EMA and its 21-period EMA
  • Price near its bottom Bollinger band
  • RSI is in the oversold territory (29.68)
  • Volume is on above-average levels

Key levels to the upside:          Key levels to the downside:

1: $161.5                               1: $142.1

2: $181.3                               2: $128.42

3: $186.3                               3: $114.75

Categories
Blockchain and DLT Crypto Daily Topic

5 Portals That Rate And Rank DeFi 

There’s never a dull moment in the Defi sector. Continuous innovation in the space affords us products and solutions that ease our transactions. Additionally, the thriving Defi sector provides alternative investment avenues. Further, the investments attract better returns compared to those from conventional finance. It isn’t a wonder that investors in their droves keep boarding the Defi juggernaut.

In a sense, the ballooning of Defi is both a blessing and curse, A blessing in that it expands our choices and gives us greater say over our funds. On the other hand, many competing products could cause us headaches in product choices. The fact that genuine and fake projects dot Defi’s landscape further exacerbates this dilemma.

Luckily though, we’ve portals whose mission is to take the difficulty out of Defi investments. These scour the Defi sector, analyzing projects and trends for our consumption. In them, we have crucial allies for navigating the Defi maze. This article examines five portals that rate and rank Defi to our gain. We shall proceed to explore the features that make them a must-have tool in our investment journey.

1. DeFi Pulse

DeFi Pulse site enables you to find analysis and rankings of Defi protocols. Its salient features include:

Total Value Locked

This metric shows the amount of funds locked up in various DeFi contracts. A high TVL is indicative of a thriving economy. Defi Pulse uses a graph to capture the daily TVL progression.

Market dominance

This standard ranks projects according to their liquidity levels. Projects with higher liquidity are a stable and attractive investment option.

The Market Leader Share Metric

The Market leader share metric gives you a glimpse of the Defi categories available on Defi Pulse’s site. Major types include Lending, DEX’s, Derivatives, Payments, and Assets.

DeFi Pulse Farmer

The DeFi Pulse Farmer is the site’s newsletter. It covers the latest news and opportunities in the Defi space.

DeFi Lending

The Defi lending feature shows the interest that these protocols generate per year. Through this ranking, you can determine the most profitable investments. The platform also has a calculator that shows you how much interest you’d draw per month by locking a given amount of an asset.

DeFi Pulse Token List

The Token list is a directory of the legitimate tokens trading on Ethereum.  It serves to reassure users that they are dealing with a genuine project.

2. CoinMarketCap DeFi page

CoinMarketCap (CMC) has distinguished itself to be a trustworthy platform. Its Defi page lists tokens simply and conveniently, allowing for faster searches. Its other standout features are:

Cryptoasset Ranking

Here you find all the assets that CMC lists. You get to see the asset’s market cap, price changes within a day or week, its volume, and circulating supply.

Coin Details Pages

These provide in-depth information regarding a coin. The “market pairs” tab features prominently on these pages. Market pairs have unique confidence indicators that aid you in picking an exchange to trade. This confidence score mirrors the exchange’s liquidity.

Exchanges

Here you get to compare how the different exchanges fare. The exchanges fall into different categories, including spot exchanges, derivatives exchanges, and decentralized exchanges.

CMC’s Watchlist

The watchlist feature allows you to mark your favorite cryptos. In this way, you can easily track their performance.

Headlines

Keep abreast of the happenings in the crypto and blockchain space with this tool. The embedded Signals feature sends you news directly from a project or a given crypto protocol.

3. Etherscan

Etherscan is an Ethereum based platform providing analyses of the Defi sector. It debuted in 2015 and one of the longest-running independent projects built on the network. Its mission is to provide fair access to blockchain data. Some of its key features are:

DeFi Leaderboard

Through Etherscan’s leaderboard feature, you get to find up to date analytics and rankings of DeFi protocols. The rankings take into account the total value locked into the smart contracts. From the leaderboard, one can skim the following information:

  • The project’s rank
  • The project’s name
  • Its category
  • TVL in USD
  • Price changes in a day
  • Price changes over a week
  • The project’s market capitalization
  • The market cap to TVL ratio

Token Tracker

Etherscan tracks and ranks two kinds of tokens. First is the ERC 20 token, and secondly, the ERC 721 token, also known as the Non-Fungible Token.

ERC 20 token Tracker

In ranking the ERC 20 token, Etherscan identifies the project by name, states its trading price, and changes in 24 hours. Additionally, it indicates the token volume within a day, the token’s market cap, and its total number of holders.

Non-fungible Tokens Tracker

This tracker ranks the top ERC 721 tokens. It identifies the project and its volume first within a day and finally in a week.

Yield Farms Tracker

Yield farming is an essential component of Defi. Accordingly, Etherscan has provided a rank for the top yield farming ventures. You’ll find the project’s name, its start date, addresses, trading prices, and market cap in this ranking.

4. Loanscan

Loanscan is your go-to platform in matters of Defi lending. It gives you access to financial information and analysis for credit issued on the Ethereum blockchain. The platform supports loans from Compound, dYdX, Dharma, and Maker DAO protocols. However, it plans to introduce additional protocols and blockchains in the future. Minimalist in nature, it has two significant features:

Earn Yield

Here you get to know the amount of interest you’ll earn investing in a given platform. Besides showing the earning in terms of USD, Loanscan also compares the yield across cryptos. 

Borrow

This feature enables you to determine the cheapest platforms to seek credit. Again it lists the platforms and their lending rates for different cryptos. 

5. DeFiprime

DefiPrime is a feature-rich portal offering comprehensive information on different Defi projects. On this site, you’ll find news and blog articles relating to Defi. Additionally, you can conveniently search for projects under several categories. Some of the main categories include  Alternative savings, Daos, Payments, and Staking. The site eases the process of finding projects as it arranges them in niches. Thus, it saves you time.

Final Thoughts

The growth of Defi has placed us in a quandary. On the one hand, we celebrate the convenience of transactions, expansion of financial options, and notably, the financial freedom Defi affords us. That said, their proliferation introduces challenges in determining which products to choose. As the sector has its fair share of legit and fraudulent projects, this difficulty gains in significance. All is not lost, though. Some portals undertake analysis of the Defi market to keep us in the know. Using these portals takes the guesswork out of investing, guaranteeing us fruitful experiences in the space. 

Categories
Crypto Daily Topic Forex Daily Topic Forex Videos

Forex Trading Algorithms Part 7 Elements Of Computer Languages For EA Design!


Trading Algorithms VII – Liberal sequences and exact sequences

Translating ideas into a trading algorithm is not always easy. When examining a particular trade idea, we could find two cases: 

  • the signal can be described precisely in a consecutive sequence of trading facts, or 
  • Several conditions with variable steps among each condition need to be spotted.

The first class is easier to program. To this class belong any kind of crossovers: 

  • price to MA: 

  • MA to MA :

Similar conditions can be created with indicator crossovers and level breakouts.

 

Trading Signals Using Pivots

But what if the idea is more complex?. Let’s consider we want to catch pivot points in the direction of the trend. Let’s say we want to open a buy trade in the second pivot reversal. Let’s follow Pruitt’s example:

Buy on the second pivot pullback if

1.- The second pivot high is higher than the first pivot

2.- The pullback is larger than 2%

3.- The sequence takes less than 30 bars

 

The Flag Model

Since these conditions happen with variable price-action sequences programming, this kind of entry is much more difficult if we employ just If-then-else statements. The employment of flags to signal that a specific condition was met helps in the logic but is not the best solution.


As we see, the flag model is awkward and not too flexible. Also, this method is prone to errors.

 

The Finite State Machine

The second method to this kind of problem is the Finite State Machine (FSM). Basically, we want to detect certain states following others, defining a state when the needed condition is met. An FSM is a machine with finite states. The machine moves from state zero or START through several states until a final one, which defines the ACCEPT state. 

We can imagine a state machine as a combination lock. We need to supply the lock with a combination of numbers until its final digit, which triggers its opening.

The first step is to create the states needed. Next, we create the conditions for the change from one state to other states. Once satisfied with the diagram, we can easily write the pseudo-code, or, even, the actual code directly.

As we can see here, the code is precisely subdivided into states, each state with the precise instructions to move to the next state or back to the start state. We can see also that this algorithm is executed from top to bottom on each new bar. We hope that this example will help you better understand how an entry algorithm can be created.

Stay tuned for more interesting videos on trading algos!

Categories
Forex Videos

Forex Trading Algorithms Part 6 Elements Of Computer Languages For EA Design!


Trading Algorithms VI –  The Stages of a trading algorithm

In this video, we will discover the different parts needed for a complete trading system. 

One of the most common systems involves the crossover of two moving averages, a short- and a long-term SMA. Let’s do a system based on this idea.

Creating a trading algorithm involves at least two stages: the entry logic and the trade management logic, and the position sizing logic. 

The Entry Logic

The entry logic sets the rules for entries. The logic can be subdivided into two sections: the entry signal and the Filter or Trade setup

The entry signal  

An entry signal is a moment in time when something happens in the asset. Entries can be MA crossovers, level breakouts, bullish or bearish candlestick formations, and so forth.

The Filter

A filter is a condition imposed for the entry signal to be valid. For instance, you can allow a MA crossover to the long side only if the main trend is up. Then, you can programmatically define the primary trend, and this is the filter. For instance, we could describe an upward direction when the price is higher than the +1 SD line of a Bollinger Band ( in which we set the bands to 1 SD instead of the standard 2SD). We could also say that the upward trend is the price above its 200-period MA, or when there are higher highs and higher lows. A down-trend can be defined using the opposite logic.

On mean-reverting assets, an interesting filter might be overbought/oversold indicators such as RSI, Percent R, or Stochastics curving against the current move, allowing then use of candlestick reversal signals.

We can also add a filter that excludes trades whose projected reward/risk ratio is below one.

As a caveat, the higher the number of conditions, the higher the probability of over-optimizing it. The best designs are those with a few parameters. Also, the higher the number of filters, the less the system will trade. Thus, not always a filter improves a raw signal.

When building your trading system, a sound methodology starts with raw entry signals and a time stop at a determined number of bars. If the entry has an edge, it will be proved by higher than 50% profitable signals after 5-10 bars.

The trade management Logic

Trade management logic takes care of open trades. It is constituted of at least a stop-loss logic and a take-profit logic.  It may include other decision steps, such as break-even logic and trail stops.

The Stop-loss 

We have already published several articles on stop-losses. There are several ways to set a stop-loss level. We can do it using a multiple of the Average True Range of the asset, using the last swing low (or high in the case of a short-trade), or by statistically optimizing the distance using John Sweeney’s Maximum Adverse Excursion (MAE) concept.

Trail stops are also a recurrent idea in trading, although the developer should test them and assess if they really improve the results.  The same is valid for the break-even logic. Both concepts seem logical and mind relieving, but I have yet to find their utility to improve a trading system.

In some trading systems, a time stop can be handy. A time stop closes if the trade is not profitable after a certain period or a specific number of bars.

The Take-profit.

Take profit logic can also be varied, from dollar-based stops to stops based on key levels, supports, and resistances or pivots. A take-profit condition may be set, too, when a signal opposite to the current trade happens, such as an MA crossover against the trade, the price below the -1SD Bollinger line on longs or over +1SD line on short positions.

Take profit code can be added for scaling out the trade, letting a percent of the original position open to ride the wave and improve profits when your trade is right.

Position Sizing logic

The position size logic is a final step that involves setting up the right trade size for the trader’s objectives. This step should be used only in real-time trading, not during the definition, optimization, and evaluation of a new trading system.

During the definition step, a trading system must be used with one trade unit, and its results normalized to its risk, so instead of dollar profits, it should produce a stream of multiples of R, a standard one-dollar risk.

Position sizing logic is key to maximizing the returns of a system and limiting the max drawdown to the levels desired by the trader.

We will further develop these concepts in the coming videos, with specific algorithms demonstrating how to create them properly.

Categories
Crypto Videos

IRS Will Start Enforcing Crypto Trading Laws Starting Now!


IRS Will Start Enforcing Crypto Trading Laws – Says Former Division Chief

A former top investigator has sent out a warning, claiming that “a high-stakes game of chicken” that’s currently happening between the Internal Revenue Service and cryptocurrency holders who fail to properly report their earnings will soon be entering a new phase. The warning stated that 2021 would be the year when the tax collection agency will begin to focus on pursuing “civil and, even criminal penalties.”

In an article co-authored by Don Fort, the former chief of the Internal Revenue Service’s criminal investigation division said that while the agency was focusing its resources on informing the public of proper reporting guidelines until now, it will now be turning to more stringent “enforcement.”

As he stated, “The IRS has been not-so-quietly positioning itself for a transition from education to enforcement in 2021.”

The article notes that the IRS will certainly enforce the law, starting with Coinbase. Coinbase answered a “John Doe” summons back in 2018 and handed over account information on close to 13,000 users, which could soon lead to crackdowns. 

The focus on crypto holders is partly due to a widening “tax gap,” meaning that the rift between the total income the Treasury gets from crypto taxes versus what the Treasury actually receives is larger and larger.

Ultimately, the article concludes that major trends, such as the addition of a question regarding cryptocurrency holdings now being prominently placed at the top of form 1040, only indicate that the IRS is slowly but surely gearing up for widespread efforts to root out tax underpayment.

“Even though the IRS has not yet made an announcement regarding mainstream tax evasion or money laundering cases involving digital currency, that trend should change in 2021.”

He ended the report by saying that “History has shown that underestimating the government is a fool’s game.”

Categories
Crypto Videos

Dash Is Selling Out It’s Privacy Focus In The Hope It Won’t get Culled!


Is Dash a Privacy Coin?

A recent tweet coming from Dash’s official Twitter account has invited much criticism. The outlash from Dash’s supporters is directed towards the fact that the cryptocurrency, which was once advertised as a privacy coin, is now wilting in the face of possible regulatory scrutiny and trying to pivot to non-privacy-focused crypto waters. 

On Jan 1, the US-based exchange Bittrex announced in a tweet that it would be delisting top privacy coins, including Monero, Zcash, and Dash.

The delistings of the top private coins follow a similar Dec 29, 2020 announcement that Bittrex would be delisting XRP as a result of an SEC lawsuit against Ripple, prompting further speculation that the exchange preemptively delisted the aforementioned privacy coins in anticipation of a wider regulatory crackdown. 

In response to the delisting, Dash announced in a tweet that they had immediately “reached out to Bittrex Exchange to request a meeting,” and that referring to the DASH cryptocurrency as a “privacy coin” is not exactly right. They added:


Taking a look back at 2017, on the other hand, archived screenshots from the Dash Foundation website show that the company advertised DASH as “the world’s first privacy-centric cryptocurrency.” The current Dash Foundation website has changed since and now says that Dash is “the leading payments cryptocurrency,” and doesn’t mention its privacy functionality anywhere.

In a recent tweet regarding the delisting CEO of DashPay, Ryan Taylor also minimized the cryptocurrency’s privacy features:

While the whole situation regarding Dash’s stance has prompted criticism on Twitter, proponents have noted that the cryptocurrency has released guidance on its privacy features in August. Official Dash website blog post shows that Taylor wrote that “regulators are concerned with exchanges possibly being unable to comply with KYC/AML regulations when transacting coins that offer privacy features,” because Dash is “often found on lists of cryptocurrencies with privacy enhancements.”

However, Taylor also wrote that Dash has been very successful in convincing exchanges as well as regulators that Dash is not a privacy coin.

The clarifications about Dash’s core focus come as a follow-up to an announced upgrade to Dash entering the testnet phase. This upgrade will include DashPay, a “social crypto-payments wallet.” 

Categories
Cryptocurrencies

5 Ways Investors Lost Cryptos in 2020

Without a doubt, 2020 is the year that the crypto community experienced significant growth. Cryptocurrencies regained much of their lost value and reached new heights, thanks to their growing adoption. 

The crypto industry continues to grow, and investors are laughing all the way to the bank. Along with all this good, there were a host of crypto scams that left investors with a bad taste in their mouths. But how did these crypto scams occur? 

Cryptocurrency losses due to hacks on the DeFi platforms, theft, and fraud amounted to $1.8 billion within the first ten months of 2020, up from $4.52 billion in the entire previous year. The 2019 DeFi volume figure was negligible, but it now appears the DeFi platforms are lucrative for bitcoin thieves. With up to $98 million in losses, DeFi hacks made up 21% of the total crypto fraud in 2020, which is quite significant. But why so many crypto scams?

The USD value in DeFi cryptos and other cryptocurrencies has grown exponentially, attracting the attention of scammers, money launderers, and DeFi protocol hackers. Everyone, including those that don’t want to put in the hard work, wants a piece of the Bitcoin profits.

Scammers use different methods to get a piece of the crypto cake, but according to a report by CipherTrace, Ponzi schemes and investment scams are two of the main ways that investors lost cryptos in 2020. 

Let’s have a detailed look at how crypto investors made losses in 2020, shall we?

1. Ponzi Schemes 

Ponzi schemes have emerged as one of the favorite vehicles for crypto frauds, and it seems they are not going anywhere. Usually, the schemes promise investors quick significant returns with little or no risk. 

The first few returns are made from recruits’ funds, serving as bait for more investment into the scheme. Most of the time, there is little or no business development in the background to support the pyramid of promised returns. Eventually, the schemes come tumbling down, and founders vanish into thin air with the investors’ money. 

The classic crypto giveaway scam moved to YouTube from Twitter in 2020. In one instance, a hacker hijacked tens of YouTube accounts to broadcast a crypto giveaway falsely promising to double your earnings within a short period. The Ponzi scheme was broadcast live on YouTube, posing as a message from Bill Gates, the Microsoft CEO. 

2. Exchange Hacks 

Centralized exchanges provide a platform for the buying and selling of cryptocurrency. They act as middlemen, with various currencies for trading in a partially regulated environment, and are a favorite of newcomers in the bitcoin industry.

Unfortunately, centralized bitcoin exchanges come with a variety of risks. For starters, the funds deposited are entirely on the platform owners’ hands, which is somewhat risky.

In September 2020, hackers made away with a large haul of cryptocurrency worth $275 million from KuCoin, a popular platform, becoming one of the largest hacks. The cybercriminals used various methods such as diversifying into multiple currencies and mixers to avoid leaving a trail. 

But the decentralized exchanges were not spared either.

Another high-profile bitcoin theft in 2020 involved the Cryptocurrency exchange Bisq where virtual currency worth $250,000 was lost. The hackers used a vulnerability introduced after a recent update to the network, allowing them to manipulate fallback addresses and send the funds to the wallets they controlled. 

Earlier in the year, IOTA Foundation had to temporarily suspend operations following a cyberattack targeting the IOTA wallet app. The organization took steps to freeze the entire system within 25 minutes of reports that cryptos were being stolen from users’ wallets. 

3. Social Media Crypto Scams

The #cryptocurrency tag on Twitter hosts who-is-who in the crypto industry, including tech engineers, investors, and programmers. But the social media platform is one of the several ways that crypto thieves used to scam people out of their hard-earned cash. 

Hackers took control of the social media giant back-end referred to as the “God Mode” by hacking Twitter employees to access high-value accounts. 

On July 15th, the verified accounts of famous personalities such as former President Barack Obama, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and Kanye West were hacked and used in a fake crypto giveaway. The hackers promised $2000 worth of cryptocurrency for just $1000, hauling over $121k of stolen bitcoins in the process. 

4. Sim Swapping 

SIM swapping is a relatively new crypto scamming method which is also gaining a foothold. Scammers convince the mobile service provider to move a number to a new SIM card in a device they control to perpetrate crypto scams. 

The method has become too familiar, especially in the cryptocurrency and Bitcoin industry. Usually, the hackers hope to access the victims’ cryptocurrency wallet through SMS sent to their phone for two-factor authentication. 

If successful, scammers access your phone, cryptocurrency exchanges, bank accounts, and other sensitive personal information to wipe your crypto wallet dry. Recently, Harvard University Ph.D. students and professors highlighted the increased risk of SIM swaps in 2020 in a research paper. Incidentally, one of the authors fell victim to a SIM swap.

In one unfortunate incident, a man lost $24 million through SIM swapping as a part of the coordinated attack. It has emerged that the 2020 twitter hacker was part of the SIM swap syndicate. 

5. Trickery by the Phishing Websites and ICOs

2020 has had more than its fair share of phishing scams, and especially in the crypto industry. The main route is often through email, where the scammers guide people to particular websites to steal their credentials, which they use to access their wallets.

Just recently, scammers successfully tricked an astounding number of people into visiting a replicated version of the popular cryptocurrency Ripple (XRP) ledger to steal more than $280k

Meanwhile, fake ICOs or the initial coin offering occur frequently and are a significant risk for bitcoin investors. Like an initial public offering, the initial coin offering’s main objective is to raise funds for the startup. But how do fake ICOs work?

Usually, fraudsters hype the project with fake ICO details to convince the investors. They use their website to promise heaven and earth to the users and then instruct them to make deposits in provided wallets. Sometime after the deposit, it becomes more apparent to the Investor that they were scammed. 

One good example is Big Coin, which used a variety of masked campaigns. They hyped their fake cryptocurrency’s capabilities and technical progression to convince investors and steal $6 million. 

Conclusion 

With cryptocurrency, due diligence is of utmost importance before dipping headfirst into the industry. Bitcoin tends to attract attention, especially when transitioning into the bull market. Everybody wants a piece of it, and less experienced investors fail to spot the red flags, losing money in the process.

It is still a crypto jungle out there, with scammers and thieves using old tricks in the book such as Ponzi schemes, hacking, and phishing, as well as inventing new ways to shake you off of your hard-earned money. But if there’s anything that 2020 has taught us is that the internet space can be very profitable, but at the same time, very risky. Analysts are in consensus that only education can help reduce the risks of crypto scams. Take extra care when investing and accessing your cryptocurrency wallets, and the whole experience will be worth it. 

Categories
Crypto Market Analysis

Daily Crypto Review, Jan 8 – Bitcoin Continues Its Rise as it Breaks the $40k Mark Briefly

The crypto sector pushed even higher as Bitcoin passed the $40,000 mark and created a new all-time high. Bitcoin is currently trading for $39,094, representing an increase of 5.35% compared to yesterday’s value. Meanwhile, Ethereum’s price has decreased by 1% on the day, while XRP gained 23.53% of its value.

Daily Crypto Sector Heat Map

COVER Protocol gained 2124.46% in the past 24 hours, making it the most prominent daily crypto gainer by far. It is followed by KIMCHI.finance’s 1159.97% and TAI’s 265.52% gain. On the other hand, Stand Share lost 74.11%, making it the most prominent daily loser. It is followed by the Receive Access Ecosystem’s loss of 61.71% and CY Finance’s loss of 56.34%.

Top 10 24-hour Performers (Click to enlarge)

Bottom 10 24-hour Performers (Click to enlarge)

Bitcoin’s market dominance has moved up half a percent since our last report, with its value currently being 69.8%. This value represents a 0.5% difference to the upside than the value it had when we last reported.

Daily Crypto Market Cap Chart

The cryptocurrency sector capitalization has decreased slightly since we last reported, with its current value being $1,03 trillion. This represents a $2 billion decrease when compared to our previous report.

_______________________________________________________________________

What happened in the past 24 hours?

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

Technical analysis

_______________________________________________________________________

Bitcoin

Bitcoin has continued moving up, with its price surpassing the $38,000 and $39,000 mark without much problem. The largest cryptocurrency by market cap reached as high as $40,402.5 level before crashing down as bulls could not sustain the price. The price instantly dipped to $36,388 but quickly recovered to the $39,000 area, where it is consolidating at the moment.

Bitcoin has positioned itself for another push towards the upside as it quickly found support in the 50-hour moving average, proving that it doesn’t even need to dip to the horizontal support levels to stabilize itself.


BTC/USD 4-hour chart

Bitcoin’s technicals on the 4-hour, daily, and weekly chart show a tilt towards the buy-side with no signs of neutrality or bearishness. On the other hand, its monthly overview shows slight bearishness in the oscillator sector opposing the overall bullishness.

BTC/USD 1-day Technicals

Technical factors (4-hour Chart):

  • Price is above both its 50-period EMA and its 21-period EMA
  • Price is between its middle and top Bollinger band
  • RSI is in the overbought territory (70.36)
  • Volume is above average

Key levels to the upside:          Key levels to the downside:

1: $40,402                             1: $38,140

2: $43,000                             2: $36,740

3: $46,500                             3: $35,610

Ethereum

Ethereum followed Bitcoin to the upside, pushing its price above its previous resistance levels and up to as high as $1292. Just like Bitcoin, Ethereum instantly dipped to $1,140 but quickly recovered. However, this is where the high correlation with Bitcoin ends, as Ethereum didn’t recover its recent highs but rather lost quite a bit of its value.

While it has recovered since the price dip, Ethereum is now right below the $1,211 resistance level. The cryptocurrency has a high possibility of passing it even if Bitcoin remains stagnant. Still, any moves that would contest the next resistance level would have to be backed by the largest cryptocurrency by market cap.


ETH/USD 1-hour Chart

Ethereum’s technicals on the daily time-frame show an overall bullish tilt with no hints of neutrality. On the other hand, the monthly, weekly, and 4-hour time-frames show some signs of neutrality or even bearishness.

ETH/USD 1-day Technicals

Technical Factors (4-hour Chart):

  • Price is above its 50-period and at its 21-period EMA
  • Price is near its middle Bollinger band
  • RSI has left the overbought area (63.27)
  • Volume is significantly above-average

Key levels to the upside:          Key levels to the downside:

1: $1,292                               1: $1,211

2: $1,420                               2: $1,180

3: $1,500                               3: $1,092

Litecoin

Litecoin followed the market as well, pushing its price further up and breaking its previous resistance level of $174.5. However, while LTC did manage to break this level and post a new high of $181.25 for a moment, the price was unsustainable, resulting in a classic price drop, followed by a failed attempt of recovering (the moment when LTC hit the $174.5 level after dropping below it) acting as a confirmation of a price drop, and then a full-on retracement towards the downside.

Litecoin has bounced off of the $152.25 level beautifully and is now attempting to pass the 50-hour and 21-hour moving averages and continue its move up.


LTC/USD 1-hour Chart

Litecoin’s technicals on the 4-hour, daily, and weekly time-frame are bullish but show some neutrality or even bearishness. On the other hand, its monthly overview is completely bullish.

LTC/USD 1-day Technicals

Technical factors (4-hour Chart):

  • Its price is currently above its 50-period EMA and at its 21-period EMA
  • Price at its middle Bollinger band
  • RSI is neutral (54.95)
  • Volume is on above-average levels

Key levels to the upside:          Key levels to the downside:

1: $174.5                               1: $163.7

2: $181.3                               2: $155.25

3: $195.5                               3: $149.3

 

Categories
Crypto Market Analysis

Daily Crypto Review, Jan 7 – Crypto Sector Market Cap Over $1 Trillion as BTC Approaches the $40k Mark

Most of the cryptocurrency sector ended up in the green as Bitcoin passed $38,000. Another thing to mention is that the overall industry market cap has reached past $1 trillion for the first time in the history of cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin is currently trading for $38,400, representing an increase of 10.78% compared to yesterday’s value. Meanwhile, Ethereum’s price has increased by 7.78% on the day, while XRP skyrocketed, gaining 46.55% of its value.

Daily Crypto Sector Heat Map

X Infinity gained 896.37% in the past 24 hours, making it the most prominent daily crypto gainer by far. It is followed by 7up Finance’s 298.93% and EveryCoin’s 278.57% gain. On the other hand, COVER Protocol lost 99.48%, making it the most prominent daily loser. It is followed by UniMex’s loss of 97.1% and Team Heretics Fan Token’s loss of 91.66%.

Top 10 24-hour Performers (Click to enlarge)

Bottom 10 24-hour Performers (Click to enlarge)

Bitcoin’s market dominance has moved down slightly since our last report, with its value currently being 68.6%. This value represents a 0.7% difference to the downside than the value it had when we last reported.

Daily Crypto Market Cap Chart

The cryptocurrency sector capitalization skyrocketed and passed the one trillion mark since we last reported, with its current value being $1,005 trillion. This represents a $33.51 billion increase when compared to our previous report.

_______________________________________________________________________

What happened in the past 24 hours?

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

Technical analysis

_______________________________________________________________________

Bitcoin

Bitcoin continued the upward trajectory and pushed past the previous all-time high with confidence, reaching a new high of $38,510 at one point. While the price did retrace after hitting the 37,800 at one point, but the 50-hour moving average created strong support, and BTC pushed back up to contest the all-time high level once again.

As we have mentioned many times, shorting of any kind and trading against the overall trend is most likely not optimal, and traders might find a good opportunity to long BTC each time it breaks the all-time high, as this is when it gets a large influx of buyers.

BTC/USD 1-hour chart

Bitcoin’s short-term technicals (4-hour and daily) are completely bullish, while its long-term overview is a bit more tilted towards neutrality.

BTC/USD 1-day Technicals

Technical factors (4-hour Chart):

  • Price is above both its 50-period EMA and its 21-period EMA
  • Price is near its top Bollinger band
  • RSI is in the overbought territory (72.04)
  • Volume is above average

Key levels to the upside          Key levels to the downside

1: $37,800                                 1: $35,880

2: $40,000                                 2: $34,800

3: $43,220                                 3: $33,100

Ethereum

Ethereum’s chart looks pretty similar to Bitcoin’s, as they both moved to the upside in the same manner. The second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap pushed past many support levels and reached $1,225 before descending slightly. Alongside Bitcoin’s move to new all-time highs, this move contributed the most to the overall crypto sector market cap passing the $1 trillion mark.

Ethereum is currently trading within a narrow range, bound by $1,169 to the downside and $1,211 to the upside. If ETH decides to move up, the next most likely resistance level will be the $1,341.5 level. If, however, it breaks this range to the downside, it has many support levels.

ETH/USD 1-hour Chart

Ethereum’s technicals on the daily, weekly, and monthly time-frames are fully tilted towards the buy-side, while its 4-hour technicals are slightly more neutral.

ETH/USD 1-day Technicals

Technical Factors (4-hour Chart):

  • Price is above both its 50-period and its 21-period EMA
  • Price is at its top Bollinger band
  • RSI is in the overbought area (73.41)
  • Volume is significantly above-average

Key levels to the upside          Key levels to the downside

1: $1,211                                    1: $1,169

2: $1,341.5                                 2: $1,080

3: $1,425                                    3: $1,050

Litecoin

Litecoin increased in price as well, but while its chart looks similar to Bitcoin’s and Ethereum’s, it’s important to notice that it did not break the high it made on Jan 4. In fact, Litecoin almost got to the $174.5 level but quickly pulled back to $165.

Litecoin found strong support in its 50-hour moving average, which held it above $165 and kept it from possibly breaking $163.7 to the downside.

Litecoin’s next move will most likely be highly dependent on Bitcoin’s short-term movement.

LTC/USD 1-hour Chart

Litecoin’s technicals are fully bullish on every single time frame and vary from “buy” to “strong-buy” indicators.

LTC/USD 1-day Technicals

Technical factors (4-hour Chart):

  • Its price is currently above both its 50-period EMA and its 21-period EMA
  • Price between its middle and top Bollinger band
  • RSI is nearing the overbought area (63.82)
  • Volume is above-average but descending

Key levels to the upside          Key levels to the downside

1: $163.7                                      1: $155.25

2: $174.5                                      2: $149.3

3: $195.5                                      3: $143.5

 

Categories
Crypto Daily Topic Cryptocurrencies

What is IDO? Is it the End of ICO and IEOs?

Cryptocurrency and blockchain aim to reduce dependence on regulated financial models and centralized platforms. Unfortunately, the majority of the exchanges are still running as centralized and in fully controlled models. 

IDO or the Initial DEX Offering has emerged as a solution to ensure independence and autonomy. The interest in the decentralized token listing is growing, indicating a desire to move towards a no-restriction and higher efficiency model, and that is where IDO comes in.

Initial DEX Offering is only a few months old, and it has already become a preferred method to raise capital in DeFi and distribute tokens. Admittedly, the IDO community is inexperienced, but still, it is making great strides.

Shortcomings of the Initial Coin Offering

2017 was nothing short of a fantastic year for ICO, and anyone with some white paper on digital currency could raise funds. But as it turned out, most of them were scams, and billions of dollars were lost, highlighting ICOs as scammy. 

ICO has its place in the history books as it represents the first method that investors raised funds in the crypto realm, but its weaknesses are quite glaring, and therefore the need to move past it. 

Essentially, investors in crypto startups did not have the necessary knowledge background to assess the project’s viability. Some of them invested in rumblings on white papers, and others in ICOs with staggering high valuations. But that is not all.

Initial coin offering had a loophole, and most scammers exploited it gleefully. After ICO fundraising, the project teams were free to collect the funds in one lump sum. Even if the project teams were truly committed to the project, receiving such a sum in one fell swoop was distracting, and the motivation to continue with the project would diminish significantly. 

The other shortcoming was the absence of a decent governance mechanism to safeguard the investors’ funds. People who put up their money were left stressing about their investments’ fate, continually sifting through everywhere for news, and there was also the issue of gas wars.

The most common way to contribute or participate in ICOs was through sending money from personal wallets. This created a “gas limit,” which is the maximum amount of funds you are willing to part with as transaction fees to move up the transaction validation system’s queue. 

Gas wars occurred when particular investors put up transaction fees too high to push rivals down the queue. Over time, the initially overjoyed investors for winning the gas war would then begin to sulk as regulators and other bodies started to examine some of the fundraisings’ legitimacy. For example, the SEC is beginning the process of filing cases against some of the concluded ICOs. 

Considering all these factors, legitimate projects can fail to get sufficient funding through ICOs. This is mostly because of the diminishing reputation and the need for a better alternative. 

What is IDO?

The IDO fundraising method has striking similarities to ICO and IEO. However, it is decentralized and based on DeFi, a robust, innovative, and scalable open finance technology.

An excellent example of Initial DEX Offerings is the Raven Protocol-built IDO, the first of its kind, hosted on Binance DEX. The others in operation include UMA (a Synthetic asset) and BZX, a margin trading and lending protocol. Many other platforms already have IDO dashboards and are looking to throw their hat into the ring.

Not too long ago, UMA, BZRX, and COMP used Uniswap, popular for its fair and smooth way to deliver tokens to the market. This method of distribution has become standard and is open to public access. IDO empowers users from different countries to participate in the trade. That means people from all over the globe can purchase tokens from Raven Protocol and other token vendors. 

The Difference between IDO, IEO, and ICO

The main difference between IDO and IEO is the fundraising platform hosting them. On the part of the ICO, the operations and transactions are managed on an inner platform. 

On the other hand, the centralized exchange IEO (initial exchange offerings) hosts “ICO” in-house and is, therefore, the ICO’s mutated version. Unlike ICO, IEOs offer an additional layer of intermediation, only allowing legitimate projects. Unfortunately, a large number of IEO’s are selling similar tokens to ICO, which may complicate the whole issue.

No doubt, the regulatory landscape governing crypto exchanges such as EIO is complicated, but that does not shield it in any way. The U.S. regulator has made it clear that ICO token sales are the same as securities issuances, posing a significant risk to IEO issuers and contributors. It is not an exciting prospect to invest in a promising project only to enter the SEC’s bad books. 

Typically, IDO (Initial Dex Offering) is IEO and ICO rolled into one decentralized platform. IDOs emerged with the DeFi rally as a new form of raising capital on a decentralized platform. In the case of IDOs, it is the active community members that vet and approve projects and tokens. This mechanism is somewhat favorable as it incorporates diverse opinions. 

Also, DEXes and IDOs are part of the push to decentralization as regulators begin to shift their attention to cryptos. Furthermore, the synergy between DeFi and DEXes reinforces their value in the crypto world.

The exchange fee for IEO is spiraling out of control as the market develops, and together with increased scrutiny by the regulators put it at a disadvantage. The advantage of IDO over IEO is in its decentralized nature and scalability. You don’t need permission from any authority to trade in the exchanges.

Is IDO Replacing IEO and ICO?

The birth of new technology is most often similar to a human child that goes through various stages before it matures. IDO is still in its infancy and is quickly moving to puberty, with various noticeable characteristics such as instability. The concept of IDO is no doubt exciting and may replace IEO and ICO sometime in the future. However, it has to mature first before it can take over from IEO and ICO. 

UMA, the synthetic assets platform which placed $500k into a liquidity pool, best illustrates the above point. The total supply put up was 2% under a starting price of $0.26, similar to what the seed investors paid a couple of years ago. Investors scrambled to purchase the tokens, and the bonding curve effect occurred, raising the price in the process.

Competing traders set up higher gas costs, resulting in a higher $2 price of UMA within minutes. Some buyers were dissatisfied as they purchased the tokens at a higher price than the initial investors. 

This is the same problem that BZX’s buyers face on Uniswap, with BZRX token prices rising to 12 times within a minute. There is still no IDO model that balances fairness and the need to maximize the capital. In the future, this goal may become a reality, but there’s some distance to cover. 

Conclusion 

No doubt IDO is the next big thing in DeFi and blockchain finance. However, it is still in the development stage, with instability and slight uncertainties, and it may be some time before it becomes mainstream and replaces IEO and ICO. In the meantime, IDO is in a wait-and-see situation.

But that does not mean you should stay away from IDO, at least for the time being. It means that you should be prepared to deal with the price instability until the platform matures and stabilizes in a not so distant future.

Categories
Crypto Videos

Another Boom For BTC As Retail Interest Is Bitcoin on the Rise!


Retail Interest for Bitcoin on the Rise as the Cryptocurrency Reaches New All-Time Highs

Twitter analytics data indicates an increase in interest in Bitcoin. Social media interest in the largest digital currency by market cap sets new records across numerous key metrics as Bitcoin continues to post new all-time highs well into the $30,000s.

In a tweet that came out on Jan 2, the official handle for The TIE, a cryptocurrency data analytics firm, showed that the number of unique Twitter handles tweeting about Bitcoin has hit a new all-time high. The previous number was set during the peak of the 2017 bull run and counted around 64,000 daily tweets at that time. However, the current number eclipsed that.

Joshua Frank, CEO of The TIE, posted additional information indicating that the interest is just starting to grow. It is not limited to Bitcoin but rather extends to most cryptocurrencies.

According to Frank, since The TIE’s post on Twitter that showed the number of unique handles posting about Bitcoin rising above 70,000 in one day for the first time ever, the new total monthly tweet volume has eclipsed the December 2017 tweet count high of 135,000 and reached 140,000. In addition to this, the overall number of tweets about crypto has also hit a new high of nearly 250,000 in a 24-hour period.


The increased volume isn’t limited only to Twitter, however. Google search volume for the term “Bitcoin” is slowly climbing in stride with the cryptocurrency’s price. On top of that, phrases such as “how to buy bitcoin” are soaring as well.

On the other hand, searches for “how to buy Ethereum” remain rather low, despite a 24-hour gain of 20% to as high as $950.

Many have speculated that the increase in interest is due to “FOMO” coming from institutions, which, alongside with a large supply shortage, further pushed the price up. 

 

Categories
Cryptocurrencies

Dash Is Known for Privacy, But Should You Invest In It?

Dash was developed with privacy in mind and to overcome the shortfalls that Bitcoin was facing. Originally introduced as Xcoin in 2014, the crypto has rebranded twice – first as Darkcoin then as Dash. Speculation that Xcoin was a pump-and-dump scheme were rife and likely contributed to the name change. As the altcoin was being renamed to Darkcoin, it received press, which pushed its adoption among darknet markets. Ever since, Dash has had a somewhat controversial reputation to the effect that even some governments pushed for their delisting. 

Arguably, Dash offers the best privacy guarantee in the entire cryptoverse – and this can be proven by how authorities get all fidgety at the mention of the crypto. Just recently, the US Internal Revenue Service announced a mega reward for anyone who can help them break Dash’s privacy and find the origin of transactions.

Despite Dash appearing like privacy is all it offers, it’s hard to deny that the altcoin is a worthy competitor to the likes of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin, which are darlings to many investors. The crypto features prominently among the top 30 cryptocurrencies by market cap. It has significant daily trading volumes and can be exchanged with most major currencies – both fiat and crypto.

But wait, considering the reputational and potential availability challenges the cryptocurrency is facing, should you invest in it? Well, read on to find out what makes Dash a worthy investment.

Performance in 2020 

When choosing a good crypto investment, financial performance is among the key metrics to look out for. Throughout 2020, dash has shown rather erratic performance – call it volatility. Opening the year at around $20, Dash quickly rallied to peak $140 within weeks. Those who took advantage of this bull run undoubtedly tripled their investment. 

But it wasn’t long before the bears came calling and sent the crypto back to $40 at the beginning of April. In the subsequent months until June, Dash traded at between $60 and $80. This was the least volatile period for the crypto in the year. Still, these fluctuations were significantly high by crypto market standards.

After a brief rally in August followed by a correction in October, Dash seemed to stabilize in December, trading at roughly between $90 and $100. 

As to whether the crypto has enough volatility to challenge investors, the answer is an unwavering yes.

24-hour trading volumes have consistently declined over the year, which could imply two things: either, investors are HODLing their coins or just not buying as much. Usually, declining trading volumes are associated with falling prices. As for Dash, this has not been the case, not at least in 2020. One conclusion we can draw from this observation is that Dash has a rare element of resilience, and we can expect it to remain afloat in both good and bad times. 

Does Dash Have a Future?

Dash’s performance in 2020 leaves little doubt about its potential for short-term profitability, particularly with reference to its volatility. Volatility in crypto trading, just like in forex, allows investors to take advantage of price changes to make their cuts. In 2020, Dash showed price changes of up to 500%, which implies massive trading potential.

Trading Dash seems lucrative in the short run, but if you choose to invest in it for the long-term, are returns promised? Well, the indicators below give more insights on the direction the crypto is likely to take in the future.

#1 Dash development is funded 

Worth noting is that Dash is a next-generation crypto and a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). The DAO is a collection of privileged nodes (masternodes) that invest back 10% of gains earned from mining. Well, this is not their primary function, but the dedication of a tithe to the network’s development promises sustainability, for instance, by building integrations fast and reliably. Unlike other cryptos, the continuous development of Dash does not entirely rely on a vibrant user community.

#2 The crypto responds to bull runs

In 2017 when a majority of crypto joined the historic bull run, Dash gained over 8,000%. Launched only 3 years before and trading at $0.12, the crypto had rallied to trade at $1,494 by the end of 2017. Dash entered 2018 with pride, flying as high as $1,000 – at a time when other cryptocurrencies were also flourishing. The entry into 2019 was not as flamboyant given the bubble had long burst, and most cryptos were heading for a correction. Even so, Dash maintained an impressive $100-$170 exchange rate. During past bull runs, the crypto’s behavior gives hopes that it will keep rising as other cryptocurrencies gain adoption.

#3 Crypto users are demanding more privacy

The demand for privacy across the globe is just increasing, and if there were a merchant trading this commodity, this would be the best time for them to cash in. From anonymous donations to buying what the government doesn’t want you to, privacy is increasingly becoming a selling point, and Dash takes care of this demand. To no one’s surprise, Alternative 36, Inc., an American e-commerce company, started accepting Dash payments for legal cannabis trade in the US.

#4 Dash offers superior performance 

Compared to Bitcoin and Ethereum, Dash payments are fast. As cryptocurrencies continue to gain adoption in the retail industry, Dash might become a more favorable option for payments than its mightier siblings.

#6 Dash’s ‘InstantSend’ and ‘PrivateSend’ 

Dash offers some transaction versatility. You can choose to send money instantly or wait for miners to work at their pace. Similarly, you can decide to send money anonymously or leave traces. This versatility makes Dash suitable for use in a wider range of applications, and hence, increases its utility. To guarantee the future of a cryptocurrency, the utility is everything. 

Regulators Have Their Eyes Fixed on Dash. Will That Affect You?

Regulators are clearly unhappy with the level of anonymity that Dash provides. In Japan, they pushed exchanges such as Coincheck to delist Dash and other anonymity-focused cryptocurrencies. The US Department of Internal Revenue also made clear its intention to crack Dash’s privacy and other anonymity cryptos. You probably have fears that you may become a victim of such heightened surveillance. While such an event is possible, it is worth noting that the crypto is used for many legitimate trades, and there’s no earthly reason why you would be victimized solely for investing in Dash. 

Final Thoughts

Dash is one of the best-known anonymity altcoins, and this reputation might have blinded investors from seeing the crypto’s investment potential. For short-term ventures, we have seen that Dash offers unmatched volatility, where investors can walk in and walk out with huge profits within months. In the long term, Dash is equally promising – based on past performance, support for network development, increasing demand for privacy, and its utility, which is likely to increase. While there might be concerns about the surveillance authorities have on Dash, overall, its prospects for profitability overshadow these concerns. 

Categories
Crypto Market Analysis

Daily Crypto Review, Jan 6 – Bitcoin Retraces after Creating a New All-Time High; Sector in the Green

Most of the cryptocurrency sector ended up in the green as Bitcoin pushed towards the upside and created a brand new all-time high. Bitcoin is currently trading for $34,801, representing an increase of 12.63% compared to yesterday’s value. Meanwhile, Ethereum’s price has increased by 9.47% on the day, while LTC gained 6.53% of its value.

Daily Crypto Sector Heat Map

Foglory Coin gained 3809.54% in the past 24 hours, making it the most prominent daily crypto gainer by far. It is followed by COVER Protocol’s 2102.06% and Birdchain’s 683.22% gain. On the other hand, MINDOL lost 74.94%, making it the most prominent daily loser. It is followed by Scanetchain loss of 71.12% and XLMDOWN’s loss of 55.53%.

Top 10 24-hour Performers (Click to enlarge)

Bottom 10 24-hour Performers (Click to enlarge)

Bitcoin’s market dominance has moved up slightly since our last report, with its value currently being 69.3%. This value represents a 1.1% difference to the upside than the value it had when we last reported.

Daily Crypto Market Cap Chart

The cryptocurrency sector capitalization has increased over 100 billion since we last reported, with its current value being $967.49 billion. This represents a $122.12 billion decrease when compared to our previous report.

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What happened in the past 24 hours?

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Technical analysis

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Bitcoin

Bitcoin has had another amazing bull run, with its price pushing from just below $30,000 all the way up to $35,879, setting a brand new all-time high. However, this is where the price hit a wall, and Bitcoin started retracing. The largest cryptocurrency by market cap is now trading right below the previous all-time high of $34,800 and is seemingly going further down.

With the volume being as high as it is, the most does not seem like it’s done yet. Traders should pay attention to how the price reacts to certain levels.

BTC/USD 4-hour chart

Bitcoin’s technicals show a strong tilt towards the buy-side with some neutral characteristics, with only the 4-hour time-frame showing full bullish tilt.

BTC/USD 1-day Technicals

Technical factors (4-hour Chart):

  • Price is slightly above both its 50-period EMA and its 21-period EMA
  • Price is near its top Bollinger band
  • RSI is near the overbought territory (65.11)
  • Volume is above average

Key levels to the upside          Key levels to the downside

1: $34,800                                 1: $30,807

2: $35,000                                 2: $28,337

3: $35,890                                 3: $26,340

Ethereum

Ethereum also moved to the upside, with its price slowly but surely going from $975 all the way up to $1,139 before retracing slightly. Its move, however, didn’t seem as forced as Bitcoin’s.

While the overall sentiment around Ethereum is bullish, the fact that it hit nearly the same high three times without passing it could indicate a possible short-term top and a retracement.

Traders should pay great attention to the area around above $1,125 and how ETH reacts to it.

ETH/USD 1-hour Chart

Ethereum’s technicals on the daily and weekly time-frames show an overall bullish tilt with no hints of neutrality coming from oscillators. On the other hand, the monthly and 4-hour time-frames show some signs of neutrality or even bearishness.

ETH/USD 1-day Technicals

Technical Factors (4-hour Chart):

  • Price is above both its 50-period and its 21-period EMA
  • Price is between its middle and top Bollinger band
  • RSI is in the overbought area (72.01)
  • Volume is significantly above-average

Key levels to the upside          Key levels to the downside

1: $1,047                                     1: $1,009

2: $1,080                                     2: $960

3: $1,169                                      3: $932

Litecoin

Litecoin moved in a much more narrow range than Bitcoin and Ethereum. Its price slowly moved towards the upside (with one hiccup that brought its price from $163 to $155) and reached as high as $165. However, this move didn’t create new highs or approach the recent ones either.

At the moment, Litecoin looks like a cryptocurrency that mirrors Bitcoin’s moves, but with less volatility. While this brings a bit of perceived safety, the truth is that the profit potential is also greatly diminished.

LTC/USD 1-hour Chart

Litecoin’s technicals on the 4-hour and monthly time-frame are completely bullish, while its daily and weekly overviews show some oscillators having bearish values.

LTC/USD 1-day Technicals

Technical factors (4-hour Chart):

  • Its price is currently above both its 50-period EMA and its 21-period EMA
  • Price between its middle and top Bollinger band
  • RSI is nearing the overbought area (65.96)
  • Volume is above-average but descending

Key levels to the upside          Key levels to the downside

1: $163.7                                      1: $155.25

2: $174.5                                      2: $149.3

3: $195.5                                   3: $143.5

Categories
Crypto Daily Topic Cryptocurrencies

5 Best Websites to Buy Bitcoins Directly from Your Device, Anonymously

Blockchains are secure and imitable, but these publicly-circulated ledgers aren’t anonymous. In contrast, crypto assets are designed for transparency. If you make crypto investments, analysts can dedicate sufficient resources to track down your identity.

The Bitcoin blockchain and other crypto networks qualify as financial services, and the law requires them to know the customers they serve. The Anti-Money Laundering legislation requires them to collect your ID at some point while serving you.

Most folks took an interest in these digital assets because they thought transactions would be untraceable. While cryptocurrency networks don’t offer anonymity by default, there are ways through which you can buy bitcoins anonymously.

The convenience of buying cryptos directly from your device is unbeatable, and if you can remain anonymous while at it, even better! 

In this article, we highlight some of the websites that make it easier for you to achieve this. These websites charge a bit extra than what bitcoins usually cost, but the kind of privacy you’re after does not come for free.

So, let’s dive into five of the best websites that are absolutely worth your time. 

1. LocalBitcoins

LocalBitcoins facilitates peer-to-peer crypto exchanges. It works pretty much like eBay, and it’s fueled by willing-buyer, willing-seller consensus. You can find numerous sellers offering their bitcoins for cash. P2P Bitcoin exchanges enable sellers to bypass costly taxation, and LocalBitcoins will empower you to buy bitcoins without any ID.

Through LocalBitcoins, you can directly communicate and make deals with potential sellers. The platform makes money from these exchanges by levying escrow services. These services are powered by Smart Contracts, making it hard for scammers to dupe diligent bitcoin buyers.

This website is reliable because it rates sellers by keeping reviews of their transaction history. Therefore, you can tell apart genuine sellers from scammers by just scrolling.

You’d be surprised by just how many sellers are out there. The great thing is that LocalBitcoins is available anywhere there are sellers, and you could buy bitcoins anonymously at your local coffee shop.

2. BitQuick

This website lets buyers purchase bitcoins via cash deposits. It empowers you to buy bitcoins fast and anonymously, but the cryptocurrencies cost a bit more.

BitQuick was launched in 2013 and is registered in Ohio, United States. This website only serves Americans, and it only accepts cash deposits. You can buy bitcoins anonymously from sellers by depositing cash to their bank accounts.

You can head over to the website and find suitable sellers. After agreeing on the pricing, the seller locks currencies into the BitQuick escrow, and the bitcoins are transferred to your crypto wallet when you deposit the agreed cash amount.

For verification, you must meet up with the seller, who should take a picture of the deposit receipt and upload it to the system. This service only charges 2% for buying bitcoins.

BitQuick only sells bitcoins. You can buy as little as bitcoins worth $10 and as much as $10,000 worth of bitcoins at a go.

3. Wall of Coins

Wall of Coins is yet another peer-to-peer marketplace for trading cryptocurrencies. This service is registered under Genitrust Inc., and it generates daily traffic of 25,000 unique visits.

Wall of Coins is famous because users can buy bitcoins anonymously via cash. It helps buyers and sellers to come together, serving the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany.

Enjoy anonymity, buying bitcoins without an ID because Wall of Coins is unregulated. You can buy and sell various cryptocurrencies on this website, which accepts three methods of payment, including:

  • Bank of America’s Teller Assist.
  • MoneyGram Deposit.
  • Cash deposits at banks.

This website does not impose transaction limits. It is also a great option because it offers a live chat, allowing you to communicate with sellers directly. You can also access customer support via phone calls.

Wall of Coins holds sellers’ bitcoins in escrow, and it releases them to you when you complete the payment instructions.

4. Bisq (Formerly Bitsquare)

Bisq offers fully decentralized exchanges, and it does not require any personal information or ID verification. Therefore, this service does not hold users’ funds.

It is a peer-to-peer network, and users exploit it for anonymity. They visit it via secure browsers such as Tor. Users trust the platform because of its open-source structure.

Bitsquare launched in 2016, and it allows bitcoin sellers to create offers by locking agreed amounts in escrow. Both sellers and buyers make holding fees of 0.001BTC, and they also pay transaction fees for the service.

Since Bisq does not hold any money, crypto or fiat, it uses arbitrators as escrows. Bisq arbitrators are frequent users of the platform who perform escrow services on third-party terms.

Arbitrators deposit huge security fees to Bisq to finance trust. If arbitrators make away with seller’s bitcoins or buyer’s fiat money, their deposits can make up for the losses. They perform this role in the pursuit of earnings from the transaction fees.

5. LocalCryptos

This website serves over 100,000 users in over 100 nations. It is a non-custodial platform offering peer-to-peer, decentralized crypto trade.

LocalCryptos empowers you to buy bitcoins anonymously, most transactions only taking ten minutes. No third parties are involved, and your messages with the seller are encrypted. This website is secure and trustworthy thanks to its blockchain integrity. It offers escrow services for you to buy bitcoins online without the fear of loss.

This Australian crypto exchange lets you track ads of people selling various cryptocurrencies. It does not impose national restrictions, and it is welcoming to foreign investors. 

The ease of use is phenomenal. You have over 40 payment options available, and you can use non-custodial wallets to enhance control over your financial assets.

LocalCryptos will charge you 0.75% in trading fees when you buy on its platform.

Parting Shot

Bitcoins are pseudo-anonymous, but most supporting services such as emails, banks, and custodial wallets require ID verification. Analysts just need to pick up your number or email address to reveal your identity.

Your best shot of buying bitcoins anonymously is through peer-to-peer exchanges. Sellers on these platforms are probably just as motivated as you are in seeking anonymity. 

No matter how anonymous websites selling bitcoins get, it beats the point if you use custodial wallets. Non-custodial bitcoin wallets don’t require your ID verification, but custodial wallets report to financial regulators.

Don’t get anonymous money and take it straight to the scrutiny of third-parties. Use non-custodial digital wallets with the best websites to buy bitcoins directly from your device, anonymously.

Do you know of other ways to buy bitcoins anonymously? Be kind enough to share your proven tricks with us in the comments section. Also, feel free to share this piece with loved ones who want to buy bitcoins anonymously.

Categories
Crypto Videos

Miners Can’t Produce Enough BTC – The Reason BTC is Skyrocketing!


Miners Can’t Produce Enough BTC – The Reason BTC is Skyrocketing

Institutional crypto investment company Grayscale now has $20 billion under its control as its consistent Bitcoin buys heavily outstrip production. The ratio of Grayscale Bitcoin buys to BTC production is has now increased to almost three to one.

 

As noted by data analytics firm Coin98, Grayscale bought close to three times more Bitcoin than the amount miners added to the market in December 2020.

Miners can’t produce enough Bitcoin

In Dec, Grayscale added a total of 72,950 BTC to its assets under management (AUM). Over the same period, miners generated just 28,112 BTC, being only 38.5% of Grayscale’s buy-in.

These figures underscore what many currently describe as an ongoing liquidity squeeze in Bitcoin, where large, mostly institutional buyers, suck up any available supply and completely remove it from circulation, sending it to cold storage for long-term holding. This then creates a lack of supply while the retail demand remains constant of increases, causing the price of Bitcoin to rise exponentially, just like it did on Jan 3, where Bitcoin’s price skyrocketed and reached past $33,000.

The phenomenon of institutional investors sweeping the available supply was already visible in Nov 2020, but Dec 2020 saw a clear increase in demand from both Grayscale and other institutional entities.

Grayscale controls over $20 billion in crypto

Grayscale CEO Barry Silbert celebrated the end of 2020 by bringing the company’s total assets under management across its various crypto funds to over $20 billion. Looking back just one year ago, the figure stood at, compared to now, a mere $2 billion.


The company remains the single largest institutional player on the Bitcoin scene, far outstripping any other market participant. Its BTC holdings were coming out to $17.475 billion on the first day of 2021, with this number growing to an even higher dollar value as Bitcoin pumped to over $34,000. Newcomer MicroStrategy, while not an investment-focused company, now controls 70,470 BTC.

Going forward, analysts predict that the increasing demand for the fixed supply of newly mined Bitcoin will only create a bidding war and push the price further up. 

 

Categories
Crypto Videos

Privacy Is Dead – Bittrex to Remove the US Privacy Coin Markets! Withdraw Your Tokens Or Lose Them!


Bittrex to Remove the US Privacy Coin Markets – No More Monero, Zcash, and Dash Trading

Bittrex announced on Dec 29 that its exchange will soon be removing the US markets for the three of the largest privacy coins by market cap. The privacy coin market removal will happen on Jan 15.

In the announcement, Bittrex stated it is giving its users up to 30 days to withdraw their holdings:

“After the markets are removed, Bittrex would seek to provide its users with up to 30 days to withdraw any delisted tokens. However, in certain instances, the withdrawal period may be shortened. Users are advised to withdraw any tokens before the aforementioned withdrawal deadline.”

While a specific reason for the delisting wasn’t announced in the post, The Block’s Director of Research Larry Cermak speculated that the delisting is coming as a response to the latest FATF (Financial Action Task Force) pressure talk regarding AML regulations recommendations.

According to Bloomberg, all “virtual/digital asset service providers” (VASPs) will be obligated to collect information about their customers as well as the recipients of funds, and then send that data to the receiver’s service provider with each transaction.

As FATF recognizes cryptocurrency exchanges as virtual asset service providers, they will essentially be held to the same standards that banks and other financial service providers are held to. The new standards, published on Friday, Jun 21, 2020, are the officialization of FATF’s proposal made earlier in February 2020.

The controversial rule caused turmoil and was not well received by the crypto industry, as many crypto exchanges and wallet providers simply aren’t equipped to collect and send the data that would be required by FATF.

In response to the announcement that Bittrex shared on its official Twitter account, the prices of top privacy coins such as Monero, Zcash, and Dash all dropped in the range of 7 to 15 percent.

Categories
Cryptocurrencies

 9 Best Blockchain Project Ideas for 2021

The blockchain market is estimated to exceed $39.7 billion by 2025, thanks to a growing need for smooth supplier management and simplified business operations. Blockchain promises secure data and easier recording of the transaction value. 

Since its introduction in 2009, blockchain has been a revelation for businesses looking to use technology to transform their current business model for more reliability, security, and transparency. Similar to 2020, blockchain technology is transitioning from the experimental stage to real business-ready solutions.

The adoption rate across different markets is expected to rise, and this presents a business opportunity. If you are looking to make your mark through blockchain technologies, then the following ideas will come in handy. 

Blockchain Digital Identity

Contemporary businesses often collect a lot of personal information, creating new business risks. Investments in powerful data vaults are not viable in the long run, as the tight-lipped systems can affect the drive for true customer understanding and product development. 

By 2025, the number of interconnected devices is estimated to rise to 22 billion. The majority of IoT technologies do not incorporate critical access and identity controls. There are already some major IT vendors providing IoT management systems to bridge the gap, but they often fall short.

The mismatching standards and hundreds of traditional servers make it complicated to implement management capabilities across devices. Blockchain promises practical solutions for interconnected devices.

The Distributed Ledger technology based on blockchain will ensure secure data storage in a tamper-proof, unified, and interoperable infrastructure. The benefit is a smooth and straightforward identification for employees and clients in some of the most sensitive industries. 

Blockchain digital identity is expected to improve manageability and control of personally identifiable information. So far, IBM and Accenture are some of the companies throwing their hat into the ring and already making significant progress with the blockchain digital identity project. 

Healthcare Medical Records Management

There are claims that blockchain technology can save billions in support function costs, staff costs, data breach, and IT-related costs in the healthcare industry.

A decentralized and secure blockchain-powered platform can support the storage and exchange of personal medical data. Hospital staff can then easily use the technology to update medical records.

One of the industry pioneers is Medicalchain, and they are already making significant progress, having signed a cooperation agreement with Mayo clinic. But still, the healthcare industry is largely uncharted territory, especially in the management of medical records, and therefore a great blockchain project idea for 2021. 

Stock Market Application 

The stock market has transformed many people’s lives and is an essential foundation for a country’s economy. It has its shortcomings, and the application of blockchain technology can significantly enhance its efficiency.

One area that blockchain can transform tremendously is the settlement process that every trade has to go through, which takes several days. The delays come from exchanges, clearinghouses, and regulatory processes. 

A blockchain system can potentially reduce the settlement process time to only a few minutes. The system is more efficient, and stock market trading will become more efficient with the advantage of decreasing errors.

A blockchain-based stock market application has the following advantages:

  • Easy to use
  • Enhanced transparency and fairness
  • Improved interoperability to increase trust
  • The clearing and settlement process becomes quick and easy
  • Risk containment mechanism

Logistics and Transport

Most of the logistics and supply chain systems are ineffective and outdated. Getting rid of intermediaries and improving transparency and efficiency in logistics can save companies millions of dollars.

Typically, a decentralized supply chain system that leverages blockchain technology and the Internet of Things (IoT) can improve transactions’ reliability and automate product traceability. Authentication for the transactions can be through blockchain to minimize errors and replace ineffective manual practices. The blockchain-enabled controls will reduce the chances of introducing counterfeit products into the supply chain, thereby ensuring integrity.

In transport, the blockchain technologies are scalable, immediate, easy to authenticate and track. With the blockchain’s help, businesses can easily track their truck components on a digital ledger for efficiency and reduced costs. The decentralized public ledger will record all adjustments in real-time and reduce clerical errors. 

The following factors are some of the things that make this an exciting blockchain project idea for 2021: 

  • Reduced transport costs
  • Easy documentation and coordination
  • Improved security and authentication
  • Quick and easy approval and clearance

Although companies such as Chronicled have already started the project in 2020, there is still much to do in logistics and supply chain management for 2021.

Decentralized Apps

Basing a business on Bitcoin (BTC) is not the wisest decision, as the system is vulnerable to high fees and instability. Currently, the BTC developers do not have a clear roadmap, which can sometimes affect the business model in the future. 

Decentralized applications (dApps) are based on blockchain and outside the control of a single entity. A standard web application such as Facebook runs on a computer system, where a single organization controls its backend. 

Building Dapps on Tezos and other smart contract platforms is a sensible thing to do to ensure business continuity. Beyond the control of a single entity, the decentralized environment is more transparent, secure, stable, and easier to use. The built-in medium of exchange in Dapps will potentially boost the adoption of cryptocurrencies.

As a result, many observers predict that Dapps will have an extensive global impact. 

Dapps are a viable project idea that you can sell to the numerous organizations and startups using bitcoin core and who seek stability for the future. 

Blockchain Consultancy

No doubt, the blockchain market is growing exponentially, and the need for a consultant increases by the day. In the following few years, more and more businesses will be lining up to leverage blockchain technology to stay relevant in the market. 

What makes it an excellent project idea for 2021 is the increasing number of businesses and individuals willing to listen to your blockchain project proposals. Unlike in the past, decision-makers in the business sector already know the benefits of blockchain and will be ready to hear how to make blockchain work for them.

There are various areas to specialize in as a blockchain consultant. For example, you can help strategize and develop a cryptocurrency community, airdrops, and logistics. Even though the industry is in its infancy, many businesses and people need help to leverage technology and ensure sustainability on-the-market. 

Voting Apps

The voting process, especially in developing countries, is usually a source of conflict that mostly erodes some of the gains made between the voting periods. The problem is generally tampering with the voting process and privacy.

Blockchain-based voting applications can streamline the voting process, protect critical data, reduce fraud, and enhance accountability. It can eliminate weaknesses that some proponents bank on to delegitimize the entire process while also maintaining the security of government and citizen’s data. 

Some of the benefits of a voting app blockchain project include:

  • Improved security and safety
  • Streamlined processes
  • Reduced redundancies
  • Improved integrity of the data
  • Cost reduction
  • Efficient process

Cryptocurrency Oracle

First conceived in the 1990s by researcher Nick Szabo, smart contracts have taken off with the advent of blockchain technology. The use of software and protocols to enforce an agreement’s performance or negotiation eliminates the need for laws or third parties. However, smart contracts are not sufficient on their own. Smart contracts need translator software to understand the terms, and that is where a cryptocurrency oracle comes in.

An oracle is a translator that provides critical data to trigger smart contracts after the original terms are met. The demand for the middleware software models is growing as businesses and governments implement blockchain platforms.

Apart from smart contracts, the other blockchain areas where oracle can prove useful include financial derivatives and betting. However, this is a very demanding project where you need to be a blockchain programming guru. 

Personal Finance Management

More than ever, people are focused on their finances and are taking action to ensure financial stability. A personal finance application has the potential to give businesses a fair amount of traction in an increasingly competitive market.

A blockchain-based app can easily categorize income and expenses in real-time and help manage finances. Such a system can easily connect with financial institutions to automatically update data and activate notifications.

What makes it a viable project idea for 2021 is its potential to help individuals take charge of their finances. Transparency, decreased error, traceability, and reconciliation are always welcome features in such a finance app. The added advantage of security and safety will significantly improve its standing. 

Final Thoughts

Like any other nascent technology, the early years of blockchain were characterized by growth spurts and evolving personality, much like a child that entered puberty. Blockchain , which just turned 11 a few weeks ago, is already exceeding expectations, which is more than you can expect from a technology still in its youth. The technology is now mature, and enterprise-ready solutions are hitting the market.

For the technically savvy, blockchain presents a golden opportunity for such projects as blockchain consultancy, stock market application, and decentralized apps. You can be part of the blockchain pioneers that create solutions with the capability to disrupt entire industries in 2021.

Categories
Crypto Daily Topic Cryptocurrencies

Bye Bye Libra, Hello Diem!

If you think Bitcoin had a controversial entry into the cryptocurrency scene, think Libra. Diem, previously Libra, hasn’t even entered the market, and it is already getting unpopular nicknames like Global coin and Facebook Coin. 

Names stick, and Diem is already in a sticky mess. This permission-based blockchain deservedly suffers an identity crisis because it packages centralized financial services as decentralized exchanges.

Initially, Libra was a blockchain-based payment system conceptualized for anonymity and decentralization. However, lawmakers in various developed nations like the UK, France, and the United States spoke against it. Some did so immediately after Facebook unveiled the Libra whitepaper.

Libra’s release was meant for 2020, but an aggressive push back from regulators in 2019 obscured the plans. Different entities fielded varying concerns addressing the Libra whitepaper, and the pressure pushed Facebook and its partners into drastic actions. Some partners left, leaving Libra with a looming identity crisis.

In this article, we discuss the rise and fall of the Libra Association. We are also looking into what Diem has to offer and how it’s evolved since conception. Stick around to learn the original Libra concept and why it rebranded to Diem to reduce Facebook stigma.

The Original Libra Concept

Facebook initiated and championed the formation of the Libra Association, and it always had a crypto tech in the works. The plan was to launch a stablecoin, which would be backed by a basket of national fiat currencies and securities.

The Libra stablecoin was designed to be more stable than any national currency, and Facebook would integrate it within its extensive social media coverage. Therefore, the cryptocurrency would be stabler than Bitcoin and enjoy undisputed, global utility. However, the grand scheme fell under siege the same day it was unveiled.

The Libra Association was to create new currency units on demand and retire units redeemed for fiat currency. It was also planning to reserve transactional data on the ledger for Libra Association members only.

Therefore, the blockchain technology wouldn’t be pure but a hybrid, centralized blockchain. The Libra Association reserved the distributed ledger’s reconciliation only to its service partners to prevent random data analysts from scrutinizing transactions.

Basically, Libra proposed a system where traditional blockchain transparency was obscured and reserved for its partners only. The pretext for shrouding the transparency was protecting customers’ privacy, but Mark Zuckerberg unsuccessfully tried convincing the Senate that Libra would honor users’ privacy.

Libra Couldn’t Address Trust and Privacy Issues

The Libra Association failed because of trying to appease both legislators and crypto purists. Revolutionary bitcoin users prefer permissionless cryptocurrencies, which transfer value in a decentralized fashion. Decentralized currencies can bypass regulatory enforcement.

Since Libra was not decentralized, it was to rely on trust, qualifying it as a ‘de facto central bank.’ The Libra Association and its network would be run by powerful corporations working in collaboration, and sovereign governments were concerned the Libra currency would cause widespread economic instability.  

Unlike Libra, Bitcoin is apolitical, and it doesn’t need the backing of fiat currency. Bitcoin is designed to withstand the regulatory scrutiny that seems to be putting down Libra, and the pure blockchain network is trusted worldwide for its anonymity.

Remember, nobody really knows who created Bitcoin.

Libra is not censorship-resistant, and Facebook is infamous for infringing on users’ privacy. This social media platform was subject to Senate and Judiciary inquiries, and it was scandalized for abusing the privacy rights of billions of users.

International Regulatory Resistance: Why Are Governments Fighting Libra?

The French Finance Minister was the first to raise concerns over Libra, just minutes after the whitepaper became public. France strongly opposed Libra becoming a sovereign currency, and the ministry cited privacy issues and consumer protectionism.

The English central Bank was a bit more accommodating, but it called for regulation of the proposed permission-based cryptocurrency. German lawmakers took a more cautious approach, distrusting the motives of the currency.

The European Union didn’t want Libra outcompeting European currencies, mainly because Facebook has a firm marketing grip globally.

American politicians were also quick to thwart efforts of rolling out the proposed Libra Network. The United States House Committee on Financial Services directed Facebook and its partners to stop developing Libra.

The Federal Reserve, the President, Congress, and the Senate had severe concerns regarding money laundering, economic stability, national security, and privacy & consumer protection. 

In response to the sharp criticisms and widespread distrust, Facebook promised to halt Libra until regulators felt comfortable. C.E.O Zuckerberg also promised Libra wouldn’t bypass US regulators by launching in other nations.

Facebook’s lousy rapport with regulators over privacy and consumer protection took a toll on Libra. US regulators petitioned Libra partners to explain how the currency would safeguard national security, and the following partners consequently abandoned Libra:

  • PayPal
  • Visa
  • MasterCard
  • Mercado Pago
  • Booking Holdings
  • eBay
  • Stripe

Libra received overwhelming lousy press, and it acquired negative connotations such as:

  • Facebook coin: Libra partners were afraid they’d be considered complacent in privacy violations.
  • Global coin: Governments were afraid Libra would overtake national currencies with FB’s robust marketing capacity, undermining national security.

Libra Rebranding to Diem: the Fundamental Changes

Facebook had to address structural and branding issues with Libra. The designers of this digital currency made critical changes to attract regulatory approval. The most fundamental of all changes was liberating the cryptocurrency from Facebook.

Facebook and the Libra Association announced Libra would rebrand to Diem, and the currency would not compete with fiat currencies. Instead, Diem would only complement the dollar, and it would also abandon the strategy of stabilizing behind a basket of various national currencies.

Facebook first renamed its blockchain subsidiary to Novi from Calibra. Novi is Greek for ‘new way.’

Diem was also meant to give this digital currency the connotation of transparency. Diem is Greek for the word ‘day,’ and the network promises the transparency of daylight. If only it can earn the trust of governments and safeguard the privacy of users.

Apart from repairing brand image, the Libra Association had to rebrand because of trademark disputes with other international firms. Finco sued the Libra Association in a New York court for using its registered logo trademark, and the company claimed monetary damages from the Libra Association.

Four European companies also petitioned against the Libra trademark, arguing Libra was a current form of their verbal brands.

Parting Shot

This hybrid cryptocurrency is controversial because of its hybrid nature, but mainly due to Facebook’s robust marketing reach. Diem will likely revolutionize crypto assets significantly because of its permission-based blockchain. That’s why you should understand this proposed fintech.

Diem will only be backed by the dollar. It will offer widespread adoption of cryptocurrencies. This currency will combine the transparency and security of blockchains, and users can make secure global transactions.

This proposed digital has significant potential, and you should share your thoughts in the comments section. Do you have any concerns that the Diem Association needs to address? Let’s discuss.

Categories
Crypto Market Analysis

Daily Crypto Review, Jan 5 – Ethereum Outpaces the Market; Most Cryptos in the Red

Daily Crypto Review, Jan 5 – Ethereum Outpaces the Market; Most Cryptos in the Red

The cryptocurrency sector experienced volatility amongst cryptos as Bitcoin continues its retracement and Ethereum outpaces the market. Bitcoin is currently trading for $31,479, representing a decrease of 4.15% compared to yesterday’s value. Meanwhile, Ethereum’s price has increased by a whopping 11.70% on the day, while XRP gained 1.27% of its value.

Daily Crypto Sector Heat Map

Birdchain gained 1498.92% in the past 24 hours, making it the most prominent daily crypto gainer by far. It is followed by Folgory Coin’s 837.8% and Rewardiqa’s 720.43% gain. On the other hand, Basiscoin Share lost 98.58%, making it the most prominent daily loser. It is followed by Basiscoin Cash’s loss of 90.24% and Mith Cash’s loss of 78.91%.

Top 10 24-hour Performers (Click to enlarge)

Bottom 10 24-hour Performers (Click to enlarge)

Bitcoin’s market dominance has moved down slightly since our last report, with its value currently being 68.2%. This value represents a 0.5% difference to the downside than the value it had when we last reported.

Daily Crypto Market Cap Chart

The cryptocurrency sector capitalization has decreased since we last reported, with its current value being $845.71 billion. This represents a $14.82 billion decrease when compared to our previous report.

_______________________________________________________________________

What happened in the past 24 hours?

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

Technical analysis

_______________________________________________________________________

Bitcoin

Bitcoin has possibly ended its retracement and entered sideways trading as its price created a double bottom at the $30,000 mark. However, there was one point where the largest cryptocurrency by market cap dropped as much as 20% and broke $28,000 to the downside, but recovered almost instantly.

BTC is currently right above the $30,807 Fib retracement level and is fighting to stay above it. If it posts a candle that shows it consolidated above this level, we could see another push towards the upside. However, if it breaks the Fib retracement, we could see BTC looking for support at the $30,000 or $29,300 levels.

BTC/USD 4-hour chart

Bitcoin’s technicals are showing a strong tilt towards the buy-side, with only the 4-hour time-frame showing bearish oscillator values.

BTC/USD 1-day Technicals

Technical factors (4-hour Chart):

  • Price is slightly above its 50-period EMA and at its 21-period EMA
  • Price is near its middle Bollinger band
  • RSI is neutral (48.20)
  • Volume is slightly above average

Key levels to the upside          Key levels to the downside

1: $34,800                                 1: $30,807

2: $35,000                                 2: $28,337

3: $36,000                                 3: $26,340

Ethereum

Ethereum is certainly one of the most interesting cryptocurrencies in the last couple of days, with its price going from stagnation to skyrocket mode in a matter of hours. While many thought that the initial push above $1,000 is over and that ETH is destined to retrace below it, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap managed to do it again – just one day later.

The cryptocurrency managed to bounce off of one of its numerous support levels and propel its price back above $1,000.

Ethereum is now fighting for the $1,000 level, with its price barely staying above it.

ETH/USD 1-hour Chart

Ethereum’s technicals on all time-frames show an overall bullish tilt with hints of neutrality coming from oscillators.

ETH/USD 1-day Technicals

Technical Factors (4-hour Chart):

  • Price is above both its 50-period and its 21-period EMA
  • Price is near its top Bollinger band
  • RSI has left the overbought area (68.56)
  • Volume is significantly above-average

Key levels to the upside          Key levels to the downside

1: $1,047                                     1: $1,009

2: $1,080                                     2: $960

3: $1,169                                      3: $932

Litecoin

Litecoin ended its 2-day bull run after reaching bull exhaustion at the $174.5 mark, after which it started to consolidate. However, the consolidation phase looks like less of a consolidation phase and more like a fight for the $152 Fib retracement level.

Litecoin is currently losing the battle for $152 –  but even in the case of bears pushing it to the downside, its price has many support anchor points, most notably the zone between $135 and $142.

LTC/USD 1-hour Chart

Litecoin’s technicals on the 4-hour and monthly time-frame are completely bullish, while its daily and weekly overviews show some oscillators having bearish values.

LTC/USD 1-day Technicals

Technical factors (4-hour Chart):

  • Its price is currently above both its 50-period EMA and its 21-period EMA
  • Price is at its middle Bollinger band
  • RSI is neutral (58.54)
  • Volume is above-average

Key levels to the upside          Key levels to the downside

1: $163.7                                      1: $155.25

2: $174.5                                      2: $149.3

3: $195.5                                   3: $143.5

 

Categories
Crypto Market Analysis

Daily Crypto Review, Jan 4 – Bitcoin Retraces Below $32k, Ether Breaks $1k!

The cryptocurrency sector is trying to find an equilibrium but was mostly volatile in recent days, with BTC retracing slightly and Ethereum skyrocketing towards its all-time highs. Bitcoin is currently trading for $31,796, representing a decrease of 8.08% compared to yesterday’s value. Meanwhile, Ethereum’s price has increased by a whopping 24.61% on the day, while XRP gained 7.37% of its value.

Daily Crypto Sector Heat Map

Scanetchain gained 446.19% in the past 24 hours, making it the most prominent daily crypto gainer by far. It is followed by Amun Ether 3x Daily Long’s 246.1% and Education Ecosystem’s 195.84% gain. On the other hand, Basiscoin Cash lost 96.51%, making it the most prominent daily loser. It is followed by Wownero’s loss of 91.09% and Bridge Finance’s loss of 90.45%.

Top 10 24-hour Performers (Click to enlarge)

 

Bottom 10 24-hour Performers (Click to enlarge)

Bitcoin’s market dominance has moved down almost two percent since our last report, with its value currently being 68.7%. This value represents a 1.9% difference to the downside than the value it had when we last reported.

 

Daily Crypto Market Cap Chart

The cryptocurrency sector capitalization has increased greatly since we last reported, with its current value being $860.45 billion. This represents a $97.68 billion increase when compared to our previous report.

_______________________________________________________________________

What happened in the past 24 hours?

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

 

Technical analysis

_______________________________________________________________________

Bitcoin

Bitcoin had continued its move up slowly until Jan 2, when its price skyrocketed and reached as high as $34,800. With this being set as the new all-time high, BTC started retracing and consolidating within a wide range, bound by the all-time high to the upside and $30,807 to the downside.

Any strong pushes were easily foreseen by the gradual increase in volume, which is what traders should pay attention to when trading the largest cryptocurrency by market cap.

BTC/USD 4-hour chart

Bitcoin’s technicals are showing a strong tilt towards the buy-side. However, some of its time-frames show slight neutrality alongside the overall bullishness.

BTC/USD 1-day Technicals

Technical factors (4-hour Chart):

  • Price is slightly above its 50-period EMA and above its 21-period EMA
  • Price is near its middle Bollinger band
  • RSI is neutral (55.04)
  • Volume is slightly above average

Key levels to the upside          Key levels to the downside

1: $34,800                                 1: $30,807

2: $35,000                                 2: $28,337

3: $36,000                                 3: $26,340

Ethereum

Ethereum’s spike could be considered a late response to Bitcoin’s spike, as its price followed in direction but not percentage-wise when BTC pushed towards $35k. However, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap skyrocketed in the past hours, reaching as high as $1,169.

This push towards the $1k mark is historic, as the only real upside is the all-time high of $1,420 from Jan 2, 2020.

Ethereum is currently fighting to stay above the $1,000 mark, and its short-term future will be determined by it managing to stay above or retracing below this level.

 ETH/USD 1-hour Chart

Ethereum’s technicals look very much like Bitcoin’s, with the overall tilt being towards the buy-side, with oscillators tilting towards bearishness.

ETH/USD 1-day Technicals

Technical Factors (4-hour Chart):

  • Price is above its 50-period and at its 21-period EMA
  • Price is near its middle Bollinger band
  • RSI is neutral (60.37)
  • Volume is descending from above-average levels

Key levels to the upside          Key levels to the downside

1: $1,047                                     1: $1,009

2: $1,080                                     2: $960

3: $1,169                                      3: $932

Litecoin

Litecoin had an amazing 2-day run as its price increased from $124 all the way up to $175. However, the $175 mark stopped the bulls from reaching any higher, and Litecoin started retracing. The retracement also came as a response to BTC’s retracement, as the two cryptocurrencies are highly correlated.

Litecoin is now struggling to stay above the $155.25 level. However, its short-term price direction will most likely be decided by Bitcoin’s movements, rather than staying above or below any support/resistance levels.

 LTC/USD 1-hour Chart

Litecoin’s technicals on all time-frames are tilted towards the buy-side and show almost no bearish or neutral signs.

LTC/USD 1-day Technicals

Technical factors (4-hour Chart):

  • Its price is currently above its 50-period EMA and at its 21-period EMA
  • Price is at its middle Bollinger band
  • RSI is in the oversold territory (50.57)
  • Volume is currently on below-average levels

Key levels to the upside          Key levels to the downside

1: $163.7                                      1: $155.25

2: $174.5                                      2: $149.3

3: $195.5                                   3: $143.5

 

Categories
Cryptocurrencies

5 Best Staking Coins in 2020: Checking Out Number 4

Investors stake their cryptocurrencies by locking their assets for the reward incentives. Staking is similar to saving in banks because users lock their money in preferred financial services, but crypto staking earns higher ROI than fiat savings in banks. 

Staking is an innovation that allows users to reap maximum gains from their digital investments. Users can earn passively when their nodes validate and add blocks to blockchain networks.

Staking coins utilize a special, more user-friendly blockchain consensus for mining cryptocurrencies called Proof of Stake. In this article, we take a look at five of the best staking coins in 2020 you need to check out. But first, let’s get into the nitty-gritty details of the mining consensus. 

Proof of Stake vs. Proof of Work

Traditional Proof of Work (PoW) validates blocks of transaction information via complex cryptographic computing that generates consensus. In contrast, Proof of Stake (PoS) relies on democratic, open-source electioneering to select validating nodes for every block.

PoW rewards miners for solving mathematical problems with newly created crypto tokens, while PoS rewards validators with transaction fees. PoS systems select random users in the blockchains, making the networks impressively secure.

Proof of Stake systems start by selling a stock of pre-mined coins, and others switch from PoW systems. The switching process is called forging, and it includes locking coins in stakes. The size of each stake determines if it’s viable for validating the next block. Robust stakes have a more competitive advantage.

Nodes forge blocks by first authenticating transactions to match details on previous information blocks. Designers had to address the concern that wealthier nodes could get all the staking bids. Therefore, crypto startups implement:

  • Coinage selection: this strategy considers how long users lock their coins in stake. Coinage is determined by the number of coins multiplied by the period of stake. Coinage is reset to zero after forging, and networks stipulate minimum coinages for staking. This way, nodes with large stakes don’t get dominant control over the network.
  • Randomized block selection: this strategy is predictable, but it provides sufficient protection from corruption. The system selects validating nodes transparently via stake sizes and hash values.

Now, without further ado, let’s review the best staking coins in 2020 worth your time and fiscal investment. 

Best Five Staking Coins in 2020

NOW Token

This digital asset is native to ChangeNOW, a robust crypto exchange platform. The staking coin empowers users to buy numerous products within the NOW infrastructure.

The staking rewards are annual, and staking longer rewards more. You can lock as little as 10 NOW tokens and manage these digital assets via:

  • Token Freezer.
  • Guarda Wallets staking tools.
  • BEPTools.

The tool you use to freeze your tokens will automatically predict your rewards every week. Users stand to gain significantly by staking NOW tokens, yielding high interests, weekly rewards, and demanding little principal investments.

Decred (DCR)

This staking coin was announced in 2016, and it forked from Bitcoin. The designers, miners, and validators disagreed with internal Bitcoin governance. Therefore, they created this hybrid coin, which is powered by both PoW and PoS mechanisms.

The Decred platform makes DCR tokens attractive via:

  • Smart contracts.
  • Public proposal platform.
  • Cross-platform wallets.
  • Cross-chain atomic swaps.

Decred PoW/PoS mechanisms require miners to build new blocks by validating transactions. The miners earn 60 percent of block rewards, and DCR holders can obtain voting tickets for all open network proposals.

You can stake DCR in two ways:

  • As a solo voter.
  • Through voting service providers.

When voting solo, you need to use the native command line and connect your wallet to Decred’s blockchain. Voting service providers charge about five percent of rewards for staking on behalf of users.

It supports user democracy, empowering network members to vote for consensus. However, much like Bitcoin, Decred can’t scale easily, and it falls behind in transaction speeds.

Tezos (XTZ)

This cryptocurrency is novel compared to others since it was launched in June 2020. It serves multi-purposes and is reliable for executing smart contracts. It is the native coin of a self-correchttps://tezos.com/ting platform.

The Tezos blockchain utilizes a unique codebase, using the OCaml computer language. Its PoS consensus implements delegated Liquid Proof of Stake.

XTZ is popular because it offers high staking to third-parties, who claim up to 25 percent of staking rewards. The 2020 ROI for staking Tezos is 5-6%. It is stabilized by its codebase, which allows self-correcting and built-in governance. Thus, it minimizes the risk of hard forks like the case of Bitcoin’s blockchain.

Tezos are created via ‘baking,’ which is just another name for staking. Validators allowing fraudulent transactions are to lose all their staked Tezos immediately the incorruptible blockchain flags incorrect validating. This is significant because bakers must have 8,000 Tezos to stake.

Algorand (ALGO)

ALGO is permissionless and decentralized. It transcends bordered economies and bypasses the need for financial regulators and other third-parties. ALGOs are great staking coins because of the low transaction costs involved.

This coin is native to the Algorand network, which utilizes Pure Proof of Stake to validate transactions. It does not facilitate users to delegate staking responsibilities to other nodes.

This blockchain reduces the risk of dominant users taking over. It decentralizes the network and disallows staking delegations. Thus, it reserves the voting power for the majority’s interests. Staking ALHGOs is relatively easy, and you only need a non-custodial wallet to hold ALGO tokens.

Just one ALGO is enough for staking. Users can earn ten percent annual interest, 5.46% staking on StakingRewards.com, or eight percent on Binance. Algorand facilitates 1,000 transactions per second, attracting them because of easy user experiences. Staking rewards are paid out every 20 minutes.

Loom Network (LOOM)

The Loom Network is a Platform as a Service meant for dApp developers. It supports Solidarity dApps running on side chains of the crypto network. This platform allows different application developers to personalize their consensus-building mechanisms.

Validating Loom transactions is easy, and users can rely on Delegated Proof of Stake. Scaling becomes easier, but users still enjoy Ethereum’s blockchain security.

These staking coins come into the market in 2018, but users started staking LOOM tokens a year later. By 2020, the Loom Basechain bridged different chains via impeccably high performance.

Cross-chain functionality makes LOOMs attractive stake coins. Developers use this Platform as a Service network to pay for hosting, and staking users can enjoy the rewards of creating new blocks.

All you need is one of the following wallets that are compatible with Loom’s blockchain:

  • Trezor.
  • Metamask.
  • Ledger.

Users must meet gas costs on the Ethereum network by depositing some ETH. Afterward, they need to connect their wallets to the LOOM Basechain Wallet for staking.

This network is popular because you can delegate staking to validators, who will claim 25% of your stake rewards. You can expect an annual ROI of 17% from LOOM stakes.

Parting Shot

Let’s agree that these coins are all pretty attractive investment options. Their main benefits include:

  1. Fast delivery.
  2. Lucrative ROI.
  3. Transparent, immutable accounting.
  4. Daily and annual payouts.

Validators are much quicker than bitcoin miners, which makes staking coins appealing to novice users. 

Staking crypto coins is a great investment option for crypto users. It makes it easier to earn high-interest rates on your savings, and you can conveniently, securely convert fiat currency into digital currencies. 

Embrace staking coins as crypto asset institutionalization edges closer to reality. The next time your friends ask for a great investment idea, share this article with them. 

You can also check out these coins for yourself and start earning passively. Please share your best staking coins in the comments section. 

Categories
Crypto Videos

MoneyGram Distances Itself from Ripple!


MoneyGram Distances Itself from Ripple

 

Global money transfer service MoneyGram has updated its stance on its relationship with Ripple by clarifying the nature of their collaboration. The changed stance came as a response to Ripple’s recent lawsuit by the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

MoneyGram issued a press statement on Dec 23, revealing that it has never utilized Ripple’s counterparty services, more specifically its On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) and RippleNet, for forex transactions. They stated: 

“As a reminder, MoneyGram doesn’t utilize the ODL platform or RippleNet for any form of direct transfers of consumer funds – digital or other. Furthermore, MoneyGram is not a party to the Securities and Exchange Commission action.”

The company also added: 

“We have continued to use other traditional trading counterparties even throughout the term of the agreement with Ripple, and isn’t dependent on the Ripple platform to accomplish any of its FX trading needs.”

Looking back in June 2019, MoneyGram and Ripple entered into a strategic partnership that planned to tackle MoneyGram’s cross-border payments. As part of this collaboration, Ripple was obliged to invest up to $50 million in exchange for the MoneyGram stock.

In February 2020, MoneyGram also revealed an additional $11.3 million investment from Ripple on top of the agreed $50 million. However, Ripple has now sold about $15 million of its stake in MoneyGram.

MoneyGram’s current statement of not being dependent on Ripple’s services corresponds to the narrative that previous events have set. Earlier in the year, the company debuted a real-time remittance service based on Visa rather than its blockchain partner.

Another Ripple partner Intermex also revealed back in March of this year that it wasn’t using the Ripple’s platform for remittance in its “core market.”

MoneyGram’s press release is just the latest in a series of actions taken by companies regarding either Ripple or XRP, with all of them backing out from the company due to the SEC lawsuit. On Dec 23, investment fund Bitwise Asset Management liquidated its position in XRP, while several cryptocurrency exchanges have also started to delist the XRP token. The fallout that came from the SEC lawsuit has also exerted strong negative pressure on the XRP price action, where the cryptocurrency dipped over 30% on Dec 23.

Categories
Crypto Videos

Binance Enables SegWit Support for BTC Deposits as Adoption Skyrockets!

Binance Enables SegWit Support for BTC Deposits as Adoption Skyrockets

Binance, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges by volume in the world, has incorporated Segregated Witness, better-known as SegWit, support for Bitcoin deposits. 

The SegWit support was finally enabled for incoming deposits on Christmas Eve, Binance said in an official statement. Until this announcement, the protocol upgrade was enabled only for withdrawals. Effective immediately after the announcement, Binance users got the option to transfer funds to a SegWit address by selecting the BTC (SegWit) network. Binance further explained in the statement:

“Please note that SegWit should help reduce fees; however, if you incorrectly send incompatible assets to the desired address, your funds will not be recoverable, and therefore will result in permanent loss.”

SegWit

Implemented back in 2017, SegWit is a Bitcoin protocol upgrade designed to help with network scaling. Besides that, SegWit was implemented to help with fixing several associated bugs. This upgrade is known for the way it updates data on the blockchain, namely, by segregating signatures from transaction data. SegWit upgrade allows more transactions to be stored in a single block, thus doubling Bitcoin’s transaction capacity.

Data from transactionfee.info show that somewhere in the ballpark of two-thirds of Bitcoin payments currently use SegWit. However, even with SegWit implemented, Bitcoin continues to face scalability limitations, which many argue has impeded adoption for everyday use. Exactly those scalability limitations have transformed Bitcoin from a possible means of payment to a store of value. However, developers have not given up on BTC becoming a viable payment protocol.

Light Network

The Lightning Network has been proposed as a viable second-layer scaling solution for Bitcoin as a payment protocol. Unlike SegWit, which got implemented via a soft fork to the Bitcoin protocol, the Lightning Network is a layer that goes on top of Bitcoin, and that could enable instant and almost cost-free transactions.

Despite current limited transaction capacity, Bitcoin remains the uncontested leader of the digital currency market, with its dominance over other crypto assets recently hitting one-year highs and approaching dangerously close to 70% of the total cryptocurrency market cap. 

Categories
Crypto Daily Topic

Platforms You Should Join to Avoid Falling for Defi Scams

Scammers couldn’t have found a better place to thrive. What with decentralization, the anonymity of transactions, and a lack of regulation characterizing the space? 

Despite its positives, the Defi sector is a jungle that readily swallows the unknowing. Navigating it requires heart, but more than that, tact. Identifying the snares and how to avoid them is the key to profitable investments in the sector.

2020 has witnessed a burgeoning of Defi projects offering their services and products. A good number of these are dubious, itching for an opportunity to rob you of your funds. 

How then are these fraudulent schemes perpetrated? Is there a way of identifying them? What measures can one take to protect themselves from falling victim to them? Are there platforms to guide investors in determining the genuine from fake projects? 

This article hopes to build your capacity to make informed decisions within the space by answering these questions.

How Do Scammers Carry out their Activities on Defi platforms?

Scams are as varied as there are scammers. Here are a few of their favored methods of execution.

  • Exit Scams

An exit scam is a scheme hatched by unscrupulous crypto promoters to defraud the public of their funds. They dupe investors by setting up a project with an attractive concept. After collecting funds from the ICO, the perpetrators evaporate with the funds leaving the investors in limbo. In 2020, for instance, YFDEX.Finance conned investors of $20 million in just two days of operating.

  • Pump and Dump

Pump and dump schemes involve artificially pushing the demand for a given token. A small group of whales identifies and purchases a token with low value. Their action causes the token’s prices to appreciate. This price hike draws other investors to acquire the token hoping for gain. On the price reaching a certain level, the whales dispose of their holdings at a profit. Thus, the prices plunge, leaving investors with hefty losses.

  • Admin Imitator

Using a social media platform, for instance, Twitter, Telegram, or Discord, a scammer impersonates a Defi Platform’s support team member. The scammer used credentials similar to the platform’s admin. They then ask either for private keys to resolve specific issues. Alternatively, they may require members to send ETH to a given address to complete their scam.

  • Fake Airdrops and Rewards

Airdrops and giveaways help. Defi platforms raise awareness about their platforms. Also, they increase community participation. At times scammers may provide fake Airdrops and reward to access private keys and personal info. They then use these to defraud you of your funds.

  • Defi Rug Pulls

Defi rug-pulls are con games that involve minting new tokens and publicizing them, primarily via social media. After that, the project lists on Uniswap, and owners inject liquidity. The unsuspecting investors will swap their ETH for the new token. The instigators then drain the liquidity pool. This way, they make away with the funds leaving holders with worthless coins.

  • Hardware Wallet Theft

Another scam involves selling users compromised hardware wallets. Their setup creates backdoors allowing hackers to drain one’s funds.  

How do you Identify Scam on Defi?

As the Defi sector is replete with scams, knowing how to identify them becomes an essential skill. Here are a few pointers:

  • Their Offering- Genuine projects have unique products tailored towards specific pain points, doubtful projects, on the contrary, piggyback on successful projects’ products.
  • Development- Are the developers continuously updating the code? If not, it could be a scam.
  • The founders- Are they known? What’s their reputation within the crypto space? Shady projects will have shady frontmen too.
  • Tokenomics- How is the token distributed? Scams typically inflate the token price while holding a majority of the token.
  • Language Use- If they use complex Defi jargon, it’s possibly a scam; legit projects use simple language.
  • Promised Returns- If the deal is too good to be true, think twice before committing.

5 Best Platforms to Sign Up For to Avoid DeFi Scams

The security of your funds could be a sign up away. The rise of Defi Scams has resulted in the emergence of platforms to protect users in the ecosystem. These platforms take it upon themselves to detect scams so that you don’t have to. Here’s your must sign up to platforms to avoid Defi scams

LID Protocol’s LIFTOFF

LIFTOFF is a platform that uses LID Protocol’s Certified Presales service to protect investors and projects. The service facilitates projects to raise funds. When they meet their targets, a smart contract locks the raised funds and tokens on Uniswap or other lending protocols. 

Once the presale concludes, it mints the liquidity pool tokens and burns them. Thus, it permanently locks the liquidity on the lending protocol preventing the occurrence of rug-pull scams. 

SlowMist

This China-based company is a market leader in blockchain security. Besides serving over 70 DEXs, 110 wallet providers, and 40 blockchain firms, it supports more than 800 tokens. It audits these projects’ security systems and smart contracts. 

SlowMist made headlines when it raised the alarm over an impending $2.5 million DeFi exit scam by Emerald Mine (EMD). The platform had transferred to a private account a vast chunk of tokens that users had staked.

PeckShield

PeckShield is another Chinese blockchain security company that strives to enhance blockchain security and usability. It produces cutting edge products targeting large scale systems. It reports on hidden vulnerabilities within networks. 

Additionally, it creates products and services to counter these vulnerabilities. PeckShield also flagged the Emerald Mine exit scam.

Blockchain Audit

This New York-based firm does more than build secure decentralized systems. It also audits Blockchains and reports on different projects’ states of security. Blockchain helps identify counterfeits, bullwhip effects, and fake reviews, among others. 

Again, it is a good source of information on upcoming projects and their security.

KryptoGO

KryptoGO develops advanced blockchain solutions and offers consultancy services through linking projects with experts on various issues. It also undertakes audits besides reporting on different projects. 

Hence, it’s a valuable source of information for anyone researching a project of interest.

What to do to Protect Yourself from Scams?

To protect yourself against being scammed:

  • Do your research on the project before investing
  • Seek expert opinion on the project
  • Avoid sharing your private keys and personal information
  • Only get your hard wallets from legit outlets
  • Sign up to a platform that analyses Defi projects and trends

Final Thoughts

The Defi sector crawls with nefarious schemes. Consequently, it behooves every investor to be awake to this reality. Scammers have devised different ways of actualizing their goals. As such, knowing how to identify scam projects from the rest is critical. 

Simple actions like digging into the founder’s background, examining the project’s development history and its token structure can avert huge losses. Additionally, signing up to platforms like the ones identified here will guarantee you a safe investing experience.

Categories
Crypto Videos

Turkey Are Already Pilot Testing There CBDC In Mid 2021!


Turkey Announces CBDC Pilot Tests Planned for Mid-2021

Turkey’s Parliament central bank governor Naci Agbal updated the public on the development of its central bank digital currency (CBDC for short), revealing that the “conceptual” research had been completed and that the public can expect practical tests for such a currency in the latter half of 2021. This announcement came at a time where Turkey struggles with soaring consumer prices and an inflation rate currently in the double digits.

“There is a research & development project initiated on digital money,” said Agbal, according to two local news outlets. “Currently, the conceptual phase of the project has been completed. We aim to start the pilot tests in the second half of the next year.”


While this announcement came as a surprise to those that didn’t follow Turkey’s stance on CBDC’s in the past, the country was actually researching the possibility of implementing some form of a digital currency since mid-2019. In addition to that, a 2021 rollout of a digital Lira is not a new concept but rather an already expected but delayed scenario. Turkish president Recep Erdoğan announced in Nov 2019 that tests for a digital Lira would be complete by the end of 2020. The reason for the delays was most likely tied to Turkey changing its central bank head in Nov 2020.

The progress regarding digital Lira comes as the country’s central bank grapples with inflation being as high as 14%. In an official statement to reporters last week, Agbal – who got appointed as the central bank’s governor just last month — that the central bank is “determined” to reduce inflation and meet its year-end target of 9.4%. 


As we have stated before, Turkey is not new in the cryptocurrency sector. In fact, it is considered one of the most active countries in the world for cryptocurrency and digital transformation industry as a whole, with over 20% of its population holding some form of digital money. 

Categories
Crypto Daily Topic Cryptocurrencies

DeFi Investing 101: A Complete Beginners Guide 

The crypto space is decorated with exciting projects. In the year 2020, however, none has caught the eye as much as DeFi has. DeFi is an acronym for decentralized finance, several protocols geared towards providing financial services while eliminating a central governing authority from transactions.

In the last year alone, the total value locked in DeFi funds has grown from $850 million to stand at $14.9 billion as of 15th December. This growth is indicative of the rising appetite for investments in the sector. The excitement that DeFi has created is pulsating; it almost sucks you in. Doesn’t it?

But as a newbie, should you take the plunge? What are the investment options available to you? Are there any pitfalls you should be wary of? If you’ve asked any or all of these questions and are reading this, then you’re in the right place. Today we journey through DeFi, providing a few pointers to help you along your investment journey.

Is DeFi Worth the Hype?

The kind of interest generated by DeFi speaks volumes about the sector’s potential. But what benefits does one derive from investing in the industry? The following are a few reasons why DeFi is attractive: 

  • Accessibility – DeFi products are available to anyone whenever they may be; with an internet connection, one is good to go.
  • Autonomy – through the elimination of central authorities, DeFi gives the users control over their financial activity.
  • Transparency – all transactions take place over the Ethereum blockchain enabling their public scrutiny before verification.
  • Higher returns- because of the attendant risk, the DeFi sector offers higher ROIs than legacy financial institutions.
  • Increased liquidity of illiquid assets- tokenization enables the representation of previously illiquid assets on the Blockchain enabling their easy transference.
  • Faster transactions – DeFi platforms allow for real-time P2P transactions saving time.
  • Affordable – DeFi platforms eliminate intermediaries from fees cutting transaction costs significantly
  • Borderless- DeFi allows seamless Cross-border transactions anytime, any day

What are The DeFi Investment Options Available to a Beginner?

The DeFi Sector replicates the functions of the traditional financial systems in a decentralized manner. Scanning through the sector reveals rich products for the interested investor. To the newbie, investing within the space need not be a chore. Here are a few easy pickings to set you off on your investment journey:

Decentralized Lending and Borrowing

Open lending protocols dot the DeFi landscape. These allow users with extra liquidity to loan it out to others in need of it. It works in similar ways to conventional lending. The only point of departure is that DeFi lending eliminates central authorities and intermediaries from the transactions.

Providing Credit through Smart Contracts and DApps

Smart contracts and DApps enable P2P interactions between lenders and borrowers. These tools spell out the terms of credit and repayment. Once the borrower complies with them, the platform automatically disburses the funds to their wallets. 

Collateralization is Key

They, however, have to provide collateral in the form of tokens. If they default on their obligations, they cede ownership of the tokenized asset to the lender.

Yield Farming

Yield farming is also liquidity mining. It is the provision of liquidity to a Decentralized Exchange (DEX) for a reward. At the center of yield, farming are liquidity pools, which are pools of tokens governed by a smart contract. They facilitate transactions over a DEX by providing the required capital. These rewards create extra income streams for the investor.

Rewarding Contribution

Investors who contribute to liquidity pools are known as liquidity providers (LPs). They can draw profit in two ways. First, they get token rewards for funding the pool. The rewards are an incentive to keep their funds within it. These rewards help to build up one’s total holding within an ecosystem.

Decentralizing Governance

Additionally, protocols may reward their investors with governance tokens. These tokens are essential in ensuring that the platform decentralizes fully. Developers may issue the tokens in several ways:

  • Through listing 
  • Distributing a share of the tokens to their founding community members before listing
  • Rewarding LPs with governance tokens besides the yield rates

Distribution of Fees

Secondly, the liquidity providers share fees that their pool attracts. DEXs mostly use the Automatic Market Maker(AMM) approach. AMMs allow P2P token trades within the liquidity pool Users pay fees- for instance, it is 0.3% of the transaction value on Uniswap– to complete their transactions. The AMM collects all the fees and distributes them to the LPs as a reward. 

Trading Over a DEX

The Decentralized Exchange (DEX) is an essential cog for the running of the DeFi protocols. They enable P2P transactions occurring in the space. There are different trading and, therefore, investment strategies one may adopt. Here we focus on a couple:

Margin Trading

Margin trading involves trading a financial asset using credit obtained from an AMM. The financial assets provide the collateral for the loan taken. After trading, they pay back the loan plus fees and keep the difference as profit. In case of a loss, the protocol will deduct the loan and expenses first. One should therefore exercise caution trading this way as they could lose the collateral.

Synthetic Assets

Synthetic assets are token representations of derivatives. These assets allow the tokenization of real-life assets, for example, property hence their trading on the Blockchain. Without them(synthetic assets), they would remain illiquid. 

No-Loss Games and Lotteries

Among DeFi s wide gamut of attractive services are games and lotteries. A good example is the PoolTogether game. It’s some risk-free lottery. Here investors put their funds in a shared pot. One participant wins the profit accruing, while the rest get their funds back.

Should I be Concerned About My Investing in DeFi?

Despite its attractiveness, the DeFi sector is still in its infancy. As such, it is essential to approach investments within it cautiously. Let us now shift our attention to a few concerns besetting the sector.

  • Price fluctuations – the cryptosphere as a whole is very volatile; the value of tokens and coins can spectacularly appreciate and depreciate in equal measure resulting in untold losses.
  • Scalability issues – Even with the implementation of Ethereum 2.0, there’s lingering skepticism that the sector can handle bulk transactions at a go.
  • Smart contract vulnerabilities – hackers have on occasions exploited vulnerabilities in some smart contracts to steal from DEXs.
  • Lower liquidity compared to the traditional financial systems – even though the sector shows so much promise, its TVL pales compared to the liquidity held by mainstream finance globally.
  • Over- collateralization of credit – borrowers have to stake an asset of higher value than the loans they qualify for

Stick To The Following, and You’ll Be Fine

By now, you’re getting the hang of DeFi investments. Now let’s look at some of the best practices to guarantee you a fulfilling investment journey:

i) Be Thorough in Your Research

Don’t take anyone’s word blindly. It’s good to listen to others but folks that up with your research about the market. This way, you can determine if any token is worth the time and money. It’s critical to examine:

  • The token distribution,
  • The team behind the project, 
  • The word on the street concerning the project
  • Partnerships the project has drawn
  • Its roadmap to implementation

The above scrutiny enables you to understand how trustworthy the project is.

ii) Spot the Opportunities

After verifying the project’s authenticity, the next step is to determine the most profitable tokens. Participating in the initial funding rounds enables you to acquire tokens affordably, enhancing your chance to turn positive returns.

Again it is essential to look at projects launching under unique funding models. Traditionally, such projects have generated a handsome profit for investors.

iii) Manage Your Risk 

After identifying the ideal project, now comes the actual investing. You then proceed to find an exchange that supports the trading pair that interests you.

Proceed to place your order and set your desired stop loss value. Consider initiating a trailing stop order. You can use it to maintain the stop loss as the asset appreciates.

Final Thoughts

The DeFi sector continues to grow, buoyed by the rising demand for its products. This growth comes with many different opportunities for any crypto enthusiasts. Compared to traditional financial systems, DeFi offers convenience, practicality, and affordable transactions. 

Additionally, it provides better ROIs than conventional financial systems. It’s easy to see why they could take any beginner’s fancy. That said, you should exercise prudence in your investment choices as they impact your venture’s profitability.

This article has traversed investments in the DeFi sector. It arms any newbie with the fundamentals that, if adhered to, will make their foray into DeFi a fulfilling one.

Categories
Crypto Market Analysis

Daily Crypto Review, Dec 31 – Bitcoin Hits a New All-Time High as it Pushes Past $29K

The cryptocurrency sector is stabilizing vastly in the green as Bitcoin pushed above $29,000, creating a new all-time high. Bitcoin is currently trading for $29,001, representing an increase of 4.40% compared to yesterday’s value. Meanwhile, Ethereum’s price has increased by 2.40% on the day, while XRP gained 6.74% of its value.

Daily Crypto Sector Heat Map

Yearn Finance Passive Income gained 759.27% in the past 24 hours, making it the most prominent daily crypto gainer by far. It is followed by DragonVein’s 268.8% and Gala’s 146.76% gain. On the other hand, BitBall lost 63.32%, making it the most prominent daily loser. It is followed by MITH Cash’s loss of 63.25% and Blue Whale Exchange’s loss of 53.96%.

Top 10 24-hour Performers (Click to enlarge)

Bottom 10 24-hour Performers (Click to enlarge)

Bitcoin’s market dominance has moved up half a percent since our last report, with its value currently being 70.6%. This value represents a 0.5% difference to the upside than the value it had when we last reported.

Daily Crypto Market Cap Chart

The cryptocurrency sector capitalization has increased since we last reported, with its current value being $762.78 billion. This represents a $25.47 billion increase when compared to our previous report.

_______________________________________________________________________

What happened in the past 24 hours?

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

Technical analysis

_______________________________________________________________________

Bitcoin

Bitcoin has continued its move up on slightly higher volume, breaking its $28,600 resistance level and entering unexplored territory. The push ended with bull exhaustion at the $29,300 mark, creating a new all-time high.

Bitcoin’s price has hit this level twice in a short span of time, creating a double top and propelling BTC slightly backward. Its price is currently trading below $29,000, in a range bound by $28,600 to the downside and $29,300 to the upside.

Even though a move towards $30,000 is quite possible, many analysts have pointed to enormous sell walls at and around this level, making it extremely hard to breakthrough.

 BTC/USD 1-hour chart

Bitcoin’s technicals are showing a strong tilt towards the buy-side. However, its oscillators are tilting towards bearishness due to the overextended move to the upside.

BTC/USD 1-day Technicals

Technical factors (4-hour Chart):

  • Price is above its 50-period EMA and at its 21-period EMA
  • Price is near its middle Bollinger band
  • RSI is neutral (56.57)
  • Volume is slightly above average

Key levels to the upside          Key levels to the downside

1: $28,600                                 1: $28,391

2: $29,000                                 2: $25,512

3: $30,000                                 3: $24,696

Ethereum

Ethereum has sparked by Bitcoin’s push up, tried to break its most immediate resistance level of $747. While the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap did manage to push through and reach $759 at one point, the bulls were not able to hold this level, which triggered a pullback below $747.

Ethereum is currently trading right below $747, with the 50-hour and 21-period 4-hour moving averages providing it support.

Ethereum is most likely in for a short-term correction as its volume is descending quickly after a failed attempt to tackle the upside.

 ETH/USD 1-hour Chart

Ethereum’s technicals look very much like Bitcoin’s, with the overall tilt being towards the buy-side, with oscillators tilting towards bearishness.

ETH/USD 1-day Technicals

Technical Factors (4-hour Chart):

  • Price is above its 50-period and at its 21-period EMA
  • Price is near its middle Bollinger band
  • RSI is neutral (50.10)
  • Volume is descending from above-average levels

Key levels to the upside          Key levels to the downside

1: $747                                     1: $675

2: $800                                     2: $653

3: $900                                      3: $632

Ripple

XRP gained over 5% on the day due to Bitcoin’s upwards-facing move pulling the market as a whole up. When looking at it from a technical standpoint, XRP managed to win the fight for $0.214, which is certainly a positive thing.

However, more bad news came out to the public, with even more exchanges suspending trading for XRP. Even though many analysts say that XRP is not a security, the sheer pressure that the SEC lawsuit exerts on the project caused almost every exchange and fund to distance themselves from Ripple and XRP, causing its price to crash.

 XRP/USD 1-hour Chart

XRP’s technicals on all time-frames are tilted towards the sell-side, with only the daily overview being completely bearish.

XRP/USD 1-day Technicals

Technical factors (4-hour Chart):

  • Its price is currently at its 50-period EMA and below its 21-period EMA
  • Price is at its middle Bollinger band
  • RSI is in the oversold territory (50.22)
  • Volume is currently on below-average levels

Key levels to the upside          Key levels to the downside

1: $0.25                                    1: $0.214

2: $0.30                                     2: $0.14

3: $0.358

 

Categories
Crypto Market Analysis

Daily Crypto Review, Dec 30 – Bitcoin Creates a New All-Time High; XRP Recovers Slightly

The cryptocurrency sector is stabilizing after Bitcoin’s failed push towards the upside, which in fact created a new all-time high, but just for a moment. Bitcoin is currently trading for $27,848, representing an increase of 3.41% compared to yesterday’s value. Meanwhile, Ethereum’s price has decreased by 1.22% on the day, while XRP gained 5.71% of its value.

 Daily Crypto Sector Heat Map

EveryCoin gained 371.17% in the past 24 hours, making it the most prominent daily crypto gainer by far. It is followed by Wownero’s 223.09% and Gala’s 167.69% gain. On the other hand, PENTA lost 98.72%, making it the most prominent daily loser. It is followed by AS Roma Fan Token’s loss of 64.83% and Reef’s loss of 64.46%.

Top 10 24-hour Performers (Click to enlarge)

Bottom 10 24-hour Performers (Click to enlarge)

Bitcoin’s market dominance has moved up almost a whole percent since our last report, with its value currently being 70.1%. This value represents a 0.9% difference to the upside than the value it had when we last reported.

Daily Crypto Market Cap Chart

The cryptocurrency sector capitalization has increased since we last reported, with its current value being $737.31billion. This represents an $24.83 billion increase when compared to our previous report.

_______________________________________________________________________

What happened in the past 24 hours?

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

 

Technical analysis

_______________________________________________________________________

 

Bitcoin

Bitcoin has broken its slight descending consolidation phase by bouncing off of the $26,000 level and pushing towards its all-time high level. While the level got barely broken and Bitcoin set a new all-time high, the bulls were not able to push past the resistance zone with confidence due to the lack of volume and buying pressure.

As a consequence of this, Bitcoin dipped to $27,600 levels, where it is consolidating at the moment. Traders should pay attention to volume movements, as these are the best indication of whether the move will actually break a support/resistance level at the moment.

If Bitcoin fails to break the all-time high level in the short future, we can expect a retracement that could reach the $23,000 zone.

 

BTC/USD 1-hour chart

Bitcoin’s technicals on the 4-hour and weekly time-frames are completely bullish, while the daily and monthly ones still contain some form of neutrality or bearishness.

BTC/USD 1-day Technicals

Technical factors (4-hour Chart):

  • Price is above its 50-period EMA and at its 21-period EMA
  • Price is near its top Bollinger band
  • RSI is neutral (61.24)
  • Volume is slightly above average

Key levels to the upside          Key levels to the downside

1: $28,391                                 1: $25,512

2: $29,000                                 2: $24,696

3: $30,000                                  3: $24,315

Ethereum

Ethereum has spent the whole day trading right below its immediate resistance level of $747. The second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap tried to break above it twice, but failed both times. Ether is currently descending in price as a consequence of the failed bull attempts which created a double top.

Ethereum traders have to pay attention to Bitcoin’s movements, as its movement (either up or down) will most likely cause Ether’s next move.

ETH/USD 1-hour Chart

Ethereum’s technicals on every time-frame are tilted towards the bull-side. However, they all contain slight neutrality or bearishness alongside the overall tilt towards the buy-side.

ETH/USD 1-day Technicals

Technical Factors (4-hour Chart):

  • Price is above both its 50-period and its 21-period EMA
  • Price is near its middle Bollinger band
  • RSI is neutral (58.07)
  • Volume is trading on above-average levels

Key levels to the upside          Key levels to the downside

1: $747                                     1: $675

2: $800                                     2: $653

3: $900                                      3: $632

Ripple

XRP has spent the day trying to stabilize its price after days of constant price dips. The fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market cap bounced off of the $0.173 level, and propelled itself towards the next zone, sitting at $0.214.

XRP is currently fighting for the $0.214 level, and if no new news (positive or negative) pop out, its short-term price will most likely depend on whether it manages to stay above the $0.214 level or fall below it.

XRP/USD 1-hour Chart

XRP’s technicals on all time-frames are tilted towards the sell-side, with only the 4-hour and monthly overviews showing some form of neutrality.

XRP/USD 1-day Technicals

Technical factors (4-hour Chart):

  • Its price is currently far below both its 50-period EMA and its 21-period EMA
  • Price is between its bottom and middle Bollinger band
  • RSI is in the oversold territory (37.52)
  • Volume has spiked to above-average levels

Key levels to the upside          Key levels to the downside

1: $0.25                                    1: $0.214

2: $0.30                                     2: $0.14

3: $0.358

 

Categories
Crypto Market Analysis

Daily Crypto Review, Dec 29 – XRP Trading Suspended by Coinbase and OKEx, Causing a 22% Price Dip

The cryptocurrency sector had is currently in a consolidation phase as Bitcoin fell below $27,000. Bitcoin is currently trading for $26,624, representing a decrease of 1.13% compared to yesterday’s value. Meanwhile, Ethereum’s price has decreased by 2.56% on the day, while XRP had another major dip, losing 19.42% of its value.

 Daily Crypto Sector Heat Map

Ethereum Lightning gained 1097.36% in the past 24 hours, making it the most prominent daily crypto gainer by far. It is followed by N3RD Finance’s 94.18% and Matrix AI Network’s 86.08% gain. On the other hand, COVER Protocol lost 97.97%, making it the most prominent daily loser. It is followed by Encryptgen’s loss of 91.18% and Mining Core Coin’s loss of 69.41%.

Top 10 24-hour Performers (Click to enlarge)

Bottom 10 24-hour Performers (Click to enlarge)

Bitcoin’s market dominance has moved up slightly since our last report, with its value currently being 69.2%. This value represents a 0.1% difference to the upside than the value it had when we last reported.

Daily Crypto Market Cap Chart

The cryptocurrency sector capitalization has decreased slightly since we last reported, with its current value being $712.73 billion. This represents an $8.45 billion decrease when compared to our previous report.

_______________________________________________________________________

What happened in the past 24 hours?

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

Technical analysis

_______________________________________________________________________

Bitcoin

Ever since it hit the $28,391 all-time high, Bitcoin has been trading in a sideways manner. Its price is currently within a large channel, bound by $25,512 to the downside and the aforementioned all-time high to the upside.

The descending volume alongside sideways trading was never a long-term occurrence with Bitcoin, but rather good indicators of a new explosive move ahead.

Bitcoin traders should be mindful of any volume spikes when trading, and should look for smaller time-frame Fib retracements if they want to be more precise with setting their support and resistance levels.

BTC/USD 1-hour chart

Bitcoin’s technicals on both short-term and long-term time-frames are completely bullish and show close to no signs of neutrality or bearishness.

BTC/USD 1-day Technicals

Technical factors (4-hour Chart):
  • Price is above its 50-period EMA and at its 21-period EMA
  • Price is at its middle Bollinger band
  • RSI is neutral (55.72)
  • Volume is slightly above average, but descending
Key levels to the upside          Key levels to the downside

1: $28,391                                 1: $25,512

2: $29,000                                 2: $24,696

3: $30,000                                  3: $24,315

Ethereum

Ethereum’s move towards the upside ended at $747, prompting a pullback. However, while many analysts believed that Ether would not keep its price above $700, that’s exactly what happened.

Ethereum’s signature trading move has occurred once again, with that move being: pushing up, then pulling back, and breaking the 21-hour moving average to the downside, only to find support at the 50-hour moving average and push back up. Knowing how Ethereum moves alongside watching Bitcoin’s moves is one of the safest ways to trade cryptocurrencies at the moment, as the moves have pre-determined stop-losses and targets.


ETH/USD 1-hour Chart

Ethereum’s shorter time-frames are completely bullish and show no signs of neutrality or bearishness, while its longer-time frames have some neutrality present alongside the overall bullishness.

ETH/USD 1-day Technicals

Technical Factors (4-hour Chart):
  • Price is above both its 50-period and its 21-period EMA
  • Price is above its middle Bollinger band
  • RSI is neutral (59.39)
  • Volume is trading on above-average levels
Key levels to the upside          Key levels to the downside

1: $747                                     1: $675

2: $800                                     2: $653 

3: $900                                      3: $632

Ripple

XRP has experienced another extremely bad day, as its price dropped more than 22% on the day. The move came as a result of two major exchanges, OKEx and Coinbase, dropping support for XRP due to the pending lawsuit against its company, Ripple, as well as Ripple’s executives.

Trading XRP is extremely risky at the moment due to price fluctuations that are a result of news rather than technical formations.

XRP/USD 1-hour Chart

XRP’s technicals on all time-frames are tilted towards the sell-side, with all of them showing slight signs of neutrality.

XRP/USD 1-day Technicals

Technical factors (4-hour Chart):
  • Its price is currently far below both its 50-period EMA and its 21-period EMA
  • Price is at its bottom Bollinger band
  • RSI is in the oversold territory (28.88)
  • Volume has spiked to above-average levels
Key levels to the upside          Key levels to the downside

1: $0.25                                    1: $0.214

2: $0.30                                     2: $0.14

3: $0.358 

Categories
Crypto Videos

WordPress adds official Ethereum ad Plugin – Users Stand To Gain More Than Google Adsense!


WordPress adds official Ethereum ad plugin.

WordPress’s new crypto plugin will enable publishers that use this content management system to receive ad earnings directly into their Ether wallets, according to a Dec 10 plugin description that got posted on the WordPress’ official website.

The plugin known as “EthereumAds” will enable content publishers to auction their advertisement space for ETH using smart contracts. “After publishers insert our widget, their ad space is automatically openly auctioned off by using smart contract every 14 days to the highest bidder,” the official plugin description reads.

According to the EthereumAds website, the newly-announced WordPress plugin plans on competing with Google AdSense, allowing the publishers that use it to earn ETH through banner ads. EthereumAds emphasizes that it will provide publishers with lower commissions, stating: “Google Adsense only pays its publishers 68% of their total ad earnings. We, on the other hand, will pay them a whopping 90%.” This should provide a considerable increase in ad revenue that publishers get for renting their website space for ads.

The new ad plugin can be used to monetize any form and type of content built on WordPress, including websites, blogs, and billboards. They also officially stated that they are limiting publishers to crypto-related content.

As EthereumAds intends to enter the space ruled by a major ad monetization platform such as Google AdSense, it remains yet to be seen how both Google Adsense and other traditional ad platforms deal with the new crypto rival.

WordPress’s introduction of EthereumAds came at a great time, as the world’s largest ad monetization platform, Google Adsense, has had some issues with cryptocurrencies in the past. In April 2020, it has been reported that Google AdSense was running fraudulent cryptocurrency ads while prohibiting some legitimate cryptocurrency firms from using its services. Google Ads also previously blacklisted keywords mentioning Ethereum in Jan 2019, reports say.

Categories
Crypto Videos

Sweden Leading the Way in the CBDC Sector – The First Country To Go Fully Digital?


Sweden Leading the Way in the CBDC

The Swedish government is currently progressing with its central bank digital currency by launching a formal review of a potential digital transformation to the digital currency.

According to a Bloomberg report published Dec 11, the review will explore the feasibility of moving the complete country’s payments infrastructure to a digital currency. Sweden features one of the most cashless economies in the world.

Per Bolund, financial markets minister of Sweden, reportedly said that the government expects to finish its digital currency review by the end of Nov 2022. Anna Kinberg Batra, a former chairwoman of the finance committee at Sweden’s central bank, would lead the initiative.

Bolund emphasized that ensuring that the digital payments system in Sweden functions in a safe way and is “available to everybody” is crucial. “Depending on how a CBDC is designed and which technologies are being used, it can have large consequences for the financial system as a whole,” the minister said.

Sweden has emerged as one of the leaders in the CBDC technology sector, announcing a pilot platform for its own digital currency known as e-krona in late 2019. In order to properly build the platform, Sweden’s central bank partnered with Accenture, a professional services company coming from Ireland. Riksbank launched its first e-krona CBDC pilots in February, claiming that the digital currency testing will be in operation until Feb 2021.

Sector

In Oct, Riksbank Governor Stefan Ingves expressed complete confidence that an e-krona CBDC should be issued by the central bank and fully recognized as legal tender. Last year, Ingves stated that Sweden’s central bank could not be the only institution that decides on the future of an e-krona implementation:

“Considering how important this issue is to the economy, the Riksbank cannot take this decision on its own. The decision on whether the e-krona should be introduced to the public is a decision that must have substantial political support.”

Categories
Crypto Market Analysis

Daily Crypto Review, Dec 28 – Ethereum Breaks $700; Bitcoin at $30k?

The cryptocurrency sector had an incredible weekend as Bitcoin skyrocketed towards $28,000. Bitcoin is currently trading for $27,031, representing a decrease of 2.91% compared to yesterday’s value, but a massive increase compared to its value on Friday. Meanwhile, Ethereum’s price has increased by 12.79% on the day, while XRP managed to lose 4.05%.

 Daily Crypto Sector Heat Map

EncrypGen gained 2787.56% in the past 24 hours, making it the most prominent daily crypto gainer by far. It is followed by Bankacoin’s 212.44% and Trabzonspor Fan Token’s 178.8% gain. On the other hand, CEZO lost 89.89%, making it the most prominent daily loser. It is followed by JD Coin’s loss of 64.79% and Triumph X’s loss of 57.74%.

Top 10 24-hour Performers (Click to enlarge)

Bottom 10 24-hour Performers (Click to enlarge)

Bitcoin’s market dominance has moved down slightly since our last report, with its value currently being 69.1%. This value represents a 0.25% difference to the downside than the value it had when we last reported.

Daily Crypto Market Cap Chart

The cryptocurrency sector capitalization has increased over $100 billion since we last reported, with its current value being $721.10 billion. This represents a $101.89 billion increase when compared to our previous report.

_______________________________________________________________________

What happened in the past 24 hours?

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

Technical analysis

_______________________________________________________________________

Bitcoin

Bitcoin did not sleep this weekend as it took its time to push towards new all-time highs. The best-known cryptocurrency pushed towards the upside, reaching as high as $28,391 at one point. It is now consolidating around the $27,000 level and preparing for the next move.

Our Fib extensions drawn on Friday worked exactly as expected, with Bitcoin respecting every single one of them. With all of them still being a valid choice, traders should either look for a bounce off the immediate support levels or increased volume followed by a sharp increase in price. Trading Bitcoin’s pullbacks is not exactly the best option at the moment.

BTC/USD 4-hour chart

While Bitcoin’s 4-hour and weekly technicals show a full tilt towards the buy-side, its daily and monthly technicals show some neutrality signs.

BTC/USD 1-day Technicals

Technical factors (4-hour Chart):
  • Price is above its 50-period EMA and slightly above its 21-period EMA
  • Price is slightly above its middle Bollinger band
  • RSI is neutral (62.10)
  • Volume is slightly above average
Key levels to the upside          Key levels to the downside

1: $28,391                                 1: $25,512

2: $29,000                                 2: $24,696

3: $30,000                                  3: $24,315

Ethereum

While Ethereum did manage to score some gains over the weekend, its upside got overshadowed by Bitcoin’s growth. However, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap has decided to make that up by suddenly pushing from $624 all the way up to $738. While the move seemingly ended here, it is not yet certain whether the price will break the level or go even higher, or start its consolidation at slightly lower levels.

Traders should utilize the volume indicator, order books, and well-established support/resistance levels to its fullest to catch these explosive trades while remaining safe.

ETH/USD 4-hour Chart

Ethereum’s shorter time-frames are completely bullish, while its longer-time frames show slight neutrality signs.

ETH/USD 1-day Technicals

Technical Factors (4-hour Chart):
  • Price is far above both its 50-period and its 21-period EMA
  • Price is at its top Bollinger band
  • RSI has stepped into the overbought territory (71.68)
  • Volume is trading on above-average levels
Key levels to the upside          Key levels to the downside

1: $738                                     1: $675

2: $800                                     2: $632 

3: $900                                      3: $600

Ripple

XRP has been trading on low volume and slowly descending after a brief rally to $0.385. The fourth-largest cryptocurrency keeps getting crushed by various companies dropping support or liquidating their XRP positions after Ripple and its executives got sued by the SEC.

XRP traders should (more than anything) pay attention to the news. However, there are many other cryptocurrencies with much safer and potentially more profitable trading setups at the moment.

XRP/USD 4-hour Chart

XRP’s technicals on all time-frames slightly tilted towards the sell-side, but they all show some signs of uncertainty.

XRP/USD 1-day Technicals

Technical factors (4-hour Chart):
  • Its price is currently far below its 50-period EMA and slightly below its 21-period EMA
  • Price slightly below its middle Bollinger band
  • RSI has left the oversold territory (37.46)
  • Volume is returning to average levels
Key levels to the upside          Key levels to the downside

1: $0.30                                    1: $0.25

2: $0.358                                   2: $0.214

3: $0.475 

Categories
Crypto Market Analysis

Daily Crypto Review, Dec 24 – XRP Downturn Pulls the Crypto Sector in the Red

The cryptocurrency sector reacted to XRP getting crushed by the market and ended up mostly in the red. Bitcoin is currently trading for $23,112, representing a decrease of 1.97% when compared to yesterday’s value. Meanwhile, Ethereum’s price has decreased by 6.27% on the day, while XRP managed to lose a whopping 30.85%.

 Daily Crypto Sector Heat Map

Folgory Coin gained 5571.49% in the past 24 hours, making it the most prominent daily crypto gainer by far. It is followed by MINDOL’s 1224.26% and DACC’s 1070.44% gain. On the other hand, 3x Long XRP Token lost 77.00%, making it the most prominent daily loser. It is followed by B21 Invest’s loss of 74.30% and YFPRO Finance’s loss of 70.96%.

Top 10 24-hour Performers (Click to enlarge)

Bottom 10 24-hour Performers (Click to enlarge)

Bitcoin’s market dominance has moved up over one percent since our last report, with its value currently being 69.3%. This value represents a 1.5% difference to the upside than the value it had when we last reported.

Daily Crypto Market Cap Chart

The cryptocurrency sector capitalization has decreased significantly since we last reported, with its current value being $619.31 billion. This represents a $22.90 billion decrease when compared to our previous report.

_______________________________________________________________________

What happened in the past 24 hours?

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

Technical analysis

_______________________________________________________________________

Bitcoin

Bitcoin was one of the few cryptocurrencies not affected by the major downturn of XRP after the SEC announced a lawsuit against Ripple and its executives. The largest cryptocurrency by market cap stayed within its wide range and continued trading sideways after bouncing back from the $24,000 level.

Traders currently have the option to catch a couple of safe trades within the trading range Bitcoin is in, or wait for it to spike in volume and break the range (either to the downside or upside).

BTC/USD 4-hour chart

While Bitcoin’s daily and weekly technicals are slightly tilted towards the bull side, its 4-hour and monthly technicals show some hints of neutrality alongside the bullishness.

BTC/USD 1-day Technicals

Technical factors (4-hour Chart):
  • Price is above its 50-period EMA and at its 21-period EMA
  • Price at its middle Bollinger band
  • RSI is neutral (53.57)
  • Volume is slightly above average
Key levels to the upside          Key levels to the downside

1: $24,315                                 1: $22,054

2: $24,700                                 2: $21,350

3: $25,511                                  3: $19,918

Ethereum

Unlike Bitcoin, Ethereum got affected by XRP’s downturn, which pulled it back over 5% on the day. The second-largest cryptocurrency fell below its $600 support level, and caused a quick panic-sell which brought its price as low as $550 (though just for a moment). Ether is now fighting to stay above the $581 level, which it will most likely succeed.

Many analysts are calling for a double bottom and are expecting an upswing from Ethereum. Traders should pay close attention to Ether’s volume and (possibly) order books.

ETH/USD 4-hour Chart

Ethereum’s weekly and monthly technicals are completely bullish, while its 4-hour and daily overview are mainly tilted towards the sell-side, but show some signs of uncertainty.

ETH/USD 1-day Technicals

Technical Factors (4-hour Chart):
  • Price is below both its 50-period and its 21-period EMA
  • Price is close to its bottom Bollinger band
  • RSI is neutral (37.44)
  • Volume is on slightly above-average levels
Key levels to the upside          Key levels to the downside

1: $600                                     1: $581

2: $632                                     2: $564 

3: $675                                      3: $545

Ripple

XRP got crushed as more bad news came. The fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market cap got dropped by various exchanges, as well as its positions fully liquidated by major funds such as Bitwise. Its price dipped over 65% in just 5 days. However, XRP seems to have found support in (first) the $0.214 and (later) $0.25 levels.

XRP will most likely try to either hold its price level or push slightly towards the upside. While its further downside potential is not very high (unless more bad news comes out), buying or longing XRP is extremely risky.

XRP/USD 4-hour Chart

XRP’s technicals on all time-frames are completely tilted towards the sell-side.

XRP/USD 1-day Technicals

Technical factors (4-hour Chart):
  • Its price is currently far below both its 50-period EMA and its 21-period EMA
  • Price slightly above its bottom Bollinger band
  • RSI is in the oversold territory (19.40)
  • Volume is on extremely high levels
Key levels to the upside          Key levels to the downside

1: $0.30                                    1: $0.25

2: $0.358                                   2: $0.214

3: $0.475 

Categories
Cryptocurrencies

Top 5 Best DeFi Tokens for Smart Investors

2020 is undoubtedly one year that will go down in history books. Far from the global health and economic crisis resulting from the pandemic, this year has seen an explosive growth of decentralized finance. In fact, we can only compare it to the 2017 ICO boom. 

It goes without saying that the booming industry has seen developers come up with various DeFi tokens that provide different solutions. So, how do you, as a smart investor, choose the best tokens for your portfolio. 

Well, you really are spoilt for choice when it comes to DeFi tokens. However, if you’d like to make a sound investment decision, you’d better be on the lookout for the best and most promising DeFi tokens. 

It doesn’t sound like an easy decision, which is why we are here to the rescue. Have a look at the five best DeFi tokens that are totally worth your time and money. 

Chainlink (LINK)

Smart contracts are an essential feature of decentralized finance, and the Chainlink Network aims to create a world connected through smart contracts. The decentralized oracle network allows for the creation of smart contracts that are securely attached to real-time data. This functionality makes Chainlink ideal for sending payments anywhere and connecting to any external API. 

The platform’s native token, LINK, has been rising steadily over the last year. At the time of writing, LINK had a $5.299 billion market capital and was trading at $13.633. The proven track record of completed milestones, plus the token’s growth potential, make LINK one of the best DeFi tokens to invest in. 

Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC)

The introduction of Bitcoin to the world opened up an entire world of possibilities. However, despite all the fantastic features it presented, the Bitcoin network lacked in several ways, which initiated the search for better blockchains that would be more flexible than the rigid parent technology. This search eventually led to the development of the Ether network, which is the core of most DeFi projects. 

Now, suppose you could combine the best features of Ether and Bitcoin? Wouldn’t that be amazing?

Wrapped Bitcoin does precisely that. The token enjoys a 1:1 ratio backing with bitcoin. It comes with the strength of the pioneer cryptocurrency, coupled with the flexibility of ERC-20 tokens. This feature makes it easier for the token to standardize bitcoin to ERC-20, allowing for the creation of Bitcoin smart contracts. 

WBTC is currently trading at $22,703, a 6.07 % increase over the last 24 hours. 

Compound (COMP)

Borrowing and lending are some of the critical features of the DeFi industry. If you’re looking to invest in a token offering lucrative options for these functionalities, you should consider looking at COMP

The ERC-20 token asset gained the massive attention of the DeFi world after its value skyrocketed immediately after its launch, before correcting to normal levels. It is currently trading at $169.984 and has increased by 10% over the last 24 hours at the time of writing. 

Many will argue that COMP isn’t worth investing in since it is only a governance token. However, Compound Protocol, the network behind the token, was one of the first to leverage decentralization in borrowing and lending, a concept that has been around for ages. As more investors realize this protocol’s potential, its value will increase, getting more people on board. 

Polkadot

Investing in different DeFi and crypto projects will have you working with various blockchains. Therefore, you’re going to need one or two projects that allow for true interoperability, which is precisely what Polkadot offers. The network developed by Ethereum’s co-founder, Gavin Wood, has its native token as DOT, which is currently trading at $4.902

The DOT token powers the Polkadot network and fulfills three purposes; staking, bonding, and governance. Staking helps to keep the network secure by incentivizing DOT token holders. The game theory requires that holders behave honestly and those who don’t lose their stake in the network. 

Holders also have complete control over the protocol. They have a say in managing protocol upgrades and fixes and other exclusive privileges that would typically be given to miners on other platforms. 

One of the DOT token’s best features is its bonding, which is a form of proof of stake. The mechanism makes it easier to add new parachains to the networks by bonding tokens. If there are any outdated or non-useful parachains, removing the bonded tokens gets rid of the chains. 

The rigidity of blockchains and the inability to transfer and receive data is a significant setback in the crypto world. Therefore, Polkadot’s ability to transmit arbitrary data between chains and tokens makes this project a worthy investment venture. 

DeFiChain (DFI)

Everyone in the crypto space knows that most DeFi projects are built on Ethereum, the world’s second-largest blockchain network. However, if you’re after a DeFi project built on the King coin, you should undoubtedly check out DeFiChain. This network brings together the security and immutability of Bitcoin and the best of Proof of Stake mechanisms. 

One of the features that make DeFiChain stand out is that it’s a non-Turing complete protocol. Ethereum is a Turing blockchain, which compromises its security. Therefore, anything can happen on the protocol, which is not the case for DeFiChain. Having the network’s core built on Bitcoin also helps to increase the levels of security. 

The DFI token serves several functions on the network. Besides using the token as collateral, for staking, and paying network fees, users can also use DFI to create custom DCT tokens. This unique functionality makes DeFiChain the ideal investment option for crypto enthusiasts looking to make their cryptos work for them. Over the last 24 hours, DFI has increased in value by 16.32% to trade at $0.76593.

Parting Shot

The DeFi scene has exploded in 2020, with new tokens being released by the day. As a smart investor, you’ll undoubtedly be on the lookout for the ideal tokens that will make you more money from your investment. 

When choosing the ideal DeFi token, be sure to check out the solution it provides in the crypto world, its growth potential, and whether it has a proven track of accomplished milestones. It would also be best if you had a look at the team behind the project to have a clear picture of what to expect.

Choosing smart tokens for your DeFi portfolio is only the first step, but many investors will agree that it’s a crucial one. Therefore, if you have no idea where to start, the five tokens in this article should give you a pretty good head start. So, head on over to the official sites, read through their documents, and decide which ones to choose. All the best in your investment ventures!

Categories
Crypto Market Analysis

Daily Crypto Review, Dec 23 – Is This the End of XRP? SEC Officially Files Lawsuit Against Ripple and its Executives

The cryptocurrency sector was mostly neutral as Bitcoin gained even more market dominance. Bitcoin is currently trading for $23.498, representing an increase of 3.53% when compared to yesterday’s value. Meanwhile, Ethereum’s price has increased by 1.28% on the day, while XRP managed to lose a whopping 23.99%.

 Daily Crypto Sector Heat Map

SYNC Network gained 97.23% in the past 24 hours, making it the most prominent daily crypto gainer by far. It is followed by 3x Short XRP Token’s 84.56% and Basis Share’s 77.1% gain. On the other hand, DMme lost 85.99%, making it the most prominent daily loser. It is followed by 3x Long XRP Token’s loss of 66.89% and S4FE’s loss of 60.04%.

Top 10 24-hour Performers (Click to enlarge)

Bottom 10 24-hour Performers (Click to enlarge)

Bitcoin’s market dominance has moved up over one percent since our last report, with its value currently being 67.8%. This value represents a 1.2% difference to the downside than the value it had when we last reported.

Daily Crypto Market Cap Chart

The cryptocurrency sector capitalization has increased since we last reported, with its current value being $642.21 billion. This represents a $9.69 billion increase when compared to our previous report.

_______________________________________________________________________

What happened in the past 24 hours?

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

Technical analysis

_______________________________________________________________________

Bitcoin

Bitcoin continued trading within a decently large range, bound by $22,054 to the downside and $24,315 to the upside. The largest cryptocurrency by market cap managed to gain a couple of percent on its price today, as most of the market consolidated. Therefore, Bitcoin market dominance has risen once again, almost reaching 70%.

Bitcoin’s descending volume and sideways trading were always a sign of a new move in the making. However, as the current trading range is quite wide, the sharp move to either side might not be so imminent.

BTC/USD 4-hour chart

While Bitcoin’s daily and weekly technicals are tilted towards the bull side, its 4-hour and monthly overviews are slightly bullish, but show some hints of neutrality.

BTC/USD 1-day Technicals

Technical factors (4-hour Chart):
  • Price is above its 50-period EMA and slightly above its 21-period EMA
  • Price near its middle Bollinger band
  • RSI is neutral (56.31)
  • Volume is slightly above average
Key levels to the upside          Key levels to the downside

1: $24,315                                 1: $22,054

2: $24,700                                 2: $21,350

3: $25,511                                  3: $19,918

Ethereum

Ethereum has followed Bitcoin to the upside and gained just enough traction to attempt a $632 level break, but not enough to actually break it. This triggered a small correction, which brought it to the middle of the range, bound by $600-$602 to the downside and $632 to the upside.

Ethereum’s price movements are (in the past couple of days) either an exact copy of Bitcoin’s moves, or an exaggerated move in the same direction. Traders could possibly use this to trade Ether’s exaggerated moves by watching Bitcoin’s movement.

ETH/USD 4-hour Chart

Ethereum’s daily, weekly, and monthly technicals are completely bullish, while its 4-hour overview is tilted towards the sell-side.

ETH/USD 1-day Technicals

Technical Factors (4-hour Chart):
  • Price is slightly below both its 50-period and its 21-period EMA
  • Price is close to its middle Bollinger band
  • RSI is neutral (44.94)
  • Volume is on slightly above-average levels
Key levels to the upside          Key levels to the downside

1: $632                                     1: $600

2: $675                                     2: $581 

3: $738.5                                   3: $564

Ripple

XRP got crushed today on horrible news of SEC officially filing a lawsuit against its company Ripple as well as against its cofounders. While MoneyGram took a lenient position and didn’t want to make any negative comments, most crypto exchanges are planning on delisting XRP due to concerns regarding regulation.

While some may think that short-selling XRP is a good idea, watch out for slippage and insufficient demand.

XRP/USD 4-hour Chart

XRP’s short-term technicals show a heavy tilt towards the sell-side, while its long-term technicals (weekly and monthly) remain bullish.

XRP/USD 1-day Technicals

Technical factors (4-hour Chart):
  • Its price is currently far below both its 50-period EMA and its 21-period EMA
  • Price slightly below its bottom Bollinger band
  • RSI is in the oversold territory (18.53)
  • Volume is on extremely high levels
Key levels to the upside          Key levels to the downside

1: $0.40                                    1: $0.33

2: $0.475                                   2: $0.297

3: $0.481 

Categories
Crypto Daily Topic Cryptocurrencies

The Best Use Cases For Decentralized Finance Projects

There’s hardly a facet of our lives left untouched by blockchain technology. From the most ubiquitous to the complex of our engagements, its effects are discernible. But perhaps the one sector where its effects are most discernible is in finance. The shortfalls of the legacy financial systems provide the right environment for innovation to sprout. Fintech firms are outdoing themselves in the production of products and technologies aimed at bettering users’ experiences.

This year has seen the emergence of many disruptive technologies. However, non features as prominently as decentralized finance(DeFi). DeFi is technology’s response to an inadequate financial system. 

In this article, we tackle two significant aspects of Defi. First, the significance of Defi projects. We also present the best use cases to give you insight into this revolutionary technology. 

Let’s get into it!

What is the Significance of Decentralized Finance Projects?

Defi projects are universally beneficial. The buzz they continue to generate emphasizes this truth. Here’re a few of the benefits associated with them:

  • They streamline transactions- smart contracts execute exchanges increasing efficiencies.
  • Increase the security of transactions- they draw on the Ethereum blockchain’s Immutability to secure trades.
  • They are scalable- Ethereum’s composable software ensures that DeFi protocols and applications are interoperable, giving the developers and product the flexibility to build on top of existing ones. 
  • Increase transparency of transactions- distributed ledger technology enables one’s peers to access and verify their transactions, curbing fraud.
  • It is permissionless- DeFi facilitates anyone with a crypto wallet and the Internet to access its applications regardless of their location.
  • Gives the user control over their data- Web3 wallets like MetaMask interact with permissionless dAapps and protocols to provide users custody of their assets data. 

What are the Best Use Cases for Decentralized Finance?

From the preceding, it is clear that DeFi projects are beneficial. The question then arises, where can we best use this technology? DeFi technology has wide usage. The following are some of the prominent use cases.  

i) Management Of Assets

DeFi protocols give users full custody of their funds. Additionally, Crypto wallets help one easily and securely interact with decentralized applications (dApps) for different transactions. These transactions range from trading and transferring crypto to earning interest on their crypto holdings. Tracking one’s assets becomes easy this way.

ii) Gaming

Defi platforms are interoperable. This feature has opened up opportunities for developers to build cross-platform protocols across a variety of verticals. 

Ethereum-based games have gained popularity due to their inbuilt economies and rewards. Take the case of the PoolTogether game. Its users acquire digital tickets using the DAI stable coin. They then pool their tokens for lending on the Compound money market.

iii) Provision of Credit

DeFi allows the creation of P2P lending pools and borrowing contracts. For instance, Compound -an autonomous interest rate protocol- integrates with most DeFi platforms, enabling users to earn interest in crypto that they’ve lent.

Compound’s smart contract automatically matches creditors to borrowers. Additionally, it determines interest rates by comparing the volume of the borrowed to supplied funds.

iv) Decentralized Exchanges

Decentralized exchanges (DEXs) are crypto trading platforms allowing P2P transactions. They achieve this by eliminating central authorities. As they’re non-custodial, they mitigate price manipulation, hacking, and theft.

DEXs are the mainstay of token projects. They enhance their access to affordable liquidity as they allow projects to list without fees. This way, they differ significantly from centralized exchanges that charge higher prices per listing.

The degree of decentralization varies with the exchange. Whereas exchanges may centrally host order books and other aspects of a users’ account, they don’t hold their private keys. Examples of popular DEXs in the DeFi space currently include AirSwap, Liquality, Mesa, Oasis, and Uniswap.

v) Decentralized Insurance

Investing in cryptos (DeFi included) comes with its fair share of risks. As such, different products that hedge against risks in this space are available. They help protect against market crashes, hackings, failure of smart contacts, among others. Nexus Mutual is one such example.

The players within the Defi space underwrite the risk. That is to say, they pool resources to acquire the premium providing the cover. Utilizing smart contracts makes the products transparent. Anyone can access the payout terms via the Blockchain.

vi) Issuance of Synthetic Assets

Synthetic assets are tokenized representations of derivatives. An Ethereum based smart contract locks them to the Blockchain. These derivatives may represent real-world assets, including fiat currencies, bonds, commodities, or even cryptos.

Synthetic assets are tradeable. Consequently, they allow the disposal and acquisition of assets that are illiquid or difficult to obtain. The Synthetix protocol is essential to their issuance. It employs a 750% collateralization ratio that guards against price shocks.

vii) Liquidity Mining

Liquidity Mining, also known as yield farming, is holding digital assets for rewards. Through smart contracts, owners of crypto assets get incentives for keeping rather than trading them.

Participation in these projects requires stacking liquidity provider (LP) tokens. One obtains these through providing liquidity to a DEX, such as UNISWAP. Users then stake their tokens to mind new ones for exchange.

viii) Identity Management

Traditional financial systems rely on KYC guidelines to comply with AML and CFT regulations. Defi, on the other hand, uses Know- your-transactions (KYT) protocols to deter fraud and other financial crimes. KYT uses the behavior of participating addresses rather than individual IDs to assess and stem the risk for financial crime. The assessment is in real-time. 

ix) Enhancing Financial Inclusion

In tandem with Blockchain-based identity systems, DeFi opens up financial opportunities to those previously excluded. It eases collateralization requirements for those seeking credit. Again it delinks creditworthiness from such aspects as income and ownership of property. Instead, it shifts it to attributes like financial reputation and activity. 

x) Development of Stablecoins

A stablecoin is a cryptocurrency whose value depends on a stable asset or group of assets. The supporting assets could be fiat commodities or other cryptocurrencies.

Intended to mitigate the volatility of cryptos, they have found a home in the DeFi space. They are essential in remittances, borrowing, and lending. Another area they’re gaining prominence in is the Central Banks Digital Currencies.

xi) Provision of Marketplaces

Many marketplaces have arisen to exploit DeFi functions. These allow P2P exchanges globally. From them, traders and consumers enjoy a wide variety of products and services.

Final Thoughts

The year 2020 could be defined as the year of Defi. During this period, interest in this disruptive technology peaked. The heightened interest attests to its significance. Not only will it increase access to financial services, but also ease transactions besides securing them. The technology has wide useability. For instance, it is essential in credit provision, creating market places, and even combating financial crimes. Even though it is still developing, it has shown the potential to alter our economic landscape for the better. As we expand research and development in the area, we can only look forward to exciting products and solutions in the space.

Categories
Crypto Market Analysis

Daily Crypto Review, Dec 22 – XRP Plummets on News of SEC Suing Ripple; Crypto Sector in the Red

The cryptocurrency sector bounced back from its recent highs as the news of a new COVID-19 strain came out. Bitcoin is currently trading for $22,716, representing a decrease of 5.01% when compared to yesterday’s value. Meanwhile, Ethereum’s price has decreased by 5.41% on the day, while XRP managed to lose a whopping 16.97%.

 Daily Crypto Sector Heat Map

P2P gained 185.24% in the past 24 hours, making it the most prominent daily crypto gainer by far. It is followed by DMme’s 123.95% and Actinium’s 96.18% gain. On the other hand, Wownero lost 54.05%, making it the most prominent daily loser. It is followed by Tap’s loss of 47.05% and Super Bitcoin’s loss of 46.31%.

Top 10 24-hour Performers (Click to enlarge)

Bottom 10 24-hour Performers (Click to enlarge)

Bitcoin’s market dominance has moved up over one percent since our last report, with its value currently being 66.6%. This value represents a 1.4% difference to the downside than the value it had when we last reported.

Daily Crypto Market Cap Chart

The cryptocurrency sector capitalization has decreased significantly since we last reported, with its current value being $632.90 billion. This represents a $36.72 billion decrease when compared to our previous report.

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What happened in the past 24 hours?

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Technical analysis

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Bitcoin

Bitcoin experienced a 5% pullback after the news of a new strain of COVID-19 came out. Of course, Bitcoin was not the only one hit, as all traditional asset classes dipped in the past 24 hours as well. The downturn got stopped at the $22,054 level, and quickly sprung up to the current levels.

As mentioned in our previous daily crypto review, Bitcoin would experience an increase in volume as it exits consolidation below the recent highs, which happened today.

BTC/USD 4-hour chart

While Bitcoin’s daily technicals are tilted towards the bull side, its 4-hour overview is completely neutral. On the other hand, its weekly and monthly overviews are tilted towards the buy-side, but show hints of neutrality.

BTC/USD 1-day Technicals

Technical factors (4-hour Chart):
  • Price is above its 50-period EMA and below its 21-period EMA
  • Price between its bottom and middle Bollinger band
  • RSI is neutral (48.91)
  • Volume is slightly above average
Key levels to the upside          Key levels to the downside

1: $24,315                                 1: $22,054

2: $24,700                                 2: $21,350

3: $25,511                                  3: $19,918

Ethereum

Ethereum has followed Bitcoin to the downside, and lost just over 5% on the day. The second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap fell below the $632 level and attempted to break the $600-$602 support line. However, ETH bulls stopped the downturn, and the cryptocurrency is now consolidating right above this level.

Ethereum’s price movements are pretty tame so far, and traders should pay close attention to Bitcoin and its movement in the near future as Ether seems to follow it almost to the tee.

ETH/USD 4-hour Chart

Ethereum’s daily, weekly and monthly technicals show a strong bullish tilt, while its 4-hour overview is tilted towards the sell-side.

ETH/USD 1-day Technicals

Technical Factors (4-hour Chart):
  • Price is below both its 50-period and its 21-period EMA
  • Price is close to its bottom Bollinger band
  • RSI is heading towards being oversold (37.52)
  • Volume is on slightly above-average levels
Key levels to the upside          Key levels to the downside

1: $632                                     1: $600

2: $675                                     2: $581 

3: $738.5                                   3: $564

Ripple

XRP had a horrible 24 hour trading session as its price crashed on Ripple’s announcement that they will most likely get sued by the SEC. This news brought its price down almost 20%, with it currently trading right above the $0.457 level, which stopped XRP from going down further.

XRP traders should pay attention to further updates on the lawsuit news as well as to any volume increase the cryptocurrency experiences.

XRP/USD 4-hour Chart

XRP’s long-term technicals (weekly and monthly) show a slight tilt towards the buy-side, while its short-term technicals (4-hour and daily) are completely bearish.

XRP/USD 1-day Technicals

Technical factors (4-hour Chart):
  • Its price is currently far below both its 50-period EMA and its 21-period EMA
  • Price slightly below its bottom Bollinger band
  • RSI is in the oversold territory (25.83)
  • Volume has returned to average levels
Key levels to the upside          Key levels to the downside

1: $0.5                                      1: $0.475

2: $0.543                                   2: $457

3: $0.57                                    3: $45

Categories
Crypto Daily Topic Cryptocurrencies

Top 5 DeFi Projects to Look Out for in 2021

The DeFi industry is still in its infancy stage but has already registered some impressive growth over the years. The industry’s total value is currently locked at $14.92 billion and is expected to grow in the coming year. 

There’s no doubt that DeFi brings about some unique solutions that are quite lucrative for investors of all kinds. If you’ve had your eye on the crypto industry for a while, there are chances that you’ve thought of putting your money in this exciting venture. But if you don’t know how to get started, you may feel stuck when choosing the best projects.

If you’re in this position, this article is just what you need. Buckle up, and let’s dive into the five best DeFi projects you should consider investing in the coming year. 

Uniswap

Anyone who has been in the crypto industry for quite a while will agree that decentralized exchanges were primarily associated with thin order books and poor UX. These issues, coupled with exorbitant fees, centralized gateways, and too many transactions was the reason dex enthusiasts demanded a simple yet effective decentralized exchange. 

Uniswap was launched in 2018 as an automated liquidity protocol for ETH and ERC-20 tokens. The platform has its own token, UNI, which is instrumental in governing protocol changes. 

One of the things that make Uniswap unique is that it doesn’t use order books but instead has an automated market maker. Users only need to select the assets they want to trade, and the platform automatically completes the transaction. 

Uniswap presents several advantages, which is why you should hop onto it already. It has no listing fees for new tokens, and users don’t have to complete the KYC checks. Besides, you get full custody of your funds and an excellent way to earn some extra tokens through the platform’s liquidity pools. 

If you choose to invest in the platform, you could either be a casual user, an arbitrageur, or a liquidity provider, all of whom play essential roles in the ecosystem. 

Yearn Finance

Yearn.Finance should be your go-to project if you’re looking to maximize the annual percentage yields on the cryptocurrencies you’ve deposited in DeFi. The unique project is an array of DeFi protocols built on Ethereum and designed for high-yield returns through liquidity pools and community governed lending protocols. Like Uniswap, Yearn Finance uses an automated market marker to allow users to convert tokens and earn from both lending and trading fees.

Yearn Finance is still relatively new in the industry, having been launched in February 2020. The platform had a rapid ascent in August, which saw its value rise to $650 million, accounting for a significant percentage of the entire industry’s value.

According to Jesse Walden, CEO of Variant Fund, “The unifying goal of all Yearn products is to create a simple, intuitive interface to all of DeFi.”

Yearn’s intuitive interface makes trading easier for all users. The platform is a portal for other DeFi products and has the YFI as its governance token. Yearn is considered entirely decentralized because the YFI tokens cannot be pre-mined, and the platform didn’t hold an ICO.

Although YFI was initially designed to be entirely community-governed, it can now be traded on other platforms such as Uniswap.

Curve Finance

You’ve probably heard of stablecoins, and if you know a thing or two about cryptocurrencies, they must have piqued your interest as an investor. Well, Curve Finance is an excellent DeFi platform if you’d like to trade-in stablecoins efficiently. It provides a solution to one of the most considerable problems in the DeFi sector; price slippage.

Like any other ideal marketplace, demand and supply forces determine the lending rates in DeFi. Now, suppose you want to trade between USDC and DAI. If the lending yield for USDC becomes higher than that of DAI, lenders will want to migrate to USDC. Curve Finance allows you to effectively do this and still earn better than you would with a regular DEX.

Switching between stablecoins effectively helps correct any anomalies in the interest rates that may result from mismatches in the demand and supply. Users can keep their profits once the interest rates are back to normal. 

Curve Finance provides one of the best ways to earn as a liquidity provider with returns of over 300% per year for BUSD. This is made possible by providing liquidity to other DeFi protocols using the deposited funds. This move generates interest for the other protocols, and Yearn, in turn, assigns the interest to liquidity providers. Additionally, they receive some CRV tokens and a cut of the trading fees from the platform.

DAI 

Speaking of stablecoins, DAI is one you should definitely watch out for in the coming year. The coin has its price pegged to the US dollar, which helps maintain its value. Whenever users on MakerDAO, the protocol behind DAI, take out a loan, the stablecoin is created. The decentralized nature of the protocol, together with the lack of volatility, ensures that DAI remains stable and transparent. 

Initially, you’d only be able to use ETH as collateral for DAI. However, the stablecoin now supports different cryptocurrencies as collateral for a DAI loan. You can place your cryptos and get them back for the same price, despite changes in the coins’ values. 

There are plenty of stablecoins available, so what makes DAI any different? Well, if you are really against censorship by governments and other regulatory bodies, you’re going to love using DAI. It is backed by smart contracts, which makes it resistant to censorship. It also provides privacy when transacting since users don’t need to complete KYC checks or create any accounts. 

Kava

Kava developers used various technologies to create a system that would allow users of significant crypto assets to access collateralized loans and stablecoins. The network uses USDX as its stablecoin, and users get to collateralize their crypto assets in exchange for the stablecoin. 

To help you gain a leveraged position in the market, you could take out several collateralized loans. For each of these loans, you’ll receive an equivalent amount of USDX to create synthetic leverage. You can then earn a passive income from the platform by staking and bonding your USDX coins. 

Kava uses a dual token system that ensures usability and flexibility. The native token for the blockchain is Kava tokens, which double up as the governance and voting tokens. Kava tokens help to ensure the platform’s security through staking, which also earns users block rewards. 

Kava has already made a name for itself in the business world by gaining some major entities’ attention. For example, Arrington Capital, Ripple, and Cosmos are behind this DeFi project, which provides some assurance in its profitability and sustainability. 

Parting Shot

There’s no denying that the DeFi industry has taken giant leaps over recent months and will continue to do so in 2021. Like most investors, you’ll undoubtedly want to add long-term value projects to your portfolio, and DeFi is an excellent way to go about it. 

Sure, it’s totally okay to be skeptical about new ventures such as this. However, the DeFi industry has proven to provide solutions to problems poised in centralized finance. 

Just as you would with any other investment, it’s best to do your due diligence and learn as much as possible before placing your money in a DeFi project. These five projects should give you an excellent head start for your 2021 investments. 

Categories
Crypto Market Analysis

Daily Crypto Review, Dec 21 – Bitcoin Dangerously Close to Making a Sharp Move

The cryptocurrency sector is split between gainers and losers as Bitcoin consolidates right below its all-time high level. Bitcoin is currently trading for $23,825, representing an increase of 1.03% when compared to yesterday’s value. Meanwhile, Ethereum’s price has decreased by 1.42% on the day, while XRP managed to lose 3.20%.

 Daily Crypto Sector Heat Map

Axion gained 3402.38% in the past 24 hours, making it the most prominent daily crypto gainer by far. It is followed by MahaDAO’s 199.69% and Elxis’ 186.79% gain. On the other hand, Golden Ratio Per Liquidity lost 59.64%, making it the most prominent daily loser. It is followed by ALL BEST ICO’s loss of 50.84% and Quras’s loss of 49.42%.

Top 10 24-hour Performers (Click to enlarge)

Bottom 10 24-hour Performers (Click to enlarge)

Bitcoin’s market dominance has moved down almost half a percent since our last report, with its value currently being 65.1%. This value represents a 0.4% difference to the downside than the value it had when we last reported.

Daily Crypto Market Cap Chart

The cryptocurrency sector capitalization has increased since we last reported, with its current value being $669.26 billion. This represents an $18.25billion increase when compared to our previous report.

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What happened in the past 24 hours?

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

Technical analysis

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Bitcoin

Bitcoin has spent its weekend slowly rising towards the resistance level of its trading channel, which is bound by $22,055 to the downside and $24,315 to the upside. However, The two attempts to break the resistance level and enter the price discovery phase failed, leaving Bitcoin just below $24,315. With volume descending ever since Dec 17, we might expect this consolidation to end with a volume boom and a very sharp move.

While it is yet unknown whether this sharp move will be to the upside or downside, the increase in volume and a strong push towards one side will make it quite clear. Traders can use this momentum to catch a very safe trade.


BTC/USD 2-hour chart

While Bitcoin’s technicals are overall bullish, they either show signs of neutrality or even hints of bearishness. Its daily and monthly overviews have some indications of sellers being present, while its 4-hour and weekly overviews are bullish-neutral.

BTC/USD 1-day Technicals

Technical factors (4-hour Chart):
  • Price is far above both its 50-period and its 21-period EMA
  • Price slightly below its top Bollinger band
  • RSI is close to being overbought (65.90)
  • Volume is decreasing, and trading below the average level
Key levels to the upside          Key levels to the downside

1: $24,315                                 1: $22,054

2: $24,700                                 2: $21,350

3: $25,511                                  3: $19,918

Ethereum

Ethereum has, unlike Bitcoin, descended slowly within its trading range, which is bound by $675 to the upside and $632. The second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap had one strong push towards the downside, which brought its price all the way down to $620 on Dec 20. However, the bulls prevailed, and Ether is now trading above $632 safely.

Ethereum’s price movements seem pretty tame, meaning that its next move will be of larger magnitude. Traders should pay close attention to Bitcoin and its moves in the near future before trading any other cryptocurrency, including Ether.

ETH/USD 2-hour Chart

Ethereum’s technicals are very bullish on all time-frames, with only its weekly overview showing slight neutrality.

ETH/USD 1-day Technicals

Technical Factors (4-hour Chart):
  • Price is far above its 50-period and at its 21-period EMA
  • Price is slightly below its bottom Bollinger band
  • RSI is neutral (52.43)
  • Volume is on slightly above-average levels
Key levels to the upside          Key levels to the downside

1: $675                                     1: $632

2: $738.5                                  2: $600 

3: $817.5                                   3: $581

Ripple

With XRP’s strong push towards the upside ending on Dec 17, the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market cap has entered another descending channel. The price was slowly dwindling down over the weekend, breaking the $0.57 support level, and then confirming its position below it. The price even went below the $0.543 support at one point, but quickly recovered.

XRP’s volume is currently almost non-existent, and traders should pay attention to any volume spikes if they intend on trading XRP.

XRP/USD 2-hour Chart

XRP’s technicals are quite mixed, but overall tilted slightly towards the buy-side. It’s 4-hour and daily overviews are bullish-neutral, while its weekly overview shows some hints of bearishness. Its monthly overview, however, is completely bullish.

XRP/USD 1-day Technicals

Technical factors (4-hour Chart):
  • Its price is currently between its 50-period EMA and its 21-period EMA
  • Price slightly above its bottom Bollinger band
  • RSI is neutral (48.77)
  • Volume has descended to average levels
Key levels to the upside          Key levels to the downside

1: $0.57                                    1: $0.543

2: $0.597                                   2: $0.5

3: $0.63                                    3: $0.475

Categories
Crypto Daily Topic

5 Crucial Principles for Investing in DeFi

Unless you’ve been blind to the crypto industry in 2020, you’ve undoubtedly caught wind of the DeFi craze. On the one hand, some investors are minting lucrative yields from the industry. On the other, some are losing their life savings. 

If you’ve been following the trend, you’ve probably heard loads of things about investing in the new industry. Influential Bitcoin advocate, Anthony Pampliano, tweeted that all it took to shut down most DeFi dapps was for Jeff Bezos to shut down AWS. The tweet sparked quite a debate on the decentralization aspect, which is the core of DeFi projects. 

Truthfully, investing in DeFi is quite similar to any other worthy project. It comes with risks, and investors need to do their own research before getting on board. 

Well, DeFi is mostly uncharted territory for most investors, including crypto enthusiasts- which is why this article will come in handy. Here are some crucial principles you need to have in mind before deep diving. 

Check the Number of Active Users 

The value of a blockchain is dependent on the number of users, seeing as the technology solely relies on networks. Just like other network companies like Facebook, the more people who join the platform, the more valuable it becomes. 

When determining whether to invest in a Defi project, check the number of active users on the platform. Luckily, unlike other network companies, DeFi projects built on Ethereum allow you to view real-time data on the users. With other platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, you have to wait for the quarterly reports to get this insight. 

Additionally, you should also check the growth in the number of users. You want to invest in a project that registers sustained growth that keeps accelerating over time. The network effects of blockchain mean that the number of users won’t grow linearly as you’d expect, but rather quadratically, as shown below.

Source: Dune Analytics

Put Your Money in What You Understand

“Never invest in a business you cannot understand.” – Warren Buffet.

If you cannot take it from me, then take it from the investment mogul. Buffet has built his empire by investing in multiple businesses over the years, but he always keeps it simple. You should apply the same principle when investing in DeFi projects. 

The DeFi world is complex, and before placing your money anywhere, you should ensure you understand as much as you can. Scam projects take advantage of the industry’s complexity to dupe investors into getting on projects that will not yield much, or worse yet, lead to significant losses. 

It sure is boring, but go through a project’s documents, including the whitepaper, beforehand and understand the basic tokenometrics. What is the project’s native token, if any? How exactly will you make profits? What is the project’s primary aim? 

Similarly, you don’t have to leap for every DeFi project that seems promising. Implement the 20-slot rule to help you separate the wheat from the chaff. 

Watch Out for Gas Fees!

Most DeFi projects will quote gas fees for transactions, which are simply service charges. You’ll probably not bat an eyelid on the gas fees, but here’s why you should. 

For starters, these platforms won’t display the gas fees in fiat currency. Instead, they’ll have it in ETH, which makes it easier for you to ignore it. However, the fees are absolutely real, and when gas fees are high, you’ll probably end up making a loss. 

Say, for example, you want to invest $1000 in tokens, but the service fees are $50 worth in cryptocurrencies. With just one transaction, you’ll already have lost 5% of your investment. 

Usually, gas fees will skyrocket when there are too many people using the network. Therefore, you end up paying more for the same transaction. Higher gas fees also indicate you’re following the crowd, in the case of FOMO. 

As a rule of thumb, stay away from investing in DeFi when fees are high to avoid FOMO and FUD

Don’t Invest in the Platform, Buy DeFi Tokens Instead

If you’ve read up a bit on investing in DeFi, this principle is probably contrary to what you’ve heard from the industry. Yield farming is the most common strategy in DeFi platforms and involves moving your tokens between protocols and platforms to wherever they’ll earn the most interest. This approach is time-consuming since you have to keep checking what platforms are gaining interest so you can move your assets there. 

Although this is a popular way to invest in DeFi, stay away from it. Instead, invest in the protocol, which is quite similar to buying the company’s stock. 

I know what you’re thinking; most of these projects are decentralized, and there are no companies. So, how exactly do you go about that? 

Most DeFi projects will offer governance tokens that allow holders to vote on proposed changes. In this way, you gain something similar to a shareholder’s vote, which is like buying the company’s stock. 

Therefore, instead of locking up your crypto assets on the platform or chasing after yield farming, consider investing in the platform’s native token. If the project is viable, your tokens’ value will keep increasing with an increased number of users, which is just what your investment portfolio needs. 

DeFi is only a Portion of Your Blockchain Investment

Investing in blockchain projects is a fraction of your entire portfolio, and your DeFi investments should be a fraction of that. In other words, your investment basket is an entire pie, blockchain is a slice of it, and DeFi is only a portion of the blockchain investments. 

The majority of your investments should be in stocks and bonds. A smaller portion should then go to the blockchain projects you’re interested in, and an even smaller portion of this in DeFi. This way, if the DeFi markets were to crash suddenly, you’d only make a small loss. 

Similarly, with most of your investments are in stocks and bonds, a crash of the entire blockchain market will only slightly affect your portfolio. 

Endnote

Investing in a new industry requires caution, but when it comes to DeFi, you have to be particularly careful. There are two sides to the coin, and you could either make some good money or incur losses. Whatever the case, be sure it’s what you want to do and that you aren’t only following the ongoing DeFi craze. 

Every investment bears some risk, and you just need to decide which one’s worth your money. So go ahead and identify an investment you’d like and implement the above strategies for an enhanced fighting chance.