BITCOIN Archives - Page 29 of 29 - Financial Occultist

Price breaks out of its narrow range since December

Bitcoin

I’m trying to look for reasons for the move higher here but I’m really not seeing any (the usual ‘pump and dump’ move perhaps?). Price now cracks above the $4,600 level as I’m typing this.

Update: The $4,700 level is gone now too.

Here’s what things look like in the bigger picture:

Price has been trading narrowly since December with highs being limited around the area just under $4,200. But the break here isn’t only significant in that sense but price is now contending with a break above the 200-day MA (blue line) for the first time since March last year.

Bitcoin bounces off the 100 hour MA/trend line support

01-Apr-19 09:07 pm

Anirudh Sethi

Is it a high for the year?

The price of bitcoin is higher on the day and according to Bloomberg, reaching a high for the year. The problem is Bloomberg uses the weekday trading data. Coinbase, a leader in digital currency, has the highs for the year on Feb 23 and 24. Those highs came on a weekend.

One of the problems with bitcoin is price transparency. It bills itself as open at all times. Hence, I tend to use Coinbase as the benchmark (but it is open for discussion). However, there may be others that chop out the weekends.

The price is up $43.94 currently on the day at $4137. The high for the day reached $4149.50. The low extended to $4051.53. At the low, a trend line and the 100 hour MA (blue line) was tested and held support. Holding the level was more bullish. The price moved higher.

Staying on the hourly chart, the high for the day did stall against a trend line connecting the March 16, March 30 and high for the day. Above that is the topside trend line at $4210. Those are targets. Before that trend line, the high for the year comes in at $4188.79 (on Coinbase – see chart below). Keep that level in mind as a target.

95% of all reported Bitcoin trading volume is faked – report

24-Mar-19 07:05 pm

Anirudh Sethi

High rates of fake volume are no surprise

Bitwise Asset Management analyzed trading activity at 81 exchanges over four days in March and found that the volume of trading is much lower than reported.

Of the roughly $6 billion in reported daily volume during four days in March, the firm calculated that about $273 million was legitimate.

The company undertook the study with an application to launch a Bitcoin ETF so it has a conflict of interest. However another recent study from Crypto Integrity said 88% of all activity in February had been inflated.

The WSJ first reported on the study:

(more…)

Japanese financial authorities to cap leverage in cryptocurrency trading

19-Mar-19 05:27 am

Anirudh Sethi

Japan press (Nikkei) report on moves to further restrict crypto margin trading

cabinet has approved draft amendments to laws which would cap leverage in virtual currency margin trading at two to four times initial deposits
brings the limits in line with standards are similar to those in foreign exchange trading
All cryptocurrency exchanges that handle margin trading will be required to obtain new government registration

Article is here

Japan press (Nikkei) report on moves to further restrict crypto margin trading

Bitcoin tests its 100 day MA on dip. Key barometer for buyers and sellers

04-Mar-19 08:50 pm

Anirudh Sethi

Key level tested on move lower today

The price of bitcoin on Coinbase is trading down about $80 at $3708 currently.

Bitcoin on the hourly chart moved away from the 100 and 200 hour MAs (blue and green lines)

Looking at the hourly chart above, since Feb 24, the digital currency has been able to stay below its 200 hour MA (on every bar with the exeption of one bar on Feb 28th). Over the weekend, the price waffled above and below its 100 hour MA in a narrow range. That 100 hour MA currently comes in at $3797.06. Stay below it and the 200 hour MA at $3807.91 is more bearish.

Today, the buyers gave up on moving above those MAs, and the price tumbled lower.

That low reached $3672.39 which was close to the low from Feb 27th at $3655. The price moved quickly off that low on that day. As a result, there has been a stall today against that level as traders leaned with stops likely on a break below. More downside was averted.

Also helping to stall the fall comes from the daily chart below. Looking at it, the 100 day MA (blue line) comes in today at $3680.96. The low today did dip below that key moving average line but it was short lived. If the price is to go lower – and the bias barometer move more to the downside – breaking and staying below that key MA will be eyed. Be aware.

Until then, this fall can just be a dip to key support as traders trade the ups and downs.

The 100 day MA is trying to stall the fall today. Key support target.

In summary,

The 100 and 200 hour MA above is key for a more bullish bias. Sellers leaned against them, keeping sellers more in control.
The 100 day MA at $3680.96 is key for a more bearish bias. Today that MA was tested but the price is back above it currently.

In between the buyers and sellers are battling it out.

Bitcoin: Has a Future as a Medium of Exchange ?

27-Feb-19 10:42 pm

Anirudh Sethi

It was interesting to hear Mr. Buffett’s take on Bitcoin in the extended CNBC interview with Becky Quick this week. That single interview on CNBC is probably the best 3 hours of financial media that viewers get a few times a year.

Mr. Buffett’s comment on Bitcoin: “If you sit there and watch it, it doesn’t do anything, it doesn’t reproduce”, which is actually pretty humorous. (I couldn’t help but think that Mr. Buffett was thinking about farmland, which he as always said he would prefer to own, rather than a similar quantity of gold.)

One important lesson learned from Economics 101 I still remember from freshman year of college, 1978, is that in economics, a currency or money is either a “store of value” or “a medium of exchange”. (It was surprising to read Wikipedia’s “store of value” definition since it seems very similar to Investopedia’s “medium of exchange” definition.)

Are the the “store of value” versus “medium of exchange” terms really all that different ? On their face, it doesn’t appear to be the case, but my own definition of store of value was that it was intended to mean “intrinsic value”, which paper currency, gold and bitcoin lack.

As JP Morgan demonstrated this week, cryptocurrency likely has a future as a medium of exchange (in my opinion). It seems like a product looking for a market, the last few years, and that market needs to develop around the cryptocurrency and Bitcoin over time.