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Jan 21 2021

Ignoring Bitcoin, Hedera Hashgraph, Reef and Perpetual Protocol rally higher

Bitcoin (BTC) price tumbled more than 10% today to hit a low near $31,000 and at the time of writing it looks like the sell-off has a bit further to go. In a weekly report from crypto fund provider, CoinShares, some institutional investors seem to be booking profits and the analysts also cited the strengthening (trade-weighted) U.S. dollar.

Another indicator that points to professionals selling Bitcoin is the drop in “Coinbase Premium.” As markets continue lower, an increasing number of investors may dump their positions with the intent to buy again at lower levels.

Crypto market data daily view. Source: Coin360

Guggenheim Partners chief investment officer Scott Minerd has turned bearish on Bitcoin for the year. In an interview with CNBC, Minerd said that Bitcoin may have topped out and could “see a full retracement back toward the 20,000 level.”

If Bitcoin plunges, altcoins are also likely to witness selling pressure. Although this may be the case, during sell-offs, tokens backed by strong fundamentals may outperform.

Let’s have a look at three tokens which have held steady during the current market correction.

HBAR/USD

Hedera Hashgraph (HBAR), the enterprise-grade distributed ledger, has been entering into various partnerships to leverage blockchain technology in real-world use cases in several sectors. If these initial projects are successful, it will open a plethora of future possibilities around the globe. Some of the recent collaborations are highlighted below.

Hedera and content services provider Hyland recently presented a proof of concept to the Texas Secretary of State to secure and verify government-issued records using electronic Apostilles, which will be recognized universally.

Fighting against money laundering and combating terrorism financing are critical regulatory requirements for every financial institution and these obligations are closely monitored by governments. TRM Labs has integrated with the Hedera public ledger to provide robust compliance and risk management solutions to the developers building on Hedera.

The team also has partnered with Everyware to monitor the cold storage equipment used to store COVID-19 and other vaccines at Stratford Upon Avon and Warwick hospitals.

Along similar lines, AVC Global and its Subsidiary MVC’s Track-and-Trace Platform have chosen to collaborate with Hedera to develop intelligent supply chains to reduce risk and fraud and enable the right product to reach the right place at the right time.

Hedera’s strength can be found in its diversified enterprises and the organizations that are part of the Hedera Governing Council. As the number of use cases for the protocol increase, it’s possible that HBAR will also continue to perform well.

HBAR has risen from an intraday low of $0.04151 on Jan. 12 to an intraday high at $0.12467 today, a 200% rally within a short span. The sharp rally on Jan. 20 cleared the overhead hurdle at $0.083.

HBAR/USDT daily chart. Source: TradingView

However, the sharp rally of the past few days has pushed the relative strength index (RSI) deep into the overbought territory, which may have attracted profit booking from traders. This has resulted in the formation of a Doji candlestick pattern today, suggesting indecision among the bulls and the bears about the next directional move.

The HBAR/USD pair could retest the recent breakout level at $0.083. If the price rebounds off this support, the bulls will again try to resume the uptrend. A breakout and close above $0.12467 could resume the uptrend, with the next target objective at $0.16616.

This bullish view will invalidate if the bears sink the price below the $0.083 support. Such a move could drag the pair to the 20-day exponential moving average ($0.06) as a deep fall tends to delay the resumption of the uptrend.

REEF/USD

The growing popularity of the DeFi space shows no signs of slowing down. Several new platforms promising innovative products pop up every other day and this makes it increasingly difficult to keep track of all new developments.

Reef’s (REEF) AI and Machine Learning powered algorithms attempt to address this problem by aggregating liquidity from various sources in order to offer users the most profitable option.

To achieve this objective, Reef has entered several partnerships in the past few weeks. The platform added support to Avalanche, enabling Reef’s clients to directly access the products available on Avalanche without leaving Reef’s platform.

Similarly, a partnership with bZx Protocol offers clients several trading and lending opportunities. The addition of a bZx farming pool to Reef’s AI and Machine Learning powered analytics engine will further widen the options available to Reef’s clients.

Reef’s collaboration with OpenDeFi allows users to invest in synthetic versions of real-world assets that are held by a custodian. Traders can invest in physical assets such as gold, silver, or even real estate and they can stake them to receive loans.

Reef finance was recently listed on Binance Launchpool, increasing its accessibility and a recent code audit by Halborn is likely to increase investors’ confidence in the project.

REEF rallied from an intraday low at $0.006516 on Jan. 13 to an intraday high at $0.023 today, a 252% rally within a short period. Due to the short trading history, a 4-hour chart has been used for the analysis.

REEF/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView

The REEF/USD pair is currently trading inside an ascending channel, with both moving averages sloping up and the RSI in the positive territory. This suggests that the bulls have the upper hand.

If the pair rebounds off the 20-EMA, the uptrend could resume its up-move inside the channel. A breakout and close above the channel will suggest a pick up in momentum. The critical level to watch on the upside is $0.031 and then $0.042.

Contrary to this assumption, if the bears sink the price below the support line of the channel, the pair could drop to the 50-simple moving average. A break below this support could signal that bears have taken control.

PERP/USD

Perpetual Protocol (PERP) is a relatively new entrant in the DeFi space, listing on the Ethereum mainnet on Dec 14. The recent crypto bull run could have accelerated its adoption as traders have been using perpetual contracts to profit from the speeding market.

Even though the platform supports only three trading pairs, Perpetual said their 7-day volume puts them in the top 10 on the DEX Metrics highlighted by Dune analytics.

After its initial success, Perpetual plans to add a fourth trading pair and then follow it up with more additions in due course. The staking pool may launch in February, which will allow PERP token holders to stake and earn rewards on fees generated by trading on the platform. The team is currently working to integrate limit orders sell options to the platform and the feature is expected to go live before the end of Q1.

PERP rallied from $1.844 on Jan. 12 to an intraday high at $6.055 on Jan. 17, a 228% rally within a week. After a three-day correction, the bulls are currently attempting to resume the uptrend.

PERP/USD daily chart. Source: Beta.Dex Vision

The shallow correction of the past three days suggests that the bulls are not closing their positions in a hurry. If the buyers can push the price above $6.055, the next leg of the up-move could begin. The next target objective on the upside is $9.41.

On the contrary, if the price turns down from $6.055, the PERP/USD pair may correct to $4.275 and remain range-bound between these two levels for a few days.

A break below $4.275 may intensify selling with the next support at the 50% Fibonacci retracement level. A breakdown and close below the 20-day EMA ($3.19) will signal a possible trend change.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

Ignoring Bitcoin, Hedera Hashgraph, Reef and Perpetual Protocol rally higher

Source

Written by bizbuildermike · Categorized: cryptocurrency · Tagged: Adoption, AI, algorithms, altcoins, analysis, Analysts, author, avalanche, Binance, bitcoin, Bitcoin Price, blockchain, coinbase, compliance, covid-19, crypto, crypto bull run, data, defi, DEX, Dollar, ethereum, Fees, finance, fraud, fund, Future, Global, Go, gold, Hedera Hashgraph, index, institutional investors, interview, investment, Ledger, lending, LINE, machine learning, Mainnet, market, markets, money, Money Laundering, more, opinions, other, partnership, Perpetual Protocol, platforms, Price Analysis, product, Products, Real Estate, Reef, report, research, risk, Risk Management, said, silver, Space, staking, storage, target, Technology, Texas, token, tokens, trading, u.s., upside, view

Jan 14 2021

Mike Novogratz Sees More Institutions Flocking into Bitcoin in 2021

Bitcoin’s recent rally has been mostly due to the influx of institutional investors into the market. However, there have been questions about how long this could continue. For crypto entrepreneur and investor Mike Novogratz, things appear to just be getting started.

Institutions Will Hop on Price Dips

Novogratz runs crypto merchant bank Galaxy Digital. He sat down for an interview with Yahoo! Finance, where he discussed the state of the crypto market.

The crypto investor said he expects the arrival of more institutions in 2021.

In the interview, Novogratz gave a quick overview of the market so far, heralded by Bitcoin and its volatile performance last week. The investor pointed out that there should be even further dips soon, although he wasn’t overly concerned because he expects an influx of institutional investors.

Galaxy Digital CEO @Novogratz on $BTC: “The institutions who are coming into this space now that weren’t in the space six months ago, [a] year ago, don’t have their fill yet. Not even close. We’re in the first inning of a 9-inning game with insurance companies, asset managers…” pic.twitter.com/hPClp8R9o4

— Yahoo Finance (@YahooFinance) January 13, 2021

As explained earlier, 2020 was the year of institutions rushing into crypto. Fearing the weakening dollar’s effects, companies like MicroStrategy, Square, Ruffer Investments, and MassMutual made Bitcoin plays worth tens and hundreds of millions. However, as Novogratz explained, the trend should continue, with more investors seeing Bitcoin’s long-term value.

“The institutions who are coming into this space now that weren’t in the space six months ago, [a] year ago, don’t have their fill yet. Not even close. We’re in the first inning of a 9-inning game with insurance companies, asset managers,” Novogratz said in part.

The billionaire investor added that Bitcoin would have more dips soon, and there will be institutions waiting to pounce at the opportunity. So, the market remains strong, thanks in part to projected increases in demand.

The Coming Liquidity Shortage

Novogratz also explained that the influx of institutions represents a significant shift in the market’s structure. Most institutions appear to be long-term holders who don’t have much use for Bitcoins other than as a store of value.

Considering that these large companies tend to make hung plays at once, their reluctance to plow back any of the Bitcoins they own could lead to a liquidity crunch.

Trading platforms are already complaining about a possible liquidity problem. eToro told customers that massive demand for Bitcoin could cause it to place limitations on buy orders over the weekend. Coinbase’s daily volume also reached $9.5 billion on January 12 – surpassing its previous all-time high of $6.5 billion.

On the same day, volumes on Binance hit $30 billion for the first time. With institutions like Grayscale Investments and MicroStrategy snapping up Bitcoins every chance they get, it seems more likely that there will be less and less for retail traders to play with.

Mike Novogratz Sees More Institutions Flocking into Bitcoin in 2021

Source

Written by bizbuildermike · Categorized: cryptocurrency · Tagged: 2020, 2021, Binance, bitcoin, bitcoins, ceo, coinbase, crypto, digital, entrepreneur, eToro, finance, game, Grayscale, institutional investors, insurance, interview, Investments, investor, market, MassMutual, Microstrategy, Mike Novogratz, more, other, platforms, retail, said, Space, square, Twitter, Yahoo

Jan 11 2021

Kava DeFi Platform to Release Robo-Advisor Service to Automate Strategies for Financial Services and Other 2021 Updates

The Kava decentralized finance (DeFi) platform is “coming out the gates swinging” in 2021 with a “feature-packed” product roadmap – which includes two new native apps and crypto tokens, “decentralized bridges” to onboard major cross-chain digital assets, and several other features to “reinforce the safety and security measures already enjoyed by all users of Kava’s DeFi applications and services,” according to Scott Stuart, who works on Product at Kava Labs Inc.

As noted by Stuart, Kava’s 4-month “major release cycles are targeted for Kava 2021 Development.” The platform’s HARD Protocol Version 2 will include “borrowing with variable interest rates and a distribution of HARD [tokens] to both asset suppliers and borrowers.” As confirmed by the Kava team, HARD Governance will be enhanced to include “more protocol parameters quickly by the HARD community.”

The DeFi platform’s developers revealed:

“Kava has seen significant usage in 2020, as such a number of software optimizations are needed to be made in order for validators to validate blocks in a timely manner, there are also consensus tweaks to improve system performance based on production data.”

They further noted:

“Kava services including cross-chain claim and refund bots, app front-ends, price reference software, Full nodes, historical nodes, REST and API endpoints, and others are run on Kava Cloud infrastructure. Significant enhancements in standardization, security, monitoring and alerting tools have been added to Kava Cloud services that drive infrastructural and end-user services.”

An Autonomous Market Making (AMM) service and application will reportedly be launched and will operate as an on-chain liquidity pool for Kava users so that they can swap different assets on the platform for use in other financial services.

The Kava SAFU fund will be proposed in order to provide more protection to Kava users by insuring and underwriting “some portion of infrastructure and cross-chain activities on Kava.”

As noted in the announcement, the KAVA staking derivative is an asset “derived from KAVA that is staked for POS security.” KAVA staking derivatives “allow more KAVA (derivative) liquidity to be used in various financial services on Kava while not foregoing the security and rewards offered by KAVA POS staking.”

The platform’s developers claim that the safety of Kava users’ assets is “the number one objective which guides development of the Kava DeFi platform.” The Kava team further noted that risk management optimizations such as the enhanced Tendermint mempool queuing and “prioritization of critical services in the mempool will improve transaction safety.”

As confirmed in the update:

“A Robo Advisor service and application will be released to help automate strategies amongst the various financial services offered on Kava, and will increase user onboarding by opening up a larger pool of less hands-on Kava users to participate in yield generating strategies.”

A direct Ethereum bridge to Kava will also be introduced in order to onboard native Ethereum-based assets such as ETH and ERC-20 tokens including LINK and DAI. A fairly large number of users have reportedly requested that they should be able to transfer Ethereum assets directly to Kava and “this bridge should be their service of choice.”

As noted in the announcement, Kava is currently evaluating assets which will use Kava’s “audited Issuance module for USDT, USDC, WBTC, and HBTC amongst others, and will continue to do so through the first half of 2021.”

Kava has moved more than $100 million in asset value “automatically between Binance Chain and Kava.” There have reportedly been many requests to “apply a similar technology to Ethereum assets and Kava will deliver this in Kava 6, such that any project partners built on Ethereum will have access to Kava decentralized financial applications and services,” the update confirmed.

Kava remains focused on helping more users join the DeFi space. The Kava API will be launched as a standardized plugin for application developers and financial institutions to “unlock DeFi services for their users initially including borrowing, lending, and trading.” Prototypes have been integrated with partners such as Binance and Bitmax.io with “many more business integrations to come in 2021.”

Source

Written by bizbuildermike · Categorized: Crowdfunding · Tagged: 2020, 2021, AMM, api, Apps, Binance, Blockchain & Digital Assets, bots, business, cloud, Community, crypto, crypto-assets, DAI, dapps, data, decentralized, Decentralized Applications, decentralized finance, defi, Derivatives, digital, digital assets, erc-20, ERC-20 Tokens, ETH, ethereum, finance, financial services, fund, Infrastructure, Interest Rates, kava, Kava Labs, lending, market, more, other, product, risk, Risk Management, robo-advisors, security, Software, Space, staking, Technology, tokens, trading, transaction, USDC

Jan 08 2021

DeFi integration and layer-2 tech back Matic Network’s (MATIC) 92% rally

The exponential growth of the decentralized finance sector increased activity on the Ethereum blockchain, and this has resulted in slow transaction times and incredibly high fees. 

In the last month, Ether (ETH) price has also rallied more than 100%, and gas fees are on the rise again as demand for ETH and a resurgence in the DeFi sector accelerates.

Matic Network intends to solve the DeFi and decentralized applications scalability problem by using layer-two technology for off-chain computing.

Multiple sidechains can be used simultaneously, and each is secured by a group of validators via its proof-of-stake system. The results are then pushed to the Ethereum network, creating checkpoints.

The project aims to become blockchain agnostic, which would allow for interoperable assets in the future. Currently, the Matic Network is ERC-20-based and its MATIC token has a $156 million market capitalization.

Backed by Coinbase Ventures and Binance Launchpad, the project raised $5.6 billion during its initial exchange offering in April 2019. A number of notable projects have already integrated Matic Network’s infrastructure, including Decentraland and Maker.

Since Jan. 1, MATIC has rallied 92%, but the token is still 23% below its Dec. 2019 all-time-high at $0.44.

MATIC/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView

Matic Network initiated deposits and withdrawals on its mainnet on June 20, 2020, and a few days later, it began offering staking capabilities. Tokenholders were then able to delegate their staking to validators and share revenue.

On Sep. 10, 2020, Matic released its proof-of-stake token bridge, allowing faster transfers between the Ethereum and Matic networks.

Since August 2020, Matic’s BEPSwap decentralized exchange has been running on a beta version, and its liquidity has dropped about 25% from it’s $40 million peak.

In September 2020, Matic Network launched its final staking phase by adding community-run validator nodes while increasing slots to 100. The team intends to gradually shut down all Matic Foundation nodes, allowing the community to choose from public validators.

DeFi and altcoin season appears to be pushing MATIC higher

Over the last few weeks, a handful of projects have chosen to launch on Matic Network, including the game SkyWeaver, Aavegotchi Crypto Collectibles, the collectible game Drakon IOI and Fire Protocol OS.

Furthermore, on Jan. 6, the MATIC token listed on Huobi Global and offered an $80 premium to new users who onboarded with full Know Your Customer verification.

Matic Twitter user activity vs. price (USD). Source: The Tie

Data from The Tie shows that the recent price spike has been accompanied by a considerable increase in social network activity, but it’s difficult to determine whether the uptick in Twitter users is the primary driver behind MATIC’s price action.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph. Every investment and trading move involves risk. You should conduct your own research when making a decision.

DeFi integration and layer-2 tech back Matic Network’s (MATIC) 92% rally

Source

Written by bizbuildermike · Categorized: cryptocurrency · Tagged: 2020, altcoin, Binance, blockchain, coinbase, Community, Computing, crypto, cryptocurrencies, Cryptocurrency Exchange, decentralized, Decentralized Applications, Decentralized Exchange, decentralized finance, defi, DEX, driver, ETH, ether, ethereum, Ethereum network, exchange, Fees, finance, Future, game, Global, huobi, Infrastructure, integration, investment, Mainnet, market, market capitalization, markets, matic, matic token, more, opinions, Proof-of-Stake, research, returns, revenue, risk, social, social-network, staking, tech, Technology, token, tokens, trading, transaction, transfers, Twitter, uptick, verification

Jan 06 2021

2 key Bitcoin price indicators show pro traders are waiting for $36K

Bitcoin (BTC) recently reclaimed $35,000, but top traders at Huobi, OKEx and Binance are not buying the breakout. Unlike the savvy institutional investors who may be desperate for protection against the debasement of fiat, the more crypto-focused investors seem to be waiting for dips.

Institutional investors might also be celebrating the Jan. 4 announcement that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency will allow banks to include stablecoins in bank-permissible functions. This further validates the crypto sector and may result in a rise in institutional participation in the space.

Typically, after a new all-time high is achieved, Bitcoin price pulls back as some traders take profits and bears consider opening short positions near the new “top.”

Crypto-focused traders are well aware of Bitcoin’s volatility, and the recent dip to $27,000 serves as a perfect example.

To effectively measure how crypto-focused traders have been positioning themselves, investors should monitor the top traders’ long-to-short ratio at leading crypto exchanges.

Top traders BTC long/short ratio. Source: Bybt.com

Notice how Huobi top traders have been reducing their long positions over the past two days. Meanwhile, Binance top traders have been sitting mostly sideways this entire period.

It is worth noting that exchanges gather data on top traders differently, as there are multiple ways to measure clients’ net exposure. Therefore, any comparison between different providers should be made on percentage changes instead of absolute numbers.

OKEx has been the only exception, as its top-traders metric showed that investors entered short positions as BTC momentarily dumped on Jan. 4, but this trend reverted as the $31,000 support was reestablished. This data indicates that those traders are chasing the market instead of placing bets ahead of the move.

Generally speaking, it is safe to conclude that “top” traders have not been responsible for the current bull run.

The futures funding rate is holding steady

Perpetual contracts, also known as inverse swaps, have an embedded rate that is usually charged every eight hours. When buyers (longs) are the ones demanding more leverage, the funding rate turns positive. Therefore, the buyers will be the ones paying up the fees. This issue holds especially true during bull runs, when there is usually more demand for longs.

BTC perpetual futures funding rates. Source: Digital Assets Data

As shown above, the funding rate climbed to an unusually high 5% weekly level on exchange FTX on Jan. 4. Regardless of this oddity, the average 1% weekly funding rate seems exceptionally modest considering Bitcoin’s 18% rally over the past six days.

At the moment, it’s clear that top traders at major exchanges are not the ones leading the recent buying activity. These short-term traders seem to be waiting for lower entry points, according to their long-to-short position data and the funding rate on derivatives exchanges.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph. Every investment and trading move involves risk. You should conduct your own research when making a decision.

2 key Bitcoin price indicators show pro traders are waiting for $36K

Source

Written by bizbuildermike · Categorized: cryptocurrency · Tagged: Banks, Binance, bitcoin, Bitcoin Futures, Bitcoin Options, Bitcoin Price, btc, crypto, cryptocurrencies, Cryptocurrency Exchange, data, Derivatives, exchange, Exchanges, Fees, ftx, funding, huobi, institutional investors, investment, market, Market Update, markets, more, okex, opinions, research, risk, Space, trading

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