Yearn. finance’s YFI governance token’s price has been stagnant as of late, hovering within the lower-$20,000 region without being able to gain any serious momentum. From a fundamental standpoint, Yearn. finance’s ecosystem is stronger than ever, and the introduction of new products and new parts of the ecosystem are only making it stronger.
Altcoin Drastically Pumps And Dumps Against Bitcoin
The Bitcoin bull market is here, the asset is trading at nearly $30,000, and an awful year just came to a close – investors are in their right to be celebrating and having a little bit of fun with their profits. But one altcoin that recently was sent skyrocketing immediately was swatted back down, nearly retracing the entire move. Speculation points to a pump and dump group behind the surprise move.
Bitcoin hits all-time high against gold as battle rages
BTC has hit another milestone, this time against gold bullion, the world’s oldest reserve asset. Bitcoin price claimed another all-time high on Friday, this time against gold, offering further confirmation that demand for digital assets is on the rise.
Tether’s Biggest Rival Now Has $4 Billion Market Cap
The total market capitalization of USD Coin (USDC) has surpassed $4 billion, according to a tweet posted by Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire. The dollar-pegged cryptocurrency witnessed 800 percent growth in 2020 alone, thriving because of the mushrooming demand for stable coins. It currently holds 11th place on CoinMarketCap.
Dash announces a new update, social payment wallet enters test net
Dash Core Group has announced the release of new updates for the Dash platform as well as the DashPay smartphone wallet app. Dash has moved development work on the v0.17 update of its platform to the test net phase, according to an announcement released on Wednesday. As part of the announcement, Dash revealed that the test net environment is five times larger than Evonet, which is almost exclusively owned by the Dash Core Group.
Bitcoin (BTC) rallied from an intraday low at $17,573.29 on Dec. 11 to an intraday high at $29,310.19 on Dec. 31, a 66.78% rally in a short span. This shows strong demand from traders at every higher level.
Institutional crypto investment giant Grayscale bought 72,950 Bitcoin in December, which was 159.49% more than the 28,112 Bitcoin mined during that period, according to data from Coin98 Analytics.
It is not only the institutions buying — a strong bull run also attracts speculators and momentum traders who try to piggyback on the up-move. This can be seen from the surge in Bitcoin’s transaction volume in December 2020, according to on-chain analytics resource Digital Assets Data.
However, at some level, buyers will stop chasing prices higher, and that could cause the rally to turn down. When it does, the speculators and momentum traders may rush to the exit, and the buyers are likely to wait for lower levels to purchase again. This scenario could result in a sharp pullback. Hence, traders should employ suitable risk management strategies.
In a strong bull run, traders may watch the resistance levels for signs of a possible turnaround, but when the levels are scaled with ease, it shows that the trend remains strong. Let’s study the charts of the top 10 cryptocurrencies to identify the critical resistance levels on the upside.
BTC/USD
Bitcoin (BTC) is in a strong uptrend, and traders are buying every intraday dip without waiting for a deeper correction. The long-legged Doji candlestick pattern on Dec. 31 suggests that bears tried to start a correction but the bulls bought the dip aggressively.
However, the strong up-move of the past few days has pushed the relative strength index (RSI) deep into the overbought territory. This suggests the BTC/USD pair could enter a minor consolidation or correction near the $30,000 mark.
Contrary to this assumption, if the bulls drive the price above $30,000, the pair could continue its rally and rise to $37,000. But with every leg up, the risk to the downside increases.
If the price turns down from $30,000, the pair could drop to the 20-day exponential moving average ($24,842). A strong rebound off this level will suggest that the uptrend remains intact, but a break below it could pull the pair down to the 50-day simple moving average ($20,614).
ETH/USD
Ether (ETH) has been facing resistance near the $750 level for the past few days, but the positive sign is that the bulls have not given up much ground. This suggests that traders are not booking profits aggressively, as they expect the uptrend to resume.
If the bulls can push and sustain the price above $750, the ETH/USD pair may rally to $800 where the bears may again try to stall the uptrend. The rising moving averages and the RSI near the overbought zone suggest that bulls have the upper hand.
However, if the pair dips below $717, the correction could deepen to the 20-day EMA ($663). If the price rebounds off this support, it will suggest that the sentiment remains bullish and traders are buying on dips.
On the contrary, a break below the 20-day EMA will suggest that traders are not buying the dips and are booking profits aggressively. That could signal the start of a deeper correction.
XRP/USD
XRP formed an inside day candlestick pattern on Dec. 30 and 31, which shows indecision among the bulls and bears. The uncertainty resolved to the upside today, and the bulls have started a relief rally.
In a strong downtrend, traders use rallies to establish short positions or close their long positions. The downsloping 20-day EMA and the RSI near the overbought territory suggest that bears are in command.
Therefore, the current attempt to move up may face strong resistance at the 20-day EMA ($0.357). If the price turns down from this level, the bears will try to resume the downtrend. If they can sink the price below $0.172536, the XRP/USD pair could fall to $0.10.
This negative view will be invalidated if the bears push the price above the 20-day EMA. Such a move will suggest that selling has exhausted, and a few days of range-bound action could follow.
LTC/USD
Litecoin (LTC) has held above $124.1278 for the past few days, which suggests that the bulls are attempting to flip this level to support. The upsloping moving averages and the RSI in the positive zone suggest that the bulls are in control.
If the bulls can propel the price above the $140 resistance, the LTC/USD pair may resume its uptrend. The bears may again try to stall the rally at the psychological resistance at $150, but if this level is scaled, the up-move could reach $160.
Contrary to this assumption, if the bears sink and sustain the price below $124.1278, the pair may drop to the 20-day EMA ($113.79).
If the price rebounds off this level, the bulls will again try to resume the uptrend. However, a break below the 20-day EMA will open up the possibilities for a deeper correction to the 50-day SMA ($91.96).
DOT/USD
Polkadot (DOT) resumed its up-move after a one-day minor correction on Dec. 30. The 28.145% rally on Dec. 31 shows that the altcoin is backed by strong momentum.
However, the uptrend has pushed the RSI into the overbought territory, and the bears are currently trying to stall the up-move in the $9.51 to $10 overhead resistance zone.
If the DOT/USD pair again witnesses a minor correction and turns up from the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement level at $7.7614, it will suggest that traders are not closing their positions in a hurry and are buying on every minor dip. This may push the pair to $11.
Conversely, if the bears pull the price below $7.7614, a retest of the breakout level at $6.8619 is possible.
BCH/USD
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) turned down from the $370 overhead resistance on Dec. 28 and slipped below the $353 support on Dec. 31. The bulls are currently attempting to sustain the price above the 20-day EMA ($323).
If the price turns up from the current levels, the bulls will make one more attempt to drive the price above $370. The upsloping moving averages and the RSI in the positive zone suggest that bulls have the upper hand.
A breakout and close above $370 could resume the up-move, and the BCH/USD pair could reach $430 and then $500. This positive view will be invalidated and the pair may remain stuck in the range if the bears sink the price below the 20-day EMA.
ADA/USD
Cardano’s ADA has been holding above the $0.175 support for the past two days, which suggests that the bulls have been purchasing the dips to this level. However, the failure to resume the up-move indicates that demand dries up at higher levels.
The range has contracted for the past two days, and soon, this will be followed by a range expansion. If the range resolves to the upside and the bulls push the price above $0.1966315, the ADA/USD pair could rally to $0.22 and then to $0.235.
The rising moving averages and the RSI in the positive zone suggest that the path of least resistance is to the upside. This positive view will be invalidated if the bears sink and sustain the price below the 20-day EMA ($0.165). If that happens, it will suggest that the recent breakout was a bull trap.
BNB/USD
Binance Coin (BNB) did not even correct to the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement level of the latest leg of the rally, and it turned up from $36.5157 on Dec. 31. This suggests that traders aggressively bought the dip.
If the bulls can push the price above the $40 resistance, the BNB/USD pair could resume its rally and reach $45 and then $50. The rising moving averages and the RSI near the overbought territory indicate bulls are in control.
Contrary to this assumption, if the price again turns down from $40, the pair may remain range-bound between $35.69 and $40 for a few days. The trend could change if the bears sink the price below the 20-day EMA ($34).
LINK/USD
Chainlink’s LINK is trading inside a descending channel. The failure of the bears to sink and sustain the price below the $11.29 support has attracted buyers today who are attempting to push the price above the 20-day EMA ($12.13).
If they succeed, the LINK/USD pair could rise to the resistance line of the channel. A break above the channel and the $13.28 resistance could start a new uptrend that could reach $16.39.
However, if the price turns down from the current levels or the resistance line of the channel, then the bears will again try to break the $11.29 support. If they manage to do that, the pair could drop to $10 and then to the support line of the channel near $9.60.
BSV/USD
The bulls are struggling to push Bitcoin SV (BSV) above the 20-day EMA ($167), and the bears are not able to sustain the price below $160. This suggests a balance between supply and demand, but this tight range action may not continue for long.
If the bulls push the price above the moving averages, the BSV/USD pair could rally to $181 where the bears are likely to mount a stiff resistance. If the price turns down from this level, the range-bound action is likely to extend for a few more days.
On the other hand, if the pair dips below $160, the pair could drop to $146 where the buyers may step in. A strong bounce could keep the price inside the angle for some more time. The indicators are not showing a clear advantage either to the bulls or the bears.
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.
Peer-to-peer coverage market Cover Protocol has published a compensation plan for tokenholders and liquidity providers affected by the recent hack. As part of the process, the Cover Protocol team took a snapshot at block height 11,541,218, the last transaction block before the exploit began.
Eligible liquidity providers on Uniswap, SushiSwap and Balancer will receive new COVER tokens based on their share of the liquidity pool on those platforms. Liquidity providers on the first two platforms will also receive a share of the Ether (ETH) returned by “white hat” exploiters like Grap.Finance.
The compensation plan also revealed that tokenholders will receive new COVER coins on a one-to-one ratio with their initial wallet balance before the hack. Commenting on the reimbursement for coins held on centralized exchanges, Cover Protocol stated:
“We are working with centralized exchanges to reward users who had $COVER in their balances at the abovementioned block number with the new $COVER token (1:1).”
Meanwhile, Binance says it will recompense customers whose COVER tokens became worthless following the exploit on Monday. Announcing the plan on Thursday, Binance revealed that the $10 million compensation will come from the platform’s SAFU Fund split between Binance USD (BUSD) and Ether.
According to the exchange, the decision was reached based on the fact that a majority of Binance users affected by the hack were not covered in the Cover compensation plan. Binance pledged to reimburse about 8.17 million BUSD and 2,581.16 ETH for a total of about $10.1 million.
Cover Protocol suffered an infinite minting attack
As previously reported by Cointelegraph, Cover Protocol suffered an infinite minting attack that triggered a price crash. Several entities exploited the vulnerability, with the first attacker reportedly draining over $4 million from the protocol.
In its report on the hack, the Cover Protocol team revealed that it was monitoring the address of the first attacker as well as other participants in the exploit.
The spate of successful attacks against decentralized finance projects in 2020 remains a source of concern. Indeed, while crypto crime declined during the year, the DeFi space contributed to over half of all thefts and hacks in the second half of the year.
2020 was a stellar year for cryptocurrencies in India, gaining momentum especially in India. All-time high, Price Pumps, FOMO, and Crypto to the Moon are some phrases from the 2017 crypto bull run, which reappeared. Market Cap and volumes showed impressive growth and active users and wallet holders were on a steep hike.
Being a roller coaster year for all the nations, we have seen many ups and downs this year. But, the COVID-19 pandemic has also encouraged investors to start investing in cryptocurrencies in India, leaving the gold behind.
Indian cryptocurrency exchanges and regulations a hot topic
People looking for the security of their cryptocurrency holdings and new investors looking for gains were concerned about the regulations, until in favor of the Crypto Exchange. Mass Adoption of Cryptocurrencies in India was a hot topic post some relief and the whole community came together hoping for a regulated Bitcoin Market in India that offers great functionality with a user-friendly and secured mechanism.
BuyUcoin was not alone in this, various stakeholders, journalists and crypto exchanges, and government organizations came forward to participate in the Sandbox by BuyUcoin.
Along with participation in a regulated crypto market, new investors also showed huge interest in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in India like never before. According to data from CoinGecko, the average daily traded volume across the top four Indian cryptocurrency exchanges including BuyUcoin stood at over $22.4 million as of December 16, 2020, compared to a little under $4.5 million as of March 1, 2020.
Spending millions daily trading on cryptocurrencies in India
Retail investors aged between 25 and 40 are spending millions on trading in cryptocurrencies in India every day, according to two of the top exchanges in the country. Experts expect the number of retail investors to grow even faster in 2021 as Bitcoin, the best known digital currency has hit an all-time high.
The investors are individuals, in the age group of 25 to 40 years. 25 is the age when they start their professional life. A lot of these young people, who understand technology, choose crypto as their first asset class. Because a lot of these people believe in the power of technology.
Investment in cryptocurrencies in India is neither explicitly legalized nor prohibited. An RBI ban on crypto payments in 2018 was overturned by the Supreme Court in March 2020.
India has seen a significant increase in cryptocurrency trading volumes in the year 2020 on domestic crypto exchanges after the Supreme Court, in March, quashed a 2018 circular by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) which had barred Indian banks from providing services to crypto companies.
With the price of the world’s leading cryptocurrency Bitcoin continuing to surge during December, the Indian government is currently weighing a proposal for levying an 18% goods and services tax (GST) on Bitcoin transactions.
The Central Economic Intelligence Bureau (CEIB), an arm of the finance ministry, has made the proposal to the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC). The CEIB proposal says that the government could potentially earn INR 7,200 Cr annually by levying GST on the margins made in the trading of bitcoins alone, just one class of cryptocurrencies.
London-based crypto-focussed Neobank Cashaa has signed a joint venture with Jaipur-based United Multistate Credit Cooperative Society to launch what it claims to be the world’s first crypto bank called Unicas.
The new company will allow individuals to transact in cryptocurrency and fiat from one account. The joint venture will allow Cashaa access to United’s regulatory licenses, physical branches, and overall banking Infrastructure.
Unicas is initially opening its services online and through 14 branches across Delhi NCR, Rajasthan, and Gujarat by January 2021, and plans to rapidly expand to 100 branches by the end of 2022.
Crypto forecast for 2021
India is still in the adoption stage and not in acceptance mode as volumes are low compared to some of the developed nations. However, there are encouraging signs as the numbers are growing and several smaller exchanges came up this year in many states.
In this year, not just Bitcoin, other cryptocurrencies in India like Ethereum, Tether, and Litecoin also delivered a strong performance. The encouraging trend towards the adoption of cryptocurrency in 2020 by Indians has also prompted exchanges to chalk down aggressive growth plans for 2021.
The March 2020 Supreme Court judgment was in favor of crypto business, as SC ruling said the banks to work with crypto exchanges. So, it is evident that the upcoming year will also be an amazing year for the crypto industry in India.
In 2021, we can expect even greater demand from institutional investors, hedge funds, family offices, and retail investors as well. While cryptocurrencies in India outperformed all other asset classes in 2020, the coming year may shed some light if adoption turns into acceptance despite indifferent postures from the regulatory authorities.
This new year, we wish you new beginnings and high earnings from BuyUcoin!
1. This Ethereum Defi protocol gained $1 billion in deposits in the 12 hours after its launch
A protocol that launched yesterday evening garnered $1 billion worth of deposits in the 12 hours after its launch, making it the fastest-growing “money game” thus far. For some context, Yam Finance, widely regarded as the most well-known yield farming experiment, garnered around $400 million worth of deposits in the two days after its launch.
2. Bitcoin Price Breaks $29K, Why BTC Is Likely To Hit $30K
Bitcoin price extended its upward move and traded to a new all-time high near $29,250 against the US Dollar. BTC is likely to continue higher towards the $30,000 level. Bitcoin price is gaining bullish momentum above $28,400 and it broke the $29,000 level. The bitcoin price traded as high as $29,274 and settled well above the 100 hourly simple moving average.
Zilliqa is a high-performance, high-security blockchain platform for enterprises and next-generation applications. Zilliqa is all set to enable a financially inclusive world, and drive mass adoption of blockchain.
4. Crypto bank Cashaa opens first physical branch in India
In its Dec. 28 announcement, Cashaa claims that the branch that it opened in Jaipur, India, in collaboration with local financial services firm United Multistate is the “world’s first physical crypto banking branch.” Unicas aims to open 14 branches in January and increase the number to 100 branches in 2022.
Coinbase announced that it has halted XRP trading, in the aftermath of the US Securities and Exchange Commission accusing Ripple and co-founder Chris Larsen and CEO Brad Garlinghouse of allegedly raising over $1.3 billion through an unregistered, “ongoing” securities offering. The federal agency claimed XRP was security, in its charges.
Ethereum (ETH) price has gained 88% since November, astonishing even the most bullish investors as the top altcoin secured a 2020 high at $750.
Aside from the upcoming CME ETH futures launch scheduled for Feb. 8, the phenomenal growth of the total value locked (TVL) in Decentralized Finance protocols also played a major part.
As the above data indicates, investors are even more confident that Eth2 has been a success, despite the real potential of delays and implementation hurdles.
Another possible bullish factor in the background is the recent 2 year low in ETH miner balances. This certainly eases potential sell pressure and opens room for further bullish continuation.
Over the past three months, the open interest on Ethereum options grew by 150% to a total of $880 million. This incredible build-up occurred as the cryptocurrency broke the $700 resistance, and reached its highest price since May 2018.
Ether options open interest. Source: Crytorank.io
The put-call ratio flipped bullish
By measuring whether more activity is going through call (buy) options or put (sell) options, one can gauge the overall market sentiment. Generally speaking, call options are used for bullish strategies, whereas put options for neutral to bearish ones.
Ether options open interest put/call ratio. Source: Cryptorank.io
Despite the recent price rally, the put/call ratio has gone down considerably. This move indicates that the more bullish call options have been dominating volumes. One should expect precisely the opposite whenever traders lock in profits or prepare for a potential downside.
That’s a striking contrast to the 0.94 level two weeks ago, which indicated that put options were well balanced with the neutral to bullish call options.
Options data shows traders expect another 20% hike to $880
The odds of the current option trades are calculated according to the Black & Scholes model. Deribit exchange presents this information as ‘delta’. In short, these are the percent-based odds for each strike.
Ether Jan. 29 call options delta. Source: Deribit
According to the above data, the $880 strike for Jan. 25 has a 34% chance of occurring, while the most traded $960 strike holds a 25% odd according to the options pricing model.
Take notice that the statistical model tends to be overly conservative, as even the $720 strike holds a mere 59% odd.
The March expiry is also extremely bullish
With 86 days left until March 2021 expiry, the odds of Ether price topping $880 is even more likely.
The same $880 strike now has a 49% odd according to the Black & Scholes pricing model, whereas the staggering $1,120 expiry holds 33%.
As shown above, the options for March 2021 are trading a relevant amount of volume and cost $114 apiece. This data is indisputable evidence of traders’ bullish sentiment.
Ethereum Futures market data reflects bullish sentiment
An even better way to gauge professional investor’s sentiment toward the market is to analyze the ethereum futures markets premium. This is measured by the difference between longer-term future contracts and the current Ethereum (ETH) spot price.
The chart above shows that the indicator peaked at 5.8% on Dec. 19 and it reached the same level again on Dec. 28 as Ethereum price made a multi-year high. A sustained futures premium above 3.5% reflects optimism, although it is far from excessive.
The current 4.3% rate is equal to an 18% annualized premium and is significantly higher than the levels seen in previous months. This shows that despite reaching a swing high at $750 levels, professional traders remain confident in Ether’s future potential.
It might be too soon to determine whether the derivatives market will reduce its optimism, but for the moment, bulls seem to be fully in control.
While there is always the possibility of a correction in Ether price, it is unlikely to be strong enough to cause havoc as the market is not showing any signs of excessive optimism.
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.
