In the past 24 hours, Polkadot price has surged over 16.83%, even recording an all-time high price today at $7.64. Polkadot (DOT), currently ranks sixth by market capitalization, which is at over $6.8 billion.
Large-cap altcoins triggered bull runs with Bitcoin
The cryptocurrency market as a whole is in a great place. Start-ups are booming, venture capital is investing heavily, and buying pressure in the smaller more illiquid altcoin space is picking up significantly. As altcoins begin to show signs of newfound momentum, traders are becoming even more confident in the strength of BTC’s trend.
Bitcoin triggered strong rallies in large-cap altcoins like Litecoin and Dogecoin. Many analysts say the surge in large-cap altcoins is directly connected to Bitcoin’s price action and historical data shows the two tend to move as partners when BTC goes through bull and bear cycles respectively.
Altcoin season with a re-ignited rally
Historically, after a major Bitcoin rally, altcoins that existed in 2011 to 2014 tend to surge. These cryptocurrencies include the likes of Litecoin, Dogecoin, and XRP. One of the major reasons behind this altcoin rally is volume. Traders like to pump up altcoins, causing the volume to spike within a short period.
Historically, when BTC surges, altcoins tend to rally with larger upside price movements. Altcoins usually become stagnant when Bitcoin enters price discovery because BTC sucks up the volume from the altcoin market dominance.
Moreover, when Bitcoin is surging rapidly, it is also prone to large short-term pullbacks. The problem for altcoins is that when BTC rises, they fall behind BTC, and when BTC pulls back, altcoins typically see even larger corrections.
In the foreseeable future, it is critical for the altcoin market to see Ethereum gain momentum against Bitcoin. This would likely kickstart the next altcoin season if one emerges in the near term. As such, the ideal scenario for the altcoin market is to see the ETH/BTC pair bottom out and then break out for altcoins to see renewed momentum.
Since these cryptocurrencies have significant historical relevance, when a rally starts, their momentum typically lasts longer than other obscure, smaller-cap altcoins.
Polkadot Price All-time high to be continued
Polkadot price has surged by over 425 in the past week, setting one of the highest rallies in the altcoin market, compared to the other large-cap cryptocurrencies. Other large-cap altcoins have also seen surges in their prices, including Litecoin, which climbed over 13% in the past week.
Cardano has also seen a rally of almost 20% in the past week, taking its price to $0.182. Binance Coin (BNB) has also seen a huge surge in its price recently, even making a new all-time high on its own exchange at over $39.6.
The altcoin is expected to outperform Bitcoin and Ethereum in 2021. Crypto traders are predicting that one altcoin will be the best performer next year, eclipsing the potential gains of heavyweights such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and XRP.
Altcoins get more popular in bull markets as time goes on and people perceive the risk-reward in the short term on bitcoin investments to be getting substantially worse. Altcoins are highly speculative, they can lose 10% of their value one day and gain 40% the next. This is due to the illiquid nature of the market.
As an altcoin grows in price, the price stabilizes and the market becomes easier to predict and trade. In the early days for most projects, this is when they are at their most volatile.
According to top industry analysts, the SEC is “sniffing” around other altcoin projects and companies, and could continue to take shots at the industry throughout the new year.
With Bitcoin having surged 156% year-to-date (YTD) in 2020, there is clearly a growing interest in the crypto asset class among investors. We believe that asset class diversification is important. And clearly, cryptocurrencies are here to stay. Therefore, it makes sense to allocate some funds to alternative coins (altcoins).
We believe that 2021 is a great time to be investing in the altcoin space, in specific projects that we expect will perform well. In the altcoin world, there are thousands of names to choose from. So, it makes the most sense to invest in coins that are backed by a strong business plan.
Invest in altcoins and boost your savings for 2021 in BuyUcoin
Bitcoin price formed a strong support base above $26,000 and started afresh increase against the US Dollar. BTC is gaining momentum and it is likely to break $28,000 and $28,400.The pair is likely to continue higher above $28,000 in the coming sessions.
2.Zilliqa, Terra (LUNA), and VeChain rally off good news and strong fundamentals
Positive news, active communities, and a shift toward Defi appear to be the catalysts responsible for the rallies seen in Zilliqa, Terra’s Luna, and VeChain. Moreover, as Bitcoin’s (BTC) strong rally takes a breather, several altcoins have broken out of their overhead resistance levels and are attempting to resume their uptrend.
3.Ethereum is About to Test a Key BTC Resistance Level
Ethereum has finally broken its trend of underperformance against Bitcoin, with the crypto’s recent break above $700 allowing it to gain some ground on the ETHBTC pair. It is in the process of climbing above it, which could mean that upside is imminent today.
4.XRP suddenly spiked 35% in 45 minutes after a massive correction
The XRP price increased by 35% within 45 minutes subsequent to a large correction after Coinbase suspended XRP trading. The main catalyst behind the sudden spike in the XRP price seems to be a short squeeze. According to data from Bybt.com, $96 million worth of XRP futures contracts were liquidated in the last 12 hours.
XRP’s crashing price has already cost it the long-held third-position by market cap to Tether and today Litecoin flipped it to take the fourth spot as well. The SEC is known to come hard on platforms that do not adhere to the regulations in place and thus no one wants to take the risk of inviting SEC’s wrath by offering XRP trading services.
During a bull market, negative news is quickly digested, and the collateral damage is often limited. Therefore, even as XRP price dumped aggressively due to the uncertainty regarding the outcome of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s lawsuit, other altcoins have largely been unaffected.
Moreover, as Bitcoin’s (BTC) strong rally takes a breather, several altcoins have broken out of their overhead resistance levels and are attempting to resume their uptrend. Let’s look at a few tokens that have risen sharply in the past few days and analyze their charts to ascertain whether the rally could extend further.
ZILLIQA/USD
Zilliqa’s Zilling (ZIL) token has risen sharply in 2020. Part of the rally could be attributed to the decentralized finance boom that dominated a large portion of the year.
After launching its decentralized exchange, ZilSwap, on Oct. 5 and noncustodial staking on Oct. 14, the token rallied considerably. These new features allowed the community to stake directly in the smart contract, whereas previously, they had to do it through a third-party intermediary.
To date, the community has staked about 30.49% of the total outstanding supply, and the low eligibility threshold of 10 ZIL may have attracted greater participation from tokenholders.
During the coronavirus pandemic, most people have stayed indoors and spent their time on social media. Thus, the timing of Zilliqa’s SocialPay launch could not have been better. The platform launched in May, and it rewards users for sharing Zilliqa’s updates and announcements on Twitter.
All these fundamental developments may be the reason for the increase in the number of wallet addresses and monthly transactions in 2020. But can the token continue its outperformance in 2021? Let’s study its charts to find out.
The altcoin has been in a strong uptrend, and it rallied from an intraday low at $0.0296388 on Dec. 12 to an intraday high at $0.0996 on Dec. 27, a 236% rally in about two weeks. Usually, these vertical rallies are not sustainable in the long run. Periodic corrections or consolidations are needed that can cool the up-move and increase the longevity of the trend.
The ZIL/USD pair has formed successive inside day candlestick patterns on Dec. 28 and today. This suggests a contraction in volatility as the bulls and the bears decide on the next directional move.
If the inside day resolves to the upside, the uptrend could resume. Conversely, if the inside day candle is followed by a sharp down-move, the bears may have gained the upper hand and a deeper correction would be expected.
Therefore, if the bears sink the price below the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement level at $0.0728748, a drop to the 50% retracement level at $0.0646194 and then to the 20-day exponential moving average ($0.0570) is possible.
A strong bounce off this support hints that the positive sentiment remains intact, as traders are accumulating on dips. The bulls will then attempt to resume the uptrend, and if they can push the price above $0.0996, a rally to $0.14 may be possible.
On the other hand, if the price slides below the 20-day EMA, it will suggest that a short-term top could be in place, as bulls are not keen to buy zilliqa in India on dips.
LUNA/USD
The Terra protocol’s Luna token seems to have benefited from greater adoption of its existing products and the proposed launch of new ones. Its Chai payments app witnessed over 2.8 million transactions in November, with payment volumes crossing $90 million.
To capitalize on the strong demand for U.S. stocks, commodities and exchange-traded funds, Terra launched the Mirror Protocol on Dec. 4, enabling the creation and trading of synthetic assets. This could continue to attract traders as long as the assets remain in a strong trend.
Terra is also attempting to address the product referral marketing category that mainly benefits the direct referrer. The protocol plans to officially launch BuzLink, a marketing tool, in February 2021, which will reward the entire referral chain after the sale is done.
Luna has risen from an intraday low of $0.45 on Dec. 24 to an intraday high at $0.70 today, a 55% gain within a week. The upsloping moving averages and the relative strength index (RSI) close to the overbought zone suggest bulls have the upper hand.
The LUNA/USD pair broke above the $0.57 overhead resistance on Dec. 28, which completed a rounding bottom pattern. This bullish setup has a target objective of $0.86.
However, the Doji candlestick pattern with a long wick today shows that traders are booking profits at higher levels. This could drag the price down to the breakout level at $0.57.
If the pair rebounds off this level, or even from the 20-day EMA ($0.51), it will suggest that bulls are in control. A break above $0.70 could resume the uptrend.
Contrary to this assumption, if the bears sink and sustain the price below $0.57 and the 20-day EMA, it will suggest that the recent breakout was a bull trap. The trend may favor the bears if the pair drops below $0.45.
VET/USD
The coronavirus pandemic has made people and businesses even more aware of the power of digital technology. VeChain developed the E-HCert App in collaboration with the Mediterranean Hospital of Cyprus to store COVID-19 test records. After its successful implementation, Aretaeio Hospital has also joined the VeChain ecosystem to integrate its lab testing services, which will make the data readily accessible to patients to use as required.
The VeChainThor blockchain also recently received a 5-Star-Rated Blockchain Service Certificate from TÜV Saarland, a European certification body. This could increase confidence in its ecosystem and also improve investor sentiment about VET token. In a further boost, Grant Thornton Cyprus revealed itself as one of the VeChainThor Authority Masternodes. These developments could open up new possibilities for the future.
VeChain Token (VET) has rallied from an intraday low at $0.011724 on Dec. 23 to an intraday high at $0.02120375 today, an 80% gain in a short time. The bears are likely to defend the $0.02210 level aggressively, as it has been acting as a stiff resistance for the past few months.
However, if the VET/USD pair does not break below $0.018, the bulls will make one more attempt to drive the price above $0.02210. If they succeed, the pair will complete a rounding bottom pattern that has a target objective at $0.0353.
The 20-day EMA ($0.0165) has started to turn up and the RSI is above 60, which suggests that bulls have the upper hand. Even a consolidation between $0.018 and $0.0221 would be a positive sign and would increase the possibility of a breakout of the overhead resistance.
Contrary to this assumption, if the price again gets rejected at $0.02210, it could attract profit-booking from the short-term traders, and that may pull the price back below the moving averages. Such a move could suggest that the pair may consolidate in a large range for a few days.
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.
Just over a month ago on Nov. 24, XRP’s value surged to above the $0.90 mark on U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, albeit momentarily, leading many backers to believe that the digital currency was all set to skyrocket once again, possibly even retesting its January 2018 all-time high of over $3.
However, in the wake of the recent lawsuit laid out by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission against Ripple, not only does a future value hike look increasingly improbable for XRP but the project’s future as a whole could be in jeopardy. The SEC’s core argument against the digital currency created by Ripple is that from the very beginning, it has been a “security” and, as such, should have been registered with the governmental body before being made available for purchase for American citizens.
Furthermore, the SEC has claimed that Ripple, CEO Brad Garlinghouse and executive chairman Chris Larsen are in the wrong because they were able to acquire over $1.38 billion from the sales of the XRP token. In the wake of these allegations, the now fourth-largest crypto by market capitalization crashed by 24% in just 24 hours.
And while XRP did experience a small window of relief on Dec 25, rising by around 40%, the SEC’s announcement has led to many major crypto exchanges delisting or freezing the token. Initially, it was only platforms such as OSL, Beaxy and CrossTower that temporarily stopped trading or removed XRP from their platforms, but more recently, the U.S.-based trading platform BitStamp announced via Twitter that it was going to prohibit customers from trading and depositing XRP starting January 2021. Ben Zhou, CEO of cryptocurrency exchange ByBit, told Cointelegraph:
“SEC and Ripple will have their day in court with due process of law, so we shall not prejudge the case in the court of public opinion. It is of course likely that the case will take up much of Ripple’s attention and resources. […] We hope a clear precedent and framework emerge from these proceedings.”
The nitty-gritty of the case
In its complaint, the SEC has laid out a fairly straightforward argument stating that XRP was never registered with the body and that Ripple’s executive brass did not make any attempts to pursue an exemption from registration. Thus, from the commission’s point of view, this amounts to a sustained practice of illegal sales of unregistered, nonexempt securities under Section 5 of the Securities Act of 1933.
However, what seems unusual to some is that the case has been brought forward in a New York federal court even though Ripple’s headquarters are in California. The simple reason for this is that Ripple has one of its offices situated in the Southern District of New York and some of the statements issued publicly by Garlinghouse regarding XRP were made within the state. Not only that, a substantial number of XRP tokens were sold to New York residents, which in legal terms makes it absolutely fine for the lawsuit to be tried in a New York court of law.
Also, the lawsuit names Larsen and Garlinghouse personally — so as to recover any money obtained by them via their various fundraising efforts — even though the initial XRP was sold by Ripple’s wholly owned subsidiary XRP II LLC. In this regard, the SEC claims that both individuals sold significant volumes of XRP illegally — 1.7 billion XRP by Larsen and 321 million XRP by Garlinghouse — even contending that they “aided and abetted” Ripple in its unethical sales practices.
Providing his thoughts on the matter, Todd Crosland, CEO of cryptocurrency exchange CoinZoom, stated that the lawsuit casts a large shadow over the price of XRP, claiming that it will be interesting to see how things play out as “Lack of institutional support will hurt liquidity,” adding: “Institutions will not bet against the SEC, and will be unloading their positions and will avoid taking new positions in XRP until the lawsuit is resolved.”
What are the implications of the lawsuit XRP?
If the SEC succeeds in its prosecution efforts, Ripple will be framed as the primary violator, with both Larsen and Garlinghouse facing serious legal implications, as both are alleged to have participated in the pattern of XRP sales.
Technically speaking, the SEC’s issues with XRP stem from the fact that the digital currency satisfies key elements of the Howey test under federal securities laws, thus leading to the question of how exactly Garlinghouse and Larsen were able to take part in the token’s various sales efforts.
The commission is now seeking to not only obtain all of Ripple’s ill-gotten gains but is also looking to permanently ban the named defendants from ever selling unregistered XRP or participating in the sale of unregistered, nonexempt securities. Not only that, but the SEC is also seeking an unspecified civil monetary penalty, the exact amount of which has not been made public.
A twist in the tale?
The ongoing XRP saga comes at a time when SEC Chairman Jay Clayton has submitted his resignation, with his duties being taken over by Elad Roisman, who has been appointed acting chairman of the U.S. financial regulator. Also, in a recent letter sent to Clayton, Joseph Grundfest — a former SEC commissioner — was allegedly quoted as saying that while the Ripple lawsuit is an “unprecedented” event, “no pressing reason compels immediate enforcement action.” He added: “Simply initiating the action will impose substantial harm on innocent holders of XRP, regardless of the ultimate resolution.”
In the midst of all the aforementioned events, Garlinghouse has continuously reiterated that he will “aggressively fight” in court the SEC’s allegedly unwarranted actions against Ripple and will rest only after the case has been proven to be entirely untrue. Furthermore, he also emphasized that even though he had the option of settling with the SEC, he has decided to not take the easy way out.
It now remains to be seen what fate, or the American judicial system, has in store for Ripple. As of publication, XRP is trading at $0.29, with the asset showcasing a seven-day decline of nearly 50%.
Ethereum Spikes 13% to $711, Highest Price since 2018
If I talk about ethereum price in these daily crypto news. The price of Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, has hit $711.Ethereum jumped from $633 at 1 pm UTC today to its current prices just a few hours later. The increase marks an increase of 13% in the past 24 hours. This is Ethereum’s highest price since May 2018.
Proof-of-Stake Was Bigger Than Eth 2.0 in 2020
The biggest staking story of 2020 is, of course, the launch of Ethereum 2.0. But beyond that, the past year has seen a tremendous flowering of proof-of-stake (PoS) networks. Four of the top nine crypto assets by market cap are on a path to proof-of-stake.
BlackRock, the world’s biggest investment manager with some $8 trillion in assets under management, is looking for a Blockchain Lead in their investments division in New York. In short, they’re looking for a crypto investment manager going by their description, suggesting the biggest investment company in the world is seemingly going bitcoin.
Sønstebø published a statement on Medium. In the post, he gave his side of the story and left public messages for the remaining IOTA Foundation board members. To the public, IOTA was moving in a positive direction at the end of 2020.
Can Chainlink’s recent integrations stop its traders from panicking?
In this daily crypto news, LINK’s price has been consolidating between $11.40 and $11.84 over the past couple of days and at press time, while LINK was trading at $11.34, the selling pressure was notably increasing too. According to data provider Santiment, Chainlink yesterday saw its largest exchange inflows spike for the year 2020.
The supply and demand equation determines the price of an asset. In the past few months, the uptick in institutional demand for Bitcoin (BTC) has resulted in a strong bull run. This uptrend may continue until demand exceeds supply.
On-chain data shows two withdrawals of more than 12,000 Bitcoin each from Coinbase Pro this week, which is just short of the 28,000 Bitcoin mined in November. This suggests that demand from institutional investors remains intact even after Bitcoin’s recent rally because they are bullish in the long term.
Meanwhile, Mexico’s second richest man, Ricardo Salinas Pliego, said in an interview with Cointelegraph that Bitcoin has been his “best investment ever.” Salinas has about 10% of his liquid portfolio in Bitcoin and he is in no hurry to sell as he wants to “sit around for another five or ten years.”
The strong demand and HODLing by institutional investors has propelled Bitcoin’s market capitalization to above $500 billion for the first time. It has also boosted Bitcoin’s market dominance to above 70.5%, which suggests that the inflow of money has largely been into Bitcoin.
However, at some point, fresh money will stop flowing into Bitcoin and that could result in a correction or consolidation. Traders may then divert their attention to select altcoins, which could pick up momentum.
Let’s look at the charts of top-five cryptocurrencies that could rally in the next few days.
The BTC/USD pair’s incessant rise has sucked in traders who had been waiting on the sidelines for a dip to enter. Institutional investors, momentum traders, and speculators have also joined the party that has kept the uptrend intact.
However, the current pace of rise is not sustainable. The long wick on today’s candlestick suggests profit booking at higher levels. Even if the uptrend continues, the pair may again face selling near the $30,000 mark.
If the uptrend stalls, the short-term traders may rush to the exit and that could pull the price back to the 20-day exponential moving average ($22,613). If this support holds, the pair could again attempt to resume the uptrend.
On the other hand, a break below the 20-day EMA could drag the price to the critical support at $20,000. Therefore, traders may avoid chasing prices higher.
The 4-hour chart shows the formation of a Doji candlestick pattern, which suggests indecision among the bulls and the bears. Although the uncertainty resolved to the downside, the long tail on the candlestick shows buying at lower levels. This suggests traders are purchasing on every minor dip.
However, if the bulls fail to propel the price above $28,419.94, the selling may continue and that could pull the price down to the 20-EMA at $25,446. The overbought levels on the relative strength index also point to a possible correction.
A break below the 20-EMA and the support at $24,302.50 will suggest that the momentum has weakened.
LTC/USD
In a strong uptrend, traders usually buy the dips to the 20-day EMA ($105) and that is what happened on Dec. 23. Litecoin (LTC) rebounded sharply on Dec. 24 and the momentum picked up after the bulls pushed the price above the $118.64 to $124.12 overhead resistance zone.
The immediate target is $145 but if the bulls do not allow the price to drop and sustain below $124.1278, the rally may extend to $180. The rising moving averages and the RSI in the overbought zone suggest bulls are in control.
This bullish view will be invalidated if the LTC/USD pair turns around from the current levels or the overhead resistance and drops below the 20-day EMA. Such a move will suggest that traders are not buying the dips.
The 4-hour chart is also in an uptrend with both moving averages sloping up and the RSI in positive territory. However, the momentum has weakened as bulls are facing resistance near $136.
If the bulls do not allow the price to sustain below the 20-EMA, the pair could be on target to reach $145. But if the price turns down from the current levels and breaks below $118.6497 and the 50-simple moving average, it will suggest the start of a deeper correction.
BCH/USD
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) has been repeatedly attempting to break above the $353 overhead resistance for the past few days. Although the bulls had pushed the price above $353 on two occasions, marked via ellipse on the chart, they could not sustain the higher levels.
This suggests traders are aggressively selling on any rise above $353. However, the positive thing is that the bulls have accumulated on declines below $280 and are currently attempting to push the price above $353.
If they succeed, the BCH/USD pair could start its journey toward $500. It may not be a straight dash to the target objective because the bears will again try to stall the rally at $409 and $430. But if both these levels are scaled, the pair could pick up momentum.
The upsloping moving averages and RSI above 61 suggest bulls have the upper hand.
The 4-hour chart shows the pair is currently trading inside a large range between $255 and $370. The bulls are currently attempting to drive the price above the $353 to $370 overhead resistance.
If they succeed, the pair could start an uptrend that has a target objective of $485. The moving averages have completed a bullish crossover and the RSI is in the positive territory, which suggests that bulls have the upper hand.
However, if the price again turns down from the current level or $370, the pair may extend its stay inside the range for a few more days.
XMR/USD
The long wick on Dec. 23 candlestick shows traders booked profits after Monero (XMR) hit $167, the target objective of the breakout from the inverse head and shoulders pattern.
However, the positive thing was that the bulls purchased the dip to the 20-day EMA ($151) on Dec. 24. The upsloping moving averages and the RSI in the positive zone suggest that the sentiment remains positive.
The long tail on today’s candlestick shows that bulls are buying on dips. If they can push and sustain the price above $170, the XMR/USD pair could rally to the next target objective at $197, just below the psychological resistance at $200.
This positive view will be invalidated if the price turns down from the current levels and breaks below the 20-day EMA. Such a move could signal a deeper correction to $135.50.
The 4-hour chart shows that the pair has been trading inside an ascending channel but the bulls have failed to push and sustain the price into the top half of the channel. The pair has usually turned down from the midpoint of the channel.
This suggests short-term traders are taking profits at intermittent levels. However, if the bulls can push and sustain the price above the midpoint of the channel, the pair could rally to the resistance line of the channel, indicating a pick-up in momentum.
On the other hand, a break below the support line of the channel could signal a possible change in the short-term trend.
THETA/USD
THETA has rallied vertically in the past few days, which pushed the RSI deep into the overbought territory. This has started a correction as seen from the sharp fall today.
However, if the price does not dip and sustain below the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement level at $1.31994, it will suggest that traders continue to buy on dips as they anticipate the rally to extend further.
If the bulls can push the price above $1.742, the THETA/USD pair could rally to the $2 psychological level and then to $2.40.
Contrary to this bullish assumption, if the bears sink the price below the 50% Fibonacci retracement level at $1.18957, it will suggest that the momentum has weakened.
The 4-hour chart shows that the bulls are currently attempting to defend the 20-EMA. If the pair rebounds off this level, the bulls will attempt to resume the uptrend. The upsloping moving averages and the RSI in the positive territory suggest that bulls are in control.
Contrary to this assumption, if the pair breaks below the 20-EMA, it will suggest that the short-term momentum has weakened. That could pull the price down to the next support at the 50-SMA.
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.
