Markets Update: Bitcoin Recovers to Test $10,000 Area
The BTC markets have ramped up to test the $10,000 USD area on leading exchanges following a break above resistance at $9,000. Bitcoin has recovered by more than 60% since testing the $6,000 area on February 6th.
Also Read: Coinbase Develops Bitpay Competitor Supporting BTC, BCH, ETH and LTC
Bitcoin Tests $10,000
Bitcoin has produced bullish action in recent days, forming an inverse head and shoulders pattern on the 4-hourly chart before breaking above resistance at roughly $9,000 area yesterday.
The bearish action of recent weeks saw bitcoin lose approximately 65% of its value – falling from approximately $17,000 at the start of January to the recent low of less than $6,000 on the 6th of February. When compared with the all-time high of approximately $19,700 from December 17th, the drop down to $6,000 comprised a 70% loss in the value of BTC in just seven weeks.
Bullish Recovery Signs for BTC
The recent bullish momentum has seen bitcoin break above the 23.6% retracement area of the crash when measuring from the all-time high area of $19,000 – $20,000. Many traders are anticipating that BTC may soon test the major descending trendline stemming from the all-time high should the markets continue on their bullish trajectory.
When looking at the weekly chart, the stochastic RSI appears poised to retest the 20 threshold after having dropped below such for the first time since mid-2017.
According to Cryptocompare, Japan’s markets are by far the most dominant – with JPY/BTC trade currently comprising over 51% of the total volume of BTC traded globally during the last 24 hours. USD and USDT trade is estimated to represent approximately 37% of global trade combined, followed EUR/BTC trade with just under 5%. The shifting regulatory sands in South Korea have significantly reduced the dominance of the KRW/BTC markets – which presently comprises just 3.5% of BTC traded in the last 24 hours.
Altcoin Markets Correlated to BTC
The dollar-value of most altcoins have shown a strong correlation to BTC in recent months, with nearly every cryptocurrency producing a strong bounce in unison with bitcoin during February.
Among the best performing altcoins boasting a high market capitalization have been Litecoin and Ethereum Classic – both of which appear to have benefited from FOMO leading up to their respective forks, gaining over 100% since early February.
According to Coinmarketcap, bitcoin is currently exerting a market dominance of approximately 35%. Ethereum is second largest cryptocurrency market, boasting a 19.5% market dominance, followed by Ripple with 9.5%, and Bitcoin Cash with almost 5%.
Do you think the bitcoin markets will continue to recover? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!
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Coincheck Produces Recovery Plan While Investors Flock to Withdraw Funds
Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck has submitted a report to the country’s financial authority outlining measures it will take following the hack that lost 58 billion yen worth of the cryptocurrency NEM from its platform. However, customers rush to withdraw 40.1 billion yen of their funds so far as the exchange resumes yen withdrawal service.
Also read: Japan’s DMM Bitcoin Exchange Opens for Business With 7 Cryptocurrencies
Coincheck’s Improvement Plans
Coincheck has submitted a report to the Japanese Financial Services Agency (FSA) as mandated under the Order to Improve Business Operations. The order was handed to the exchange by the FSA following the hack that resulted in the loss of 58 billion yen (~USD$544 million) worth of NEM from its platform.
“We plan to continue making meaningful improvements to our system,” the exchange noted, adding:
We are continuing to confirm and improve the security of our systems in order to resume transfers of other cryptocurrencies and begin reparation payments as soon as possible.
Coincheck already provided a preliminary report to the FSA immediately following the hack. The agency then conducted an on-site inspection of the exchange as well as extended the inspections to all other exchanges in Japan.
Customers Rush to Withdraw Funds
Yusuke Otsuka, Coincheck COO, said at a news conference that “the exchange would be able to meet future withdrawal requests,” but “declined to comment on the total amount of customers’ yen still stored at the exchange,” Reuters reported. He insisted:
We have the funds, but we are making individual checks so there are no problems (with repayments).
The exchange has also promised to repay its 260,000 affected customers but has yet to decide on the timeframe. The FSA also has not confirmed that the exchange possesses enough funds to make the repayments.
Meanwhile, seven cryptocurrency traders filed a lawsuit against Coincheck on Thursday at the Tokyo District Court. The plaintiff’s lawyer Hiromu Mochizuki told Reuters that the suit seeks “to allow withdrawals to private wallets…outside the hacked exchange.” He was further quoted by AFP that “Plaintiffs are demanding Coincheck return their cryptocurrencies – 13 different kinds including NEM.”
Do you think Coincheck will be able to repay its customers and regain their trust? Let us know in the comments section below.
Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Cnet, and Coincheck.
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Here’s Why You Can’t Judge a Coin by Its Market Cap
Ever heard of a coin called ucash? You should have. It’s in the world’s top 25 cryptocurrencies after all, based on market cap, placing it higher than stratis, omisego, and zcash. Making it to the hallowed heights of 21st, where ucash placed on February 12, calls for mainstream media coverage, a growing user base, and significant adoption you would think. As it turns out, ucash is an outlier – a nothing coin whose ascent is proof that you can’t judge a coin by its cap.
Also read: United Bitcoin May Be the Most Controversial Fork to Date
Fake It Till You Make It
It’s widely accepted that market capitalization – that is, the total value of all coins in circulation multiplied by their last traded price – is a crude reckoner. As an approximate guide to the relative size of respective cryptocurrencies, market cap usually suffices, but there are occasions when it’s glaringly wrong. Ucash is the perfect case in point. The obscure altcoin – or shitcoin, as such offerings are pejoratively described – rose out of nowhere this week to soar into the crypto top 100.
As anyone with a cursory knowledge of market cap metrics will know, gaming the system is extremely easy. All it takes is for someone to create a shitcoin with a circulating supply of 150 billion, list it on an equally shit exchange, sell one coin for $1 and instantly it’s worth more than bitcoin. The same trick that propelled dentacoin into 21st spot in the cryptocurrency rankings last month has now done the same for ucash. The exchange it’s traded on, BTC-Alpha, is a dubious Russian site, registered in the UK, with 600 Telegram followers, less than 2,000 Twitter followers, and a logo that’s ripped off of Maestro. But because it’s listed on Coinmarketcap, it’s eligible for inclusion in what passes for crypto’s “official” ranking system.
Getting High On Your Own Supply
There are 325 billion dentacoins in circulation and 8.6 billion ucash, which explains why they’ve managed to artificially climb so high. Whether or not ucash was the result of a pump and dump is immaterial; on low liquidity exchanges like BTC-Alpha, everyone’s a whale and every coin is ultra volatile.
Coinmarketcap’s extensive range of altcoins often makes for entertaining reading, especially when filtered by percentage gain. This week’s big performer, going by that metric, is unity ingot which is up 3,600%, though like ucash it’s only available on one tiny exchange. Although ucash and unity ingot are extremes, they illustrate why you should never judge a coin by its market cap.
Do you think there’s a better metric than market cap for rating cryptocurrencies? Let us know in the comments section below.
Images courtesy of Shutterstock, and Coinmarketcap.
Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section.
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Source: https://news.bitcoin.com/