Popular crypto strategist and trader Benjamin Cowen says he believes Bitcoin (BTC) will likely not end 2021 with a bang.
In a new strategy session, Cowen tells his 597,000 YouTube subscribers that he thinks Bitcoin is in a massive reaccumulation range. Looking at the big picture, the analyst says Bitcoin has been trading within a wide range between $28,000 and $65,000 for the entire year so far.
“This is where we started, right around $28,000, $29,000… That was the beginning of 2021. And then so far, what have we done? Not a whole lot, right? Could we finally break out of it as we get into the end of the year? Yeah, it’s certainly possible. But look: I don’t think 2021 for Bitcoin is going to go down as a parabolic rally year in the sense that we spent most of the year going sideways.”
While the distance between the range low and the range high might look significant, Cowen argues that Bitcoin holders will probably not get excited over gains of a little more than 2x.
“You take a look at what’s happened in 2021 for Bitcoin, a whole lot of nothing. We’ve more or less just been in this range of approximately 130%. I guarantee you most Bitcoiners don’t get out of bed for a 130%.”
The trader says he calls 2021 “The Great Accumulation Year” for Bitcoin and adds that he expects BTC to stretch out its bull cycle into 2022.
“I think there’s a lot of recency bias today because we’ve come up back to the top of the range. Just like there was a lot of euphoria over here (Jan 2021 to March 2021). We could certainly break out here… But I still think, based on all the data that I look at, that the cycle should lengthen into 2022 at the very least. And that when I look at this (2021 range), I just say, ‘You know what 2021, for the most part, has been a long reaccumulation year.’”
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Bitcoin (BTC) traders appear undecided on the next step and this is reflected in the price oscillating between $58,400 and $63,400 over the last 14 days. There are some bearish signals coming from the United States regulatory front, but at the same time,the Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETF) surpassing $1.2 billion in assets under management has also boosted investors’ expectations.
Bitcoin price in USD at Coinbase. Source: TradingView
A Nov. 5 CryptoQuant report confirmed that whales have accounted for most selling pressure in recent days. The on-chain monitoring resource focused its attention on the “exchange whale ratio” — the percentage of inflows coming from the largest wallets — and showed a clear increase from the middle of October until today.
Moreover, on Nov. 1, the U.S. Treasury Department urged Congress to act promptly to enact legislation to ensure that payment stablecoin issuers are regulated similarly to the U.S. banks. In practice, the report recommends that stablecoins should be issued only through “entities that are insured depository institutions.”
Still, institutional money managers managed to add $2 billion worth of Bitcoin through mutual funds in October. According to the Oct. 31 CoinShares flow report, ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF, which launched officially on Oct. 19, accounted for $1.2 billion in inflow.
Options allow traders to bet on bullish and bearish moves
Contrary to popular belief, derivatives markets were not designed for gambling and excessive leverage. Derivatives trading has been around for more than five decades and institutional traders have been shifting their attention — and volume — to cryptocurrency over the past couple of years.
The subject became the centerpiece on July 7, as Bloomberg reported a $4.8 million options trading gain from the husband of Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. In a July 2 financial disclosure, Paul Pelosi reported exercising call options to acquire 4,000 shares of Alphabet, Google’s parent company, at a strike price of $1,200.
Options trading presents different opportunities for investors seeking to profit from increased volatility, maximizing gains if the price remains in a specific range, or obtaining protection from sharp price drops. Those complex trades involving more than one instrument are known as options structures.
How to limit losses and keep unlimited gains
For those unfamiliar with options trading, Cointelegraph previously published an article detailing all of the ins and outs of options, including the benefits over futures contracts trading.
To hedge losses from unexpected price swings, one can use the “risk reversal” options strategy. The investor benefits from being long on the call options, but pays for those by selling the put. Basically, this setup eliminates the risk of the stock trading sideways but does come with substantial risk if the asset trades down.
Profit and loss estimate. Source: Deribit Position Builder
The above trade focuses exclusively on Dec. 31 options, but investors’ will find similar patterns using different maturities. First, one needs to buy protection from a downside move by buying 2.45 BTC puts (sell) $44,000 options contracts.
Then, the trader will sell 2 BTC put (sell) $54,000 options contracts to net the returns above this level. Finally, buying 2.20 call (buy) $85,000 options contracts for positive price exposure.
That options structure results in no gain or loss between $54,000 (down by 11.5%) and $85,000 (up by 39%). In doing this, the investor is betting that Bitcoin price on Dec. 31 at 8:00 am UTC will be above that range while gaining exposure to unlimited gains and a maximum BTC 0.455 loss.
There is no cost associated with this options structure, but the exchange will require a margin deposit to cover potential losses. Keep in mind that the minimum options trade on most derivative exchanges is 0.10 BTC contract.
The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of theauthorand 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.
Bitcoin has grown to become one of the preferred investment options in recent times. Its popularity among investors can be credited to the returns the asset has brought in its decade of existence. It is one of the few assets that has consistently served as a hedge against inflation while bringing massive gains to its holders. Seeing these gains, more investors have wanted a bigger slice of the pie.
Up until 2009 though, bitcoin was not an investment option for anyone. Even then, it was still widely unknown to the general market. Stocks were at the forefront of investing minds at that point and investors had seen gains at various points.
Related Reading | JPMorgan Analysts Put Ethereum Fair Value At $1,500, With Bullish Outlook For Bitcoin
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Some stocks have been incredibly profitable over this period of time too. An example of that has been Tesla stocks, its success shooting ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood into the limelight after her call on the stock had paid off. Let’s see how bitcoin has performed in comparison to the top-performing stocks on Wall Street.
Bitcoin Vs. Everyone Else
A lot of the assets traded in the financial market are far older than bitcoin. Still a preteen, the BTC market is still in its very early stages. Nevertheless, this has not stopped the growth of the asset, making it a top contender in financial markets. Comparing the top stocks and markets to BTC shows a glaring disparity in how much better the digital asset has performed compared to the others.
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BTC price trading above $63K | Source: BTCUSD on TradingView.com
In the last decade, bitcoin has returned over 3,000,000% positive gains on its investments, according to this report from Watcher Guru. A single BTC cost as low as $0.0008 when it was initially released in 2009. Over the years, the asset has grown so much, hitting an all-time high of almost $67,000 in October.
In comparison, top-performing stocks show unimpressive returns. Tesla has been one of the best-performing stocks of the last decade, but even the automobile manufacturer’s gains do not come close to BTC’s returns. Tesla has returned 22,520%, Nvidia has returned 8,435%, and gold has seen a disappointing negative 14% return in the past 10 years.
Catching Up On Market Cap
Another interesting metric of comparison is the market cap of the top assets in the financial industry. BTC does not top this list as it does in terms of returns. However, the age difference of all of the assets on this list paints an interesting future for both the past and the future of the assets in this category.
Related Reading | The Fractal That Puts Bitcoin At $100,000 Before Year-End
Bitcoin, despite being only 12 years old at this point, has beat out well-known and long-running asset classes in terms of market cap. For one, BTC’s market cap is almost as large as that of Tesla. It also beats out the market cap of Facebook and Nvidia, both older than the digital asset in the market. Its $1.15 trillion market cap makes it a top contender in the financial markets
An interesting entrant in this list is Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap. Ethereum which is only five years old boasts a market cap of $533 billion. This figure makes it a more valuable asset than big names like JPMorgan Chase, Visa, and Alibaba.
Featured image from Forbes, chart from TradingView.com
Anyone who hasn’t been living under a rock is probably aware that the gaming industry has been on an absolute tear. It’s one of the industries that has benefited from the COVID-19 pandemic in a big way.
That said, the average investor might not be aware of the following growth figures:
The global gaming market is currently worth $180 billion — the fastest-growing form of entertainment globally. For reference, the global film industry is worth $100 billion and all North American sports combined are $73 billion in terms of annual revenues.
Global game market revenue. Source: Bloomberg, Pelham Smithers, GamingScan.com
Experts predict that the number of online streamers of online games will rise to one billion by 2025 — one in nine people today.
Three of the top four most viewed United States sporting events in 2018 were not even traditional sporting events. They were e-sporting events. For example, the League of Legends championship had 30 million more views than the AFC Championship and 45 million more views than the NCAA Football Championship.
ESports viewers in the United States. Source: MBA@Syracuse
Travis Scott did a live performance on the popular gaming platform Fortnite last April. It received over 12.3 million views and netted Scott over $20 million per TechCrunch and GamesIndustry.biz.
So what is going on here and where is this growth coming from?
We can attribute much of this simply to the rise of technology and exponential growth. Technology continues to transform how we communicate, how we assemble, how we create and consume information, how we transfer value and how we form online communities.
Howard Shultz, the former CEO of Starbucks, popularized the idea of a “third physical space” with his coffee shop concept. It was his belief that humans needed a “third space” to assemble outside of the office and at home. Starbucks was the answer.
We see this same concept playing out today among the younger generations. Except the new shared space is digital and it’s called the metaverse. This is where kids are increasingly hanging out these days. They go there to engage with their friends. listen to music, or play video games. We can think of this as the next iteration of digital communities: AOL chat rooms, then Myspace. Facebook and finally the metaverse.
We’ve got concerts in the metaverse now. Burning Man has been digitized. And we’re just getting started.
History of gaming
The first video games came out in the late 50’s — a simple tennis game similar to Pong. Later, Atari was invented in 1977. Nintendo started releasing popular games starting in the early ’80s with Mario Bros, The Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong, etc.
It’s important to note that the business model has changed significantly over the years. We used to pay $60 for a game at, for example, GameStop, and off we went. It was a one-time cost with unlimited play. Games were released in a similar manner to how Hollywood flicks would be promoted and released. 90% of revenues would come in the first two weeks.
This model is out now. The freemium model is in. Users play for free and are induced to make in-game purchases to upgrade skills, dress up avatars, buy weapons, enhance animations, etc. We see this today on Roblox, Fortnite and other popular games.
This is a much more profitable model for game makers, as it keeps their users engaged and always upgrading to compete with their friends. We are moving to a world where social signaling occurs among younger generations in the metaverse via an in-game avatar, the weapon they wield and the skins they possess. Welcome to the future.
Why gaming will move to blockchains
Gaming today happens on walled-off data networks. This means that users cannot own their in-game assets (skins, avatars, abilities, etc). The platform owns them. Axie Infinity is disrupting this model because users own their assets such as nonfungible tokens (NFTs) on Axie and are able to sell them in a free market/gaming economy for profit. Below is a view of the revenues earned by Axie Infinity users since May of this year:
Axie Infinity total revenue. Source: Token Terminal
Annualized revenues per Token Terminal shake out to $2.7 billion for this open and permissionless pay-to-play blockchain game. Important note: blockchain technology is the vehicle through which users can own their in-game assets. This is not possible on the tech used today.
Blockchains allow for gaming economies to organically form. Users can be paid to play. Again, Axie Infinity is leading the charge here. Axie users make investments to acquire the Axie NFTs and the AXS native token to begin play. From there, they can earn the SLP token by playing/competing, as the tokens earned can then be exchanged for other crypto assets or fiat, etc. Many users in the Philippines are earning several times their usual monthly salary simply by playing Axie Infinity, all during the economic hardship brought on by COVID-19, which is pretty cool. Let me ask you this: If you can get paid to play a game on a blockchain vs. not being paid to play on a non-blockchain game, which would you choose? As Charlie Munger says: “show me the incentives and I’ll show you the outcome.”
Public blockchains are open to all and permissionless. Do you have a cell phone and an internet connection? Cool, you are welcome to participate. This isn’t really how it works in today’s closed data architecture, especially if you live outside the United States. Not only can you participate on a blockchain, but you can also earn income. As smartphone adoption continues to scale out with the growth of 4G and 5G technology in emerging markets, we should expect more and more users to be accessing crypto and blockchain-based games in the near future.
Open protocols collapse and compress the cost of existing technologies. Public blockchains are open protocols. Ethereum is an open protocol. Anyone can build games on Ethereum. By doing so, one is fundamentally outsourcing much of their operating and capital costs to the Ethereum base layer blockchain, meaning that it is much easier to start a game for entrepreneurs. Low barriers to entry increase competition. This ultimately benefits the end-users. We’ve seen this play out over and over in history. Blockchains are simply the next iteration of open source technology.
Decentralization. Because blockchains are open and permissionless, anyone can build on them. This means we should expect a future where there are blockchain games built on top of various layer-one blockchains, for example, Ethereum, Solana, Cosmos, etc. Users will be able to switch games with ease, and they will be able to bring their assets such as NFTs in the form of skins, avatars, or weapons with them. This is something that is not possible today. Furthermore, users will be able to trade their NFT assets for profit if they choose, or maybe they would want to build NFTs? Go ahead — you don’t have to own a gaming platform to do it.
Gaming economies are the future, and they will happen on blockchains.
The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.
The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a $1.2 trillion infrastructure package that includes a provision for the crypto industry.
The bill, which was passed in a 228-206 vote and will now be sent to President Biden’s desk for approval, includes a clause that would expand the definition of “broker” in the tax code to include “any person who (for consideration) is responsible for regularly providing any service effectuating transfers of digital assets on behalf of another person.”
The change will come into effect starting 2024 and would force crypto exchange platforms to record and submit all transfers of digital assets to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in a similar fashion that traditional stock exchange companies do.
In August, Republican Representative Tom Emmer of Minnesota raised concerns that the language of the bill would include key players in the crypto space, such as software developers or validators, who do not fall within the scope of a “broker” defined in the traditional financial realm.
According to D.C.-based crypto legal expert Jake Chervinsky, the new legislation may not bode well for the crypto industry but notes that there are still significant details that haven’t been worked out yet.
“Yes, the crypto provisions are just as bad as they were months ago. Yes, the impact of Section 6050I has been underexplored. No, you don’t need to call your reps. The political reality is: it’s out of our hands now.
Importantly, nothing will happen right away. The crypto provisions don’t go into effect until 2024 (for FY2023 reporting). We can try to get them repealed or amended before then.
They also need rulemaking from Treasury to define their scope. We’ll be active in that process.”
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Featured Image: Shutterstock/breakermaximus/Vladimir Sazonov
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) warned about an “increase in scammers” employing crypto ATMs and Quick Response (QR) codes for fraudulent activities. The agency gave valuable tips on how individuals can protect themselves on such occasions.
Beware When Using Crypto ATMs
Quick Response codes – machine-scannable images that can instantly be read using a smartphone camera – can be used at cryptocurrency ATMs to send payments to an intended recipient. It seems bad actors have found a way to employ them in some schemes as well, though.
In a recent warning issued by the FBI, the agency explained how fraudsters are able to dupe people through such malicious operations:
“The FBI has seen an increase in scammers directing victims to use physical cryptocurrency ATMs and digital QR codes to complete payment transactions.”
The Bureau informed that bad actors usually lure victims by pretending to be a familiar entity such as the government, a legal office, law enforcement, or a utility company.
Other tricks include romance schemes (creating an online relationship and a false sense of intimacy in the victims) and lottery plots (scammers tell people they have won an award and insist from them to pay for unexisting lottery fees).
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Still, the methods using cryptocurrency ATMs and QR codes are quite similar in each deceit. The criminals direct the victim to a physical automated teller machine where they insert their money (often withdrawn from investment or retirement accounts). Later, the lured person purchases digital assets and uses the necessary QR code to auto-populate the recipient’s address.
Once the payment is made, the fraudsters automatically become owners of the cryptocurrencies. In some cases, they even transfer the tokens into an account beyond the USA borders immediately after receiving them. Thus, authorities find it extra challenging to reveal the crimes.
What Are The FBI’s Tips?
First, people should not dispatch payments to someone they have never seen, even if they believe they have established a “true” online relationship. Additionally, one should never scan QR codes and send funds via a crypto ATM to such shady individuals.
In case of receiving a call from a mysterious telephone number, where a person identifies himself as someone familiar and requests cryptocurrency payments, people should beware. Instead of sending the assets, they should contact the local law enforcement agents.
Avoiding crypto ATMs that advertise anonymity and only require a phone number or an e-mail is also a must, according to the FBI. Most probably, those machines do not comply with the US federal regulations and may facilitate money laundering.
Featured Image Courtesy of BusinessInsider
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The Solana (SOL) ecosystem continues to see huge growth in the market. SOL price touched another record high on Sunday, November 7, as itreached$260.06. Its price is up by almost 17,500% YTD – from $1.51. SOL surpassed Cardano (ADA) and Tether (USDT) to become the fourth-largest cryptocurrency with a market capitalization of $75.4 billion.
Related Reading | Is Cardano Fighting A Losing Battle Against Solana?
At the time of writing, it falls behind Binance Coin (BNB) $109 billion, Ether (ETH) $546 billion, and Bitcoin (BTC) $1.17 trillion. While it is creeping closer to Ethereum, there is still a huge gap between both coins.
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Meanwhile, ADA and USDT’s market capitalization came out to be $67.1 billion and $74.4 billion, respectively.
SOL Rises After $100 Million Investment Initiative
Solana’s rise to ATH comes just after its venture capital arm Solana Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and FTX spearheaded a new investment fund dedicated to Web 3 gaming, also known as GameFi. Web 3 gaming has skyrocketed in popularity.
Related Reading | Solana, FTX, Lightspeed Ventures To Launch $100M Web3 Gaming Fund
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The venture company intends to increase SOL adoption by attracting desktop and mobile video game developers to build their projects on its public blockchain.With SOL’s bullish run recently, many are comparing it to No. 2 crypto Ethereum.
“Solana is the leading Ethereum competitor,” Matt Hougan, chief investment officer at Bitwise Asset Management, said to CNBC. “I wouldn’t put all my chips on it, but I’m a big fan.”
SOL trading at $248.7 | Source: SOLUSD on TradingView.com
One of the reasons for this comparison is that both ETH and SOL have smart contract capabilities. Smart contracts are simply programs stored on a blockchain that run when predetermined conditions are met. They are important in running decentralized finance applications and non-fungible tokens.
“A lot of the fastest-growing applications of crypto technology have been built on Ethereum and rely on the Ethereum blockchain to function,” Hougan says. “If you’re investing in Solana, you’re betting that its technical sophistication will help it leapfrog Ethereum.”
Solana And NFTs
NFT industry data aggregator CryptoSlam ranks Solana as the fourth-best NFT blockchain behind Ethereum, Ronin, and Wax by 24-hour sales volume. The data shows that Solana saw a record month for secondary NFT sales volume during September with a total of $189.4 million.
Related Reading | Why Billionaire Chamath Palihapitiya Invested In The Solana Ecosystem
Secondary sales volume for Solana-based NFTs has reached almost $500 million since the start of August.
The biggest collection of NFTs on the blockchain is the Degen Ape Academy series of ape digital collectibles. So far, the Degenerate Ape Academy has sold ape NFTs worth about 986,300 SOL.
Mason Nystrom, a Messari research analyst, remarked that how quickly the blockchain has grown to be one of the top NFT blockchains in just a few months.
While Solana displays promising metrics in unique addresses (buyers and sellers) and a lower avg NFT sale price, Ethereum still dwarfs Solana in total NFT secondary volumes.
Still, Solana has become one of the top NFT blockchains by secondary trading in mere months. pic.twitter.com/9HfOp7IRut
— Mason Nystrom (@masonnystrom) November 2, 2021
He also noted that as of November 1, Solana’s NFT secondary sales reached $500 million in just three months.
Featured image by CNBC, Chart from TradingView.com
Neal Stephenson, a popular sci-fi writer coined the phrase “metaverse” in his first best-selling and breakthrough 1992 novel, Snow Crash. Now that concept is becoming a reality, and what’s more, you can invest in the metaverses. In Ready Player One, The OASIS is another example of an advanced virtual reality. Numerous other sci-fi authors, such as Ian M Banks, have created and used similar concepts within their novels.
Back in September, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was clearly interested in advancing the metaverse. In a recent earnings call, Facebook made it clear that they want to unify communities, creators and eCommerce in the metaverse with Zuckerberg saying:
“Our overarching goal across all of these initiatives is to help bring the metaverse to life.”
And just last week Facebook rebranded to Meta and announced its plans to develop the “Metaverse.”
How big could metaverses become?
Already there are numerous household names making serious money in this space such as Roblox and Fortnite. These are complete virtual reality worlds where users exist through avatars. Slightly less well-known examples of virtual realities include Decentraland, Upland and Sandbox, as well as Victoria VR which is another platform that will launch soon.
From an investment perspective, we can confidently say that this explosion in virtual reality and metaverses is comparable to the dot-com boom of the late 1990s. What we are witnessing now is the next phase of the internet being created, with metaverses potentially set to overtake and replace the web as it currently exists.
Related:New industry, new rules: Building the Metaverse without bias
Already some of the companies in this space such as Fortnite could sustain growth until they are comfortably sitting alongside Facebook, Google, Amazon and other tech giants. Epic Games, the creators of Fortnite, recently raised $1 billion with Sony pouring $200 million into that funding round. Facebook is putting a lot of resources and money behind a new workplace and proto-metaverse VR platform known as Horizon.
Brands are also betting big on virtual reality. Some brands are already selling direct to avatars (D2A), or Gucci selling a virtual bag that costs more than a real one. Nike sells virtual Jordan’s in Fortnite and Coca-Cola started selling virtual wearables in Decentraland.
Bloomberg has estimated that the size of the metaverse market is worth $800 billion. Even though this is in its formative stage, savvy crypto investors can contribute to the growth of metaverses and trade in the tokens of high-growth startups.
Hence the bet that many smart investors are making, that this boom in virtual reality is going to accelerate further. That one day — potentially in the next five years — there’s going to be a virtual reality platform that rivals the major social networks.
How can you invest in metaverses?
Cryptocurrencies are already a part of these virtual realities, with various platforms accepting crypto as a payment option for virtual goods including VR-based real estate. Gamers within Decentraland and The Sandbox can create virtual businesses such as casinos and theme parks, then monetize them.
When it comes to crypto investors benefiting from this trend, some of the hard work has already been done. Matthew Ball, futurist and founder of Roundhill Investments, alongside Jacob Navok, CEO of Genvid Technologies, have recently registered this Metaverse ETF.
Related: The Metaverse: Will it be a decentralized haven or a centralized tyranny?
Metaverse ETF is an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that operates similar to a stock market, except for crypto-based investments in Metaverse companies. It’s a collection of investments in a range of companies — known as an index — giving investors access to a broad segment of the metaverse market.
At present, the Metaverse ETF has a median market capitalization of $74 billion, with investments spread across 41 companies (holdings) in eight countries. This includes investments in infrastructure companies such as Cloudflare and Nvidia, gaming engines including Unity and Roblox, and pioneers of metaverse content from Tencent, Sea and Snap.
As this index is sold through the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), it only includes public companies, not private ones. This means crypto and other investors need to look elsewhere to get slightly closer to the action if you are looking to invest at an earlier stage.
For early-stage investments, the best options are going to be in the crypto space. Gaming, hardware and content creation companies are going to be launching initial coin offering (ICO) and initial DEX offering (IDO) token sales, meaning that investors can get on board long before these companies go public.
Related:Sci-fi or blockchain reality? The ‘Ready Player One’ OASIS can be built
When we consider the total addressable size of this market — and include the core growth segments such as creators, hardware, advertising and eCommerce — it could be worth more than $1 trillion. When we also consider how essential the internet as it currently is to everyday life, that’s what the Metaverse could become in a lot less time. As an investment opportunity, metaverse companies, especially ones at the ICO and IDO stage are unparalleled in their upward potential, provided that you pick wisely, of course.
We are witnessing and playing a part of something exciting. The internet and the way we experience reality will never be the same again with numerous upsides from the accelerated expansion of metaverses and virtual realities.
This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.
The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.
Johnny Lyu is the CEO of KuCoin, a cryptocurrency exchange launched in 2017. Before joining KuCoin, he had accumulated abundant experience in the e-commerce, auto and luxury industries.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is warning the public that bad actors are using Bitcoin (BTC) ATMs and QR codes to defraud unsuspecting victims.
In a public service announcement, the agency says that it is seeing increased incidents of scammers telling their victims to deposit money to a cryptocurrency ATM using a QR code associated with a digital wallet.
The FBIsaysthat these bad actors solicit money from their victims through various fraudulent schemes such as online impersonation schemes, romance schemes and lottery schemes.
“The scammer then directs the victim to a physical cryptocurrency ATM to insert their money, purchase cryptocurrency, and use the provided QR code to auto-populate the recipient address. Often the scammer is in constant online communication with the victim and provides step-by-step instructions until the payment is completed.”
The agency says that the decentralized nature of crypto assets makes it difficult to recover the victims’ money, with much of the stolen funds being sent overseas right away instead of being tracked and verified by a bank.
“This differs from traditional bank transfers or wires where a payment transaction can remain pending for one to two days before settlement. It can also make law enforcement’s recovery of the funds difficult and can leave many victims with a financial loss.”
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Bitcoin’s (BTC) dominance has dropped from about 48% on Oct. 20 to 42.3% on Nov. 7 while the total crypto market capitalization has continued its northward journey. This indicates that the price action has shifted from Bitcoin to altcoins.
CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju said that Bitcoin whales are selling but this has not resulted in the breach of the strong support at $60,000. He also pointed out that Bitcoin reserves across exchanges have continued to decrease, indicating strong appetite from buyers.
Crypto market data daily view. Source:Coin360
The majority of the market participants remain bullish on Bitcoin and anticipate a rally to $288,000 by the start of 2022, according to a survey conducted by PlanB.
Real Vision founder Raoul Pal also projected a bullish picture for cryptocurrencies in an interview on Nov. 3. He said the current bull run is unlikely to top out in December of this year and may extend to between March and June of the next year. Pal anticipates the possible launch of Ethereum 2.0 and the likelihood of an Ether (ETH) exchange-traded fund being green-lit in the first half of 2022 will attract institutional investors and trigger a massive rally.
In this bullish backdrop, let’s analyze the charts of the top-5 cryptocurrencies that may remain in focus and outperform in the short term.
BTC/USDT
Bitcoin broke above the bullish flag pattern on Nov. 2 but the buyers could not capitalize on this move and push the price above the overhead resistance zone at $64,854 to $67,000. This indicates the bears have not yet given up and are attempting to stall the up-move.
BTC/USDT daily chart. Source: TradingView
However, a positive sign is that bulls are aggressively defending the 20-day exponential moving average ($60,794). The buyers will make one more attempt to push the price above the overhead resistance zone.
If they can pull it off, the bullish momentum may pick up and the BTC/USDT pair is likely to rally toward the pattern target at $89,476.12.
This bullish view will invalidate if the price breaks and dips back into the flag pattern. The pair may then drop to the 50-day simple moving average ($54,883). The zone between the 50-day SMA and $52,920 is likely to attract strong buying support from the bulls.
BTC/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView
The 4-hour chart shows the pair is range-bound between $63,732.39 and $59,500. The flat moving averages and the relative strength index (RSI) just above the midpoint indicate a balance between supply and demand.
If the price rebounds off the moving averages, the bulls will again attempt to propel the price above the overhead resistance zone between $63,732.39 and $64,270. If they manage to do that, the pair may retest the all-time high.
Conversely, a break below the moving averages could pull the pair to the strong support zone at $59,500 to $58,000. The bears will gain the upper hand if this zone is breached. The pair could then correct to $55,267.61.
DOT/USDT
Polkadot (DOT) soared and broke above the overhead resistance at $49.78 on Nov. 1. The RSI broke above the downtrend line, invalidating the negative divergence. This suggests the resumption of the uptrend.
DOT/USDT daily chart. Source: TradingView
The bears tried to pull the price back below the breakout level on Nov. 6 but the long tail on the candlestick shows that bulls are buying on dips. The rising moving averages and the RSI near the overbought zone indicate the path of least resistance is to the upside.
If bulls thrust the price above $55.09, the DOT/USDT pair could rally to $63.08. The bears may have other plans as they will attempt to sink the price below the breakout level at $49.78. Such a move will suggest a lack of buyers at higher levels.
A break and close below the 20-day EMA ($46.82) will be the first sign that the bulls may be losing their grip. The pair could then drop to the 50-day SMA ($38.54).
DOT/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView
The 4-hour chart shows that the pair is rising inside an ascending channel. Although bulls pushed the price above the channel, they have not been able to build upon the advantage. This indicates that the bears are defending this resistance with vigor.
The pair rebounded from the centerline of the channel and the bulls will again try to clear the overhead hurdle. If they succeed, the pair may pick up momentum.
Alternatively, if the price turns down from the current level or the overhead resistance and breaks below the centerline, the pair may drop to the support line. A bounce off this level will keep the uptrend intact but a break below it will signal a possible change in trend.
LUNA/USDT
Terra protocol’s LUNA token broke and closed above the overhead resistance at $49.54 on Nov. 4. The bears tried to pull the price back below the breakout level on Nov. 5 and 6 but could not sustain the lower levels. This suggests that the bulls are buying on dips.
LUNA/USDT daily chart. Source: TradingView
If bulls drive the price above $53.18, the LUNA/USDT pair could rally to the resistance line of the wedge where the bears are expected to mount a stiff resistance. The bullish momentum could pick up if bulls thrust the price above the wedge.
Alternatively, if the price turns down from the current level or the overhead resistance, the pair may drop to the support line of the wedge. A break and close below this support will signal a possible change in trend. The pair could then drop to $35.
LUNA/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView
The bulls pushed the price above the resistance line of the triangle indicating that they had overcome the resistance from the bears. The sellers tried to pull the price back into the triangle but the bulls defended the breakout level aggressively.
Both moving averages on the 4-hour chart are sloping up and the RSI is in the positive territory, indicating advantage to buyers. If bulls drive the price above $53.18, the pair may rally to the pattern target at $62.59.
Related:Bitcoin consolidates right below Fib level that triggered 2013 all-time highs
AVAX/USDT
After trading near the overhead resistance at $79.80 for the past three days, Avalanche (AVAX) has broken above the barrier. This indicates the possible resumption of the uptrend.
AVAX/USDT daily chart. Source: TradingView
The rising moving averages and the RSI in the overbought territory indicate that bulls are in control. If the price sustains above $79.80, the AVAX/USDT pair could rally to $93.04 and then try to challenge the psychological level at $100.
Contrary to this assumption, if the price turns down from the current level and dips back below $79.80, it will suggest that markets have rejected the higher levels. The pair could then drop to the 20-day EMA ($69.51).
AVAX/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView
The 4-hour chart shows the formation of a rounding bottom pattern which completed on a breakout and close above $79.80. If bulls sustain the price above $79.80, the pair could start its northward march toward the pattern target at $108.56.
The first important level to watch on the downside is $79.80. A bounce off this level will indicate that bulls are aggressively buying on dips and that will increase the likelihood of the resumption of the uptrend.
Conversely, a break below $79.80 could sink the pair to $72. A break below this support will suggest that bears are back in the game.
EGLD/USDT
Elrond (EGLD) broke above the previous all-time high at $303.03 on Nov. 3, which is a positive sign. The bears tried to pull the price back below the breakout level on Nov. 5 and 6 but failed.
EGLD/USDT daily chart. Source: TradingView
This suggests that bulls are attempting to defend the breakout level and flip it into support. A break and close above $329 will signal the resumption of the uptrend. The rising 20-day EMA ($281) and the RSI near the overbought zone indicate the path of least resistance is to the upside.
Contrary to this assumption, if the EGLD/USDT pair turns down from the current level and breaks below $303.03, the next stop could be the 20-day EMA. A strong rebound off this support will keep the uptrend intact but a break below it could open the doors for a deeper correction to the 50-day SMA ($249).
EGLD/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView
The 4-hour chart shows the formation of an ascending triangle pattern, which completed on a break and close above $303.03. This positive setup has a pattern target at $427 but the rally may not be linear as the bears are likely to pose a stiff challenge at $355.
A break below the 20-EMA will be the first sign of weakness. That could pull the price down to the breakout level at $303, which is an important support for the bulls to defend. If this support cracks, the pair may drop to the 50-SMA and then to the trendline of the triangle.
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