Bitcoin Cash (BCH) suddenly surged and then crashed after fake news spread about a partnership with grocery store giant Kroger.
The fraudulent rumor appeared on Kroger’s investor relations page and claimed that the supermarket chain would begin accepting cryptos during the holiday season, sparking BCH to rally 4.8% from its 24-hour low of $591.06 to $619.43, according to CoinGecko.
However, as the story began to unravel, so too did Bitcoin Cash’s gains on the day. At time of writing, BCH is back under $600 and exchanging hands at $595.84.
Kroger says that its investor relations page is automatically updated via a direct feed from PNR Newswire, where the rumor also made an appearance. The fake press release has since been deleted, and Kroger is in touch with PNR to figure out what happened.
In an email to Reuters, a Kroger spokesperson says,
“This communication was fraudulent and is unfounded and should be disregarded.”
Another major US retailer was the target of a similar ruse in September after fake news spread on prominent media networks claiming that retail giant Walmart was partnering with Litecoin (LTC), sending the crypto’s price up 30% before the rumor was quashed.
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A cellphone hacker is facing charges for his alleged involvement in a scheme that stole crypto assets worth just under $785,000 from a crypto company.
The U.S. Justice Department says that Joseph James O’Connor and his co-conspirators used a SIM-swapping scheme to target at least three executives at an unnamed Manhattan-based cryptocurrency company.
These cyberattacks allow perpetrators to gain control of the victim’s phone number by linking it to another SIM card. The calls and messages then get routed to devices the hackers hold, allowing them to access accounts linked to the compromised phone number.
After taking control of an executive’s number, O’Connor and his co-conspirators allegedly gained unauthorized access to multiple accounts and computer systems at the crypto company. They were then able to steal and transfer 770.784869 Bitcoin Cash (BCH), 6,363.490509 Litecoin (LTC), 407.396074 Ethereum (ETH) and 7.456728 Bitcoin (BTC). The stolen crypto assets were worth a total of about $784,000 at the time of the theft.
“Between approximately March 2019 and May 2019, Joseph James O’Connor, aka ‘PlugwalkJoe,’ the defendant, and his co-conspirators perpetrated a scheme to use SIM swaps to conduct cyber intrusions in order to steal approximately $784,000 worth of cryptocurrency from a Manhattan-based cryptocurrency company (‘Company-1’), which, at all relevant times, provided wallet infrastructure and related software to cryptocurrency exchanges around the world.”
The cybercriminals then laundered the stolen coins through dozens of transfers and transactions. They also exchanged tokens for BTC before depositing some of the funds into an account controlled by O’Connor.
The 22-year-old is charged with conspiracy to commit computer hacking, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
O’Connor is also involved in the massive 2020 Twitter hack that compromised the accounts of popular personalities, including US President Joe Biden, Elon Musk and Bill Gates. He was arrested in Estepona, Spain, earlier this year.
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Featured Image: Shutterstock/Bryan Vectorartist/WindAwake/Sensvector/pikepicture
American grocery store chain Kroger is accepting cryptocurrency payments ahead of the holiday season.
According to an official announcement on Nov. 5, the major retailer will accept Bitcoin Cash (BCH) at all of its stores — Baker’s, City Market, Dillons, Fred Meyer, QFC and others — as well as for online purchases.
Rodney McMullen, Kroger’s chairman and CEO, said that the initiative was spurred by increased demand for cashless payments:
“Throughout the pandemic, cashless payments have been thriving, and we see cryptocurrency as a natural progression of the trend to deal less with physical money.”
In 2018, Kroger had broken ties with major payment processor Visa, citing high point-of-sale fees. The retailer eventually restored the relationship in 2019 after Kroger negotiated new terms.
Kroger had previously dabbled in the cryptocurrency space; in 2020 the firm began to offer Bitcoin (BTC) rewards at its store through crypto-based rewards platform Lolli.
Per the announcement, Kroger will “exchange the cryptocurrency for stable currencies close to the point of receipt but doesn’t rule out the possibility of eventually keeping a percentage of it on its balance sheet.”
Bitcoin Cash is a cryptocurrency based on a proof-of-work consensus mechanism that was created via a hard fork from the Bitcoin blockchain. It was initially meant to solve many of Bitcoin’s long-standing issues, notably transaction speed. The hard fork was a controversial move, with many claiming BCH to be more prone to centralization among miners thanks to its larger block sizes.
Crypto has gradually found its way into the grocery store vertical in various forms. In 2019, Safeway — another major American grocery chain — began offering Bitcoin rewards through Lolli, similar to Kroger.
Earlier this summer, crypto ATM firm Coin Cloud announced it was preparing to install machines into 29 H-E-B supermarket locations in Houston Texas.
Cryptocurrencies’ underlying blockchain technology has also been slated to play an important role in grocery. A 2019 study by research firm Gartner predicted that 20 percent of the top 10 global grocers will use blockchain by 2025.
Walmart has partnered with coin-cashing machine company Coinstar and crypto-cash exchange Coinme to install 200 Bitcoin (BTC) ATMs in its stores across the United States.
Although the pilot includes only 200 kiosks, the broader launch plans to eventually see the installation of 8,000 Bitcoin ATMs across the country, according to Bloomberg. There have been no further details on timelines as of yet.
According to Coin ATM Radar, there are currently over 25,000 Bitcoin ATMs at select grocery stores and service stations in the United States. Coinstar operates 4,400 kiosks enabled for Bitcoin purchases across 33 states.
Sam Doctor, chief strategy officer and head of research at BitOoda, told Bloomberg that Bitcoin ATMs aren’t a new development and can already be found at many supermarkets:
“Walmart expands Bitcoin access to more people, though, and gives it further legitimacy among skeptics, should they roll it out beyond an initial pilot.”
Customers can use the Bitcoin ATM by inserting a banknote and receiving a paper voucher with a redemption code. To redeem the code, customers need to then set up a Coinme account and complete a background check. Users cannot withdraw Bitcoin from their account, with no indication of plans to offer this functionality in the near future.
The Bitcoin ATMs have an 11% surcharge comprising a 4% fee for the Bitcoin option plus an additional 7% cash exchange fee.
As a point of comparison, popular crypto trading platforms Binance and Coinbase charge 3%–4.5%, and 3.99% for debit and credit card purchases, respectively. It is free to make a direct deposit from a bank account to a Binance or Coinbase wallet.
The news was welcomed as a sign of mainstream adoption by some, including influencer Lark Davis, who tweeted, “Wal Mart selling #bitcoin now… cool!” However, other users have complained about the high fees.
“BTC ATM fees are notoriously high plus the ‘current’ BTC price is always way higher when buying and lower when selling,” tweeted Ikegro in response to the news.
“It’s a ripoff, but at least it’s a sign of adoption — they think some people might want BTC enough to pay huge fees,” commented Reddit user u/Axatar in the subreddit r/CryptoCurrency.
Related:Bitcoin Depot’s crypto ATMs surpass 5,000 as adoption grows
This isn’t the first sign of interest that Walmart has shown in the crypto world. In August, the retail giant announced that it was seeking a crypto product lead to drive the company’s digital currency strategy. The job listing has since been removed from Walmart’s website, but an advertisement for the role remains on LinkedIn.
Walmart China has also teamed up with blockchain-based supply chain management platform VeChain to track products.
There was some skepticism over the Bitcoin ATM news, however, which comes hot on the heels of a fake Walmart press release in September, which announced a partnership with Litecoin (LTC). The hoax briefly sent prices of the altcoin surging more than 20%.
One of the familiar themes seen in previous crypto market cycles is the shifting market caps, popularity and ranking of the top 10 projects that see significant gains during bull phases, only to fade into obscurity during the bear markets. For many of these projects, they follow a recognizable boom-to-bust cycle and never return to their previous glory.
During the 2017–2018 bull market and initial coin offering (ICO) boom, which was driven by Ethereum network-based projects, all manner of small smart contract-oriented projects rallied thousands of percentage to unexpected highs.
During this time, projects like Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Litecoin (LTC), Monero (XMR) and ZCash (ZEC) also rotated in and out of the top 10 ranking, but to this day, investors still argue about which project actually presents a “useful” use case.
While all of these tokens are still unicorn-level projects with billion-dollar valuations, these large-cap megaliths have fallen far from their previous glory and now struggle to stay relevant in the current ecosystem.
Let’s take a look at a few of the current projects that threaten to unseat these dinosaur tokens from their perch.
Dollar-pegged stablecoins take the stage as the most “transactable” currency
Bitcoin’s (BTC) original use case stipulated that it would simplify the process of conducting transactions, but the network’s “slow” transaction time and the cost associated with sending funds makes it a better store of value than a medium of exchange when the other blockchain networks are considered as options.
Terra (LUNA), a protocol focused on creating a global payment structure through the use of fiat-pegged stablecoins, has emerged as a possible solution to the issues faced when trying to use the top proof-of-work (PoW) projects as payment currencies.
The main token used for transacting value on Terra aside from LUNA is TerraUSD (UST), a U.S. dollar-pegged algorithmic stablecoin that forms the basis of Terra’s decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem. The market cap of UST has steadily been increasing throughout 2021 as activity and the number of users in the ecosystem increased.
UST supply changes. Source: SmartStake
The recent addition of Ether (ETH) as a collateral choice for minting UST on Anchor protocol has given token holders a way of accessing the value in their Ether without having to sell and create a taxable event.
This opens the possibility for other tokens such as BTC to be utilized as collateral to mint UST that can be used in everyday purchases.
As it stands, the borrowing APR for UST on Anchor stands at 25.85%, while the distribution APR is at 40.67%, meaning users who borrow UST against their LUNA or Ether actually earn a yield while borrowing against their tokens.
From privacy coins to privacy protocols
Privacy is also a cornerstone characteristic of the cryptocurrency sector and privacy-focused projects like XMR and ZEC offer obfuscation technologies that support covert or what, for a time, were thought to be untraceable transactions.
Unfortunately, regulatory concerns have made it more challenging for users to access these tokens, as many exchanges have delisted them for fear of drawing the ire of regulators and the overall demand among crypto users has declined alongside their availability.
Their lack of smart contract capabilities has also limited what these protocols are capable of and, so far, users do not appear to be too excited about utilizing Wrapped Monero (WXMR) for use in DeFi, as the token loses its privacy capabilities in the process.
These limitations have led to the development of privacy-focused protocols such as the Secret Network, which allows users to create and use decentralized applications (DApps) in a privacy-preserving environment.
Privacy features are not common among smart contract capable platforms in the crypto ecosystem, which makes Secret something of an experimental case in the ever-evolving Web 3.0 landscape.
Decentralized applications on the Secret Network. Source: Secret
Secret is also part of the Cosmos ecosystem which means it can utilize the Inter-blockchain Communication (IBC) protocol to seamlessly interact with other protocols in the ecosystem.
The network’s native SCRT can be used as the value transfer medium on the platform as well as to interact with protocols that operate on the network, including Secret DeFi applications and the network’s NFT offering, Secret Heroes.
New enterprise solutions aren’t better but they come without controversy
One of the ways cryptocurrency projects sought to differentiate themselves from the “medium of exchange” label was to offer enterprise solutions as a way to help corporations navigate the transition to a blockchain-based infrastructure.
XRP and Stellar (XLM) are two of the veteran protocols that fit this bill, but continual controversy and slow development has resulted in these early movers now playing catch up with newer networks that also don’t have the legal controversy that has followed Ripple for years.
Hedera Hashgraph has emerged as a competitor in this field and data shows that the network is capable of processing more than 10,000 transactions per second (TPS), with an average transaction fee of $0.0001 and a time to finality of 3-5 seconds.
These statistics are comparable to both XRP and XLM, which have indicated that their ledgers reach consensus on all outstanding transactions every 3-5 seconds with an average transaction cost of 0.00001 XRP/XLM.
Hedera is also smart contract capable, meaning users can create both fungible and nonfungible tokens, and developers can build decentralized applications to accompany the network’s decentralized file storage services.
For each sector (stablecoins, privacy and enterprise solutions), the main difference between the old-school and next-generation projects has been the introduction of smart contract capabilities and plans to develop within the side-chain and DeFi sectors where the top protocols exist. This gives newer projects additional utility, allowing them to meet the demand of investors and developers, thus increasing their token values and market caps as a result.
With smart contracts, the ability to interact with the growing DeFi landscape comes built-in, whereas the legacy tokens like LTC, XMR and BCH require special wrapping services which insert middlemen and thus insert additional fees, rigor and risk into the process.
Newer protocols have also embraced the more eco-friendly proof-of-stake consensus model that aligns with the larger global shift toward environmental awareness and sustainability. A plus is that holders can also stake their tokens directly on the network for a yield.
It remains to be seen if the slow march of time will eventually lead to a capital migration from older large cap projects to the newer generation protocols or if these legacy blue-chips will find a way to evolve and survive into the future.
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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.
In an announcement on Sept. 15, AMC Chief Executive Adam Aron said the firm would be expanding the number of cryptocurrencies it would accept as payment methods.
The entertainment giant originally announced that it would accept Bitcoin payments on Aug. 9.
Aron stated that by the time BTC payments are rolled out before the end of the year, AMC would also expect to accept Ethereum, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash.
Cryptocurrency enthusiasts: you likely know @AMCTheatres has announced we will accept Bitcoin for online ticket and concession payments by year-end 2021. I can confirm today that when we do so, we also expect that we similarly will accept Ethereum, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash. pic.twitter.com/uKcFyQotoJ
— Adam Aron (@CEOAdam) September 16, 2021
AMC Stock Climbing
During the company’s August earnings call, Aron also stated that customers will also be able to pay through Google Pay and Apple Pay by year’s end though neither of the tech monopolies supports crypto. At the time, he noted that many of the firm’s new retail investors were highly enthusiastic about cryptocurrency.
AMC shares surged when they became a meme stock favored by retail traders on Reddit’s infamous WallStreetBets forum earlier this year.
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Share prices were up a whopping 2,242% since the beginning of the year when they traded at just $2. Over the past month, AMC stock has gained 37% to reach $46.86 as of the market close yesterday, according to Yahoo! Finance.
In early June, AMC stock surged to an all-time high of $62.55 before retreating 25% to current levels.
Crypto Markets Climbing
Crypto asset markets have moved higher during the morning’s Asian trading session. CoinGecko is reporting a 3% gain in total market capitalization, which has increased by $50 billion to reach $2.26 trillion at the time of writing.
Ethereum is currently leading the high cap pack with a gain of 8% on the day, taking prices to a weekly high of $3,675. ETH needs to clear resistance at the $3,900 level to make further significant gains, while on the downside, they should find support at $3,200.
Bitcoin has added 3% on the day to reach $48,260 at the time of writing, following a golden cross and trading at its highest level since the Sept. 7 market slump.
Litecoin has reacted to the AMC news with a 6% increase to reach $192, but there has been no move in BCH over the past 24 hours, which remains at $645.
Other crypto assets performing well at the moment include Uniswap gaining 8%, Avalanche surging 18%, and Polygon’s MATIC up 8% on the day.
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The American multinational brokerage firm – Interactive Brokers Group – allowed its clients to trade and custody four of the leading cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), and Bitcoin Cash (BCH). Its partner in the initiative is Paxos Trust Company.
IBKR Catching The Crypto Wave
According to a recent press release, the global brokerage organization – Interactive Brokers Group (Nasdaq: IBKR) has joined forces with the blockchain infrastructure platform – Paxos Trust Company – to launch digital asset services to its customers. The new product includes trading some of the largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. Namely, those are Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash.
The trading commissions on Interactive Brokers range between 0.12% and 0.18% depending on monthly volume, as clients can make use of the new offering with a $1.75 minimum per order.
Milan Galik – Chief Executive Officer of the US brokerage firm – noted that the main reason to launch the digital asset service is the growing interest from institutional investors:
“In giving our clients access to cryptocurrency trading, we recognize the need to meet the growing investor demand to trade cryptocurrency alongside other asset classes in a convenient and low-cost way.”
In his turn, Charles Cascarilla – CEO and Co-Founder of Paxos – praised the collaboration with Interactive Brokers. He opined that the new crypto opportunity could turn to be highly beneficial to both parties’ clients:
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“Paxos provides the regulated blockchain infrastructure to ensure enterprises can enable crypto safely and with reduced risk. Our collaboration with Interactive Brokers allows experienced investors to have fast, reliable access to the digital economy for the first time.”
The Promise Was Delivered
It is worth noting that at the beginning of June, Interactive Brokers vowed to launch the aforementioned cryptocurrency service. The brokerage company was also quite precise with its timing as Thomas Peterffy – Chairman of the firm – stated this would happen by the end of summer 2021:
“Customers certainly are asking for cryptocurrency trading and we expect to be ready to offer it to them by the end of the summer.”
Interactive Brokers Group operates one of the largest electronic trading platforms in the US by means of daily average revenue trades. It reportedly has nearly 1.5 million registered clients accounts. While its headquarter is in Greenwich, Connecticut, it has 24 more offices in 14 different countries.
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Grayscale Investments, the world’s largest digital asset manager with nearly $50 billion in AUM revealed exclusively to Forbes that three of its single asset products, Grayscale Bitcoin Cash Trust (BCHG), Grayscale Ethereum Classic Trust (ETCG), and Grayscale Litecoin Trust (LTCN) have become SEC reporting companies.
With this designation, they join Grayscale’s Bitcoin (GBTC), Ethereum (ETHE), and Digital Large Cap Fund (GDLC) trusts in having to provide the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) with regular financial statements and disclosures, and comply with all other requirements stipulated in the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. In essence, all six offerings will now be regulated in a manner similar to publicly-traded companies on national bourses such as Nasdaq or the New York Stock Exchange.
“This is something that investors not only have expressed wanting, but something that we feel they deserve,” said Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenshein in advance of the announcement. He also said that creating SEC reporting companies “has opened Grayscale to a wider audience of investors who are typically used to seeing that [type of reporting] when they think about making investments.”
Other benefits are more practical. For instance, under this designation the lockup period for shares (Grayscale’s private placements are only available to accredited investors) gets reduced from 12 to six months. It also helps build relationships and credibility with the SEC when the firm eventually moves to convert these trusts into exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which are widely accessible to the retail market.
That said, this news comes at an interesting time for Grayscale, where its flagship product GBTC, with over $30 billion in AUM, is facing an unexpected challenge that could have wider implications for the firm’s future operating model. Although the company operates the world’s largest bitcoin fund, has hired a new head of ETFs, and is building out the infrastructure to support a suite of ETF products, it is not among the 20+ entities that have currently filed an ETF application with the SEC. Their preference is to be a fast follower and rely on Grayscale’s large market size and reputation to maintain a dominant position.
However, this strategy is now coming under question following recent comments from SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, where he expressed a preference for a futures ETF as opposed to one based on the underlying spot market. In a speech on August 3rd he said, “I anticipate that there will be filings with regard to exchange-traded funds (ETFs) under the Investment Company Act (’40 Act). When combined with the other federal securities laws, the ’40 Act provides significant investor protections…I look forward to the staff’s review of such filings, particularly if those are limited to these CME-traded Bitcoin futures (emphasis added).” It is worth noting that as a former chairman of the CFTC, Gensler is intimately familiar with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME). The SEC has not approved any Bitcoin ETFs to date.
Sonnenshein made it clear that he supports a futures ETF, but stated his belief that it would be a disservice for investors if they are not given a choice between spot and futures products. “We would like to see the SEC create a level playing field where they allow both futures based and broad based products in market at the same time so that investors can choose the best product for them…it would be short sighted or myopic of the SEC to be favoring products registering under one set of legislation over the other.”
It is also important to note that spot and futures ETFs are not perfect substitutes for each other, and futures ETFs can end up being more expensive for owners. Neena Mishra, Director of ETF Research at Zachs Investment Research noted, “The problem with futures-based products is that futures have to be rolled over. Usually the futures market is in contango, which means the futures which are expiring later are more expensive. So, the ETF sponsors would be selling cheaper products to buy more expensive products, and all of these costs would roll up to investors. There are some estimates that these could be around 10% in additional costs.”
Mishra also noted that based on her observation of past investor preferences, a spot-based bitcoin product would be more appropriate than one based on futures contracts. She likened bitcoin storage to that of gold, where billions of dollars of the asset can easily be secured. In contrast, other commodities that have larger volumes, are perishable, or expensive to store and transfer such as oil, natural gas, or agricultural products, cater better to futures ETFs. “We can compare custody of bitcoin with the custody of gold, which are similar. That is why it makes more sense for the SEC to approve a physically-backed product.
There are arguments to be had for both sides, but one concern that is less uncertain is the fact that a futures-based ETF would represent a major challenge to GBTC. The shares have been trading at a double-digit discount for much of the last few months, it is currently at -13.98%, leading to some investor unrest. Additionally, although GBTC’s lockup period is now just six months, that can seem long to investors in this highly volatile industry. ETFs have no lockup period, and some investors may be willing to accept higher costs and management fees in exchange for liquidity. Sonnenshein acknowledged that this was a concern, saying “I think that that’s certainly a possibility.”
GBTCs discount has been in double-digits for most of the summer
yCharts
With this broader context, the news of BCHG, ETCG, and LTCN becoming SEC reporting companies takes on added importance for Grayscale. The CME can only offer bitcoin and ether products, at least for now, so Grayscale’s other potential ETFs may not face the same type of competition being felt by GBTC and ETHE if the SEC opens the floodgates and they become ETFs in the future. Additionally, institutional interest in alternative digital assets continues to grow, often at bitcoin’s expense, as its percentage of crypto’s overall market capitalization continues to drop. It is currently near a 2021 low of 40.62%, which suggests that investors are increasingly looking beyond bitcoin for exposure and could look for other altcoin ETFs to allocate positions.
Bitcoin’s dominance of the total crypto market cap is falling
TradingView
Therefore, this may not have been Grayscale’s original intention, but it could turn out to be an important hedging strategy for the company.
Analysts are attributing Bitcoin’s (BTC) plunge on Sep. 7 to the liquidation of over-leveraged positions. According to Bybt data, about $3.68 billion worth of long positions were liquidated in the last 24 hours in the Bitcoin options market.
On-chain monitoring resource Whalemap said the decline was largely caused due to selling by whales who had recently bought their Bitcoin and not by the HODLers. Separately, analyst Willy Woo also said:
“Leverage markets sold off but investor buying just got stronger.”
Every bull market has its share of corrections where weaker hands are shaken out and the stronger hands solidify their position. Therefore, if investors believe in the long-term story, they should not be perturbed by the pullbacks.
A new report by Standard Chartered’s cryptocurrency research team has projected Bitcoin to reach $100,000 “in late 2021 or early 2022” and $175,000 in the long-term. The analysts are also positive on Ether (ETH), valuing it “structurally” between $26,000 and $35,000.
Is the correction in Bitcoin and altcoins over or could there be another leg down? Let’s study the charts of the top-10 cryptocurrencies to find out.
BTC/USDT
Bitcoin witnessed huge volatility on Sep. 7 when it plunged from an intraday high at $52,920 to an intraday low at $42,843.05. Strong buying at lower levels resulted in a sharp recovery by the close, as seen from the long tail on the day’s candlestick.
BTC/USDT daily chart. Source:TradingView
Today, the bulls held off another attempt by the bears to extend the correction by pulling the price below the 50-day simple moving average ($44,391). This suggests that traders are aggressively defending the zone between the 50-day SMA and the breakout level at $42,451.67.
If the zone holds, the bulls will try to push the price above the 20-day exponential moving average ($48,216). If they succeed, the BTC/USDT pair could again rise to $52,920 but the bears are unlikely to give up easily.
The relative strength index (RSI) has dropped below 47 and the 20-day EMA has started to turn down, indicating that bears have made a strong comeback. If the price turns down from the 20-day EMA, the bears will again try to sink the pair below $42,451.67. If that happens, the pair could enter a deeper corrective phase.
ETH/USDT
Ether’s failure to rise and sustain above $4,000 could have attracted aggressive profit-booking from the short-term traders. The selling intensified after the price slipped below the immediate support at $3,705.05.
ETH/USDT daily chart. Source:TradingView
The bulls could not arrest the decline at the 20-day EMA ($3,486), resulting in a drop to the critical support at $3,000. This level attracted strong buying and the ETH/USDT pair staged a strong recovery, as seen from the long tail on the day’s candlestick.
Although bulls pushed the pair above the 20-day EMA today, they have not been able to sustain the price above it. This shows that bears are selling on rallies. The flat 20-day EMA and the RSI near the midpoint, suggest a range-bound action in the next few days.
ADA/USDT
Vertical rallies are usually followed by waterfall declines as traders rush to the exit and that is what happened in Cardano (ADA) on Sep. 7. The failure to sustain the price above the psychological level at $3 may have resulted in aggressive profit-booking by the bulls.
ADA/USDT daily chart. Source:TradingView
As the decline broke below the 20-day EMA ($2.62), it may have triggered several stops. Due to that, the ADA/USDT pair could have plummeted to the 50-day SMA ($2.03). The long tail on the day’s candlestick shows aggressive buying at lower levels.
If bulls fail to push and sustain the price above the 20-day EMA, the bears are likely to make one more attempt to sink the price below the 50-day SMA. If they pull it off, it will signal a change in trend where rallies are likely to be sold into.
Alternatively, if buyers successfully defend the 50-day SMA, the pair could enter a consolidation for the next few days.
BNB/USDT
Binance Coin (BNB) turned down from the overhead resistance at $518.90 on Sep.7 and broke below the moving averages. Although bulls defended the 50-day SMA ($399) on a closing basis, the failure to push and sustain the price above $433 may attract further selling.
BNB/USDT daily chart. Source:TradingView
The 20-day EMA ($458) has started to turn down and the RSI slipped into the negative territory, indicating that bears have the upper hand. They are likely to sell on relief rallies to the 20-day EMA.
If the price turns down and breaks below the 50-day SMA, the BNB/USDT pair could drop to the next support at $340. Such a move could keep the pair range-bound between $340 and $433 for a few days.
XRP/USDT
XRP rallied and closed above the overhead resistance at $1.35 on Sep. 6 but the breakout proved to be a bull trap. The bears sold aggressively and pulled the price to the 50-day SMA ($0.98).
XRP/USDT daily chart. Source:TradingView
The long tail on Sep. 7 and today’s candlesticks show that bulls are attempting to defend the 50-day SMA. If the price sustains above $1.05, the buyers will try to push the XRP/USDT pair above the 20-day EMA ($1.18).
If they manage to do that, the pair could consolidate between $1.05 and $1.35 for a few days. On the contrary, if bears sustain the price below $1.05, the likelihood of a break below the 50-day SMA increases.
SOL/USDT
Solana (SOL) soared to a new all-time high at $198 on Sep. 8 but higher levels attracted profit-booking. The bears pulled the price down but the long tail on the day’s candlestick shows strong buying near the 50% Fibonacci retracement level at $130.84.
SOL/USDT daily chart. Source:TradingView
After the strong recovery on Sep. 7, the SOL/USDT pair is witnessing renewed selling today. If bears sustain the price below the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement level at $146.10, the pair could drop to the 20-day EMA ($117).
If the price bounces off this level, the pair may remain range-bound for a few days before starting the next trending move.
Alternatively, if the price turns up from the current level or rebounds off $146.10, the bulls will again try to push the pair toward $195.48. A breakout and close above this level may start the next leg of the uptrend.
DOGE/USDT
Dogecoin (DOGE) failed to pick up momentum after breaking out of the falling wedge pattern. The price slipped below both moving averages on Sep. 7, indicating strong selling by traders.
DOGE/USDT daily chart. Source:TradingView
The DOGE/USDT pair dropped to the $0.21 support where buyers stepped in. This started a recovery, as seen from the long tail on the day’s candlestick. The RSI has dropped into the negative territory and the 20-day EMA has started to turn down, indicating that bears have the upper hand.
If bulls fail to push the price above the 20-day EMA ($0.28), the pair could witness another round of selling. A break below $0.21 could challenge the critical support at $0.15. The bulls will have to push the price above $0.32 to signal a comeback.
DOT/USDT
Polkadot (DOT) broke below the rising wedge pattern on Sep. 7. Aggressive selling pulled the price below the breakout level at $28.60, resulting in a fall to the 50-day SMA ($22.77).
DOT/USDT daily chart. Source:TradingView
The DOT/USDT pair rebounded sharply off the 50-day SMA as seen from the long tail on the day’s candlestick. The bulls are currently attempting to push the price above the overhead resistance at $28.60. If the price sustains above this level, the buyers will again try to resume the uptrend.
Conversely, if the price turns down from the current level, it will suggest that the sentiment has turned negative and traders are closing their positions on rallies. The bears will then again try to pull the price below the 50-day SMA. If that happens, it will suggest that the break above $28.60 was a bull trap.
Related:Sell or hodl? How to prepare for the end of the bull run, Part 2
UNI/USDT
Uniswap’s (UNI) range-bound action between $25 and $31.41 resolved to the downside on Sep. 7. The bulls tried to stage a recovery and push the price back above $25 today but failed.
UNI/USDT daily chart. Source:TradingView
The 20-day EMA ($27) has turned down and the RSI has dropped below 38, indicating that bears have the upper hand. They are attempting to sink the price below the intraday low at $21 made on Sep. 7.
If they succeed, the UNI/USDT pair could drop to the pattern target at $18.69. If the price rebounds off this support, the pair may trade between $18.69 and $23.45 for a few days. The bulls will have to push and sustain the price above $25 to signal a comeback.
BCH/USDT
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) turned down from the overhead resistance zone at $806.90 to $864.30 on Sep. 7. This suggests that bears are aggressively defending the overhead zone. The altcoin could now remain stuck inside the large range between $383.50 and $864.30 for a few more days.
BCH/USDT daily chart. Source:TradingView
The flattening 20-day EMA ($673) and the RSI near the midpoint suggest a balance between supply and demand. If the price rebounds off $596, the bulls will again try to propel the price above the overhead zone.
If the price turns down from the zone, the BCH/USDT pair could consolidate between $596 and $684.30 for a few days. A breakout and close above the overhead zone will indicate the possible start of a new uptrend while a break below $596 could open the doors for a further decline to $500.
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.
Bitcoin (BTC) has been the uncontested cryptocurrency market leader since its creator launched the digital asset in 2009 and to date, it continues to be the dominant force in the industry.
This truth was put on display on Sep. 6 when BTC price rose to the $52,000 level and ignited a market-wide rally that lifted the price of small- and large-cap altcoins.
When Bitcoin rallies, most of the legacy coins like Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, XRP and Stellar tend to move in tandem. Now that BTC looks ready to test new highs, let’s take a look at how the so-called ‘dinosaur tokens’ are doing.
LTC/USDT
Litecoin (LTC) has often been touted as the silver to Bitcoin’s gold because its faster protocol was partially modeled after the top crypto, but modified to increase the token supply and block time.
One notable modification to the blockchain over the past few years was the addition of Mimblewimble technology to help increase user privacy and network scalability.
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that since hitting a low near $165 on Aug. 31, the price of LTC increased 41% to a daily high of $233 on Sep. 6 as the market-wide momentum from Bitcoin’s recovery to $52,000 brought life to the market.
LTC/USDT 1-day chart. Source:TradingView
It now remains to be seen if Litecoin can capitalize on this spike in momentum and continue to climb higher on its own merits or if the price will have to wait for further upside from BTC.
BCH/USDT
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is probably the most successful hard fork of the Bitcoin protocol that emerged out of the 2017 to 2018 bull cycle and some would say it maintains a decent following to this day.
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that Bitcoin Cash’s response to the BTC recovery was muted in comparison to Litecoin, but its price still managed to increase from a low of $617 on Aug. 31 to a daily high at $806 on Sep. 6, an increase of 30%.
BCH/USDT 1-day chart. Source:TradingView
The recent price action for BCH resulted in the formation of a bullish cup and handle pattern as shown in a tweet from Twitter analyst Alex Clay and Monday’s price move suggests that the price could break out from these levels and head higher.
$BCH produced a cup & handle pattern
Bull if flips above s/r horizontal (also neckline of the pattern.) pic.twitter.com/KeBh8V5Jtb
— Alex Clay (@cryptclay) September 3, 2021
Related:Bitcoin preserves $51K — Here are the BTC price levels to watch
XLM/USDT
Stellar (XLM) is a 2017-era project that arose after co-founder Jed McCaleb left Ripple in 2013 due to disagreements about the future direction of the company. Stellar had a similar design and circulating supply as the Ripple project when first released, but has since diverged to its own path of development.
The network has now become one of the top choices for companies and governments exploring the idea of launching protocols on its low-cost and scalable platform. These features make it a suitable candidate for hosting stablecoins and central bank digital currencies.
XLM/USDT 1-day chart. Source:TradingView
Data from TradingView shows that since hitting a low of $0.324 on Aug. 31, the price of XLM increased 29% to a daily high of $0.42 on Sep. 6.
VORTECS™ data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro began to detect a bullish outlook for XLM on Aug. 31, prior to the recent price rise.
The VORTECS™ Score, exclusive to Cointelegraph, is an algorithmic comparison of historic and current market conditions derived from a combination of data points including market sentiment, trading volume, recent price movements and Twitter activity.
VORTECS™ Score (green) vs. XLM price. Source:Cointelegraph Markets Pro
As seen in the chart above, the VORTECS™ Score for XLM climbed into the green zone on Aug. 30 and reached a high of 74 on Aug. 31, around 16 hours before its price increased by 29% over the next five days.
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.
