Market update
Bitcoin has just seen its second-best weekly close ever, according to Cointelegraph. BTC is currently up 5.7% on seven days ago and is trading just under AU$68,000. That’s only around 12% from the most recent record high. Ethereum surged by 17.7% this week as news of an important protocol upgrade emerged, XRP (Ripple) was up 7%, Chainlink (16.4%), Litecoin (10%), Bitcoin Cash (6.5%), Aave (15.4%) and SNX (6.9%). Meanwhile, Polkadot lost 1.1% and Stellar was down 1%. The Fear and Greed Index is currently at 81, which is Extreme Greed.
Volatility on traditional markets was mirrored in crypto this week, with Bitcoin seeing what CoinDesk described as its “most tumultuous weekly performance” since the March 2020 crash. After falling below A$56K on the weekend, Bitcoin has rebounded 10.1% in the past 24 hours to trade just under A$64,500. Analysts have tied the rebound to a recovery in shares and the return of the Coinbase premium, which indicates buying interest in the US. BTC is still down 8.6% down on this time last week. Although markets are now heading in the right direction, everything is down on seven days ago including ETH (-12.5%), DOT (-4.4%), XRP (-22.1%), LTC (-14.9%), LINK (-12.1%), Stellar (-6.8%), BCH (-20.1%), AAVE (-7%). EOS (-21.2%) and SNX (-1.1%).
After trading above $73K on Monday, traders appear to have grown nervous that valuations were flying a little too close to the sun with Bitcoin suddenly plunging around 15%, liquidating $5B in leveraged positions this morning. Various pundits blamed Elon Musk who said on the weekend that BTC and ETH prices “do seem high” or US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen who once again criticised BTC as “inefficient” and used for criminal activity. The Bitcoin price is still up 13.4% to trade just above $68,350. Ethereum traded above $2,500 for the first time this week but has fallen back to $2,250 which is where it was this time last week. Polkadot surged 35.9%, Ripple was up 3.6% and AAVE was flat, but everything else was down on seven days ago: Litecoin (-1.2%), Bitcoin Cash (-9.7%), LINK (-3.7%), Stellar (-5.3%) and Synthetix (-15.6%)
Bitcoin has been hitting new all-time highs this week and edged close to the US$50K mark ($A64.25K) before taking a tumble yesterday. There was much talk of a “dip” however Cryptowatch reports BTC has just closed its biggest-ever weekly green candle. It’s currently up 8.2% on a week ago to be trading around $62,500 at the time of writing. The BTC market cap also crossed the US$900B mark for the first time and it’s already at $1.15 trillion in AUD. Ethereum finishes the week up 5.7% to $2330. That means 1 ETH is worth the same as one ounce of gold ($2346) for the first time. XRP was up 26%, Litecoin gained 29.6%, Bitcoin Cash (52.9%), Chainlink (32%), Stellar (28.8%), EOS (36.2%), SNX (16.4%). AAVE fell by 4.6%. The Crypto Fear and Greed Index hit 95 this week, it’s currently 93 (extreme greed).
Fears that CME opening futures trading for ETH this week would mark the top of the bull run have been comprehensively dismissed by the insanely bullish news overnight that Tesla invested a huge chunk of change into Bitcoin. Bitcoin is up 19.2% in the past 24 hours as result, and 37.7% for the week and has topped $60,000 for the very first time. It has also crossed the A$1 trillion mark ($1.1T in fact) and the hash rate hit 176 EH/s on Friday for a new all-time high. Ethereum also hit a new all-time high today and is up 28.6% this week to $2,271. XRP managed to increase 15.4% in seven days, but it wasn’t enough – DOT and ADA overtook, and XRP has fallen to sixth place. Everything else was up: Litecoin (26.1%), LINK (11.4%), Bitcoin Cash (17.2%), Stellar (24.4%), AAVE (66.1%), EOS (18.7%) and SNX (23.1%).
It was an insane week on the markets, with sudden pumps and dumps, worldwide media attention and general weirdness, like KISS bassist Gene Simmons buying XRP and DOGE. The Bitcoin price has traded between $40K and almost $50K and finishes the week 3.8% up around $44,100. Almost everything else was up including ETH (4.3%), XRP (35.5%), Chainlink (1.7%), Stellar (6%), EOS (14.1%), AAVE (22.1%), SNX (11.9%). Bitcoin Cash lost 5.2% and Litecoin was flat. The Crypto Fear and Greed Index is at 77 (Extreme Greed).
After trading above $50K last week, Bitcoin fell below $40K last Tuesday. But shortly after Grayscale reopened to new investors, the price recovered to its previous heights. Coincidence or not? It emerged yesterday that on Jan 15, Grayscale recorded inflows of $900M in a single day. Bitcoin finishes the week 7% up on last week, and it’s still 51% up on a month ago. Ethereum also recovered nicely and is up 23% on seven days ago. XRP was delisted by Kraken, declined 9.8% and lost its coveted fourth place to Polkadot, the latest ‘Ethereum-killer’ which almost doubled in a week. Litecoin up 11.9%, BCH (14%), EOS (-8%), Bitcoin SV (-15.52%). LINK was up 48.67% with a new ATH price, Stellar (10.4%), Synthetix (13.7%) and AAVE (56.8%).
Bitcoin broke the $50,000 barrier this week and kept climbing, nearly touching $54K over the weekend. But after a massive $14K plunge and a small recovery we’re now back at prices not seen since … last week. In fact, we’re up 13.2% on last Tuesday to trade around $46,000. Ether looked like it was closing in on a new all-time high and topped $1,700 before the plunge. It’s back at $1400 to finish the week up 7.1%. Both coins are up 85% on a month ago. Apart from Litecoin (down 8.2%), and EOS (-3.6%), everything else was up: XRP (24.6%), LINK (9.1%), Stellar (64.6%), AAVE (8%) and SNX (20.3%).
The new year has certainly started off with a bang, with Bitcoin nearing $45,000 on January 3, then “crashing” below $38,000 in the first big retracement since we crossed the US$20K barrier (A$26K) in December. It finishes the week around $42,200 to mark a 20% gain. The Ethereum price was even more explosive and is nearing $1500 for the best prices since early 2018. It’s up 51.1% this week. Other coins saw big gains including Litecoin (up 20.8%), Bitcoin Cash (15.4%), Chainlink (12%), Stellar (13.1%), EOS (2.5%) AAVE (39.2%) and Synthetix (47.7%). Bitcoin SV gained 6.8% while Ripple gained 2% and was briefly overtaken as the fourth largest cryptocurrency by Litecoin.
It’s been another massive week in crypto with Bitcoin trading above $37,100 for the first time. At the time of writing Bitcoin was around $35,400 to be up 16.9% for the week and 47.9% for the month. Bitcoin’s current market cap of $660 billion makes it larger than Visa and Walmart and it’s closing in fast on Berkshire Hathaway. The news hit the front page of CNN, in a story headlined: “What the #)$*#@)($ is happening with Bitcoin’s insane record run?”. After lagging Bitcoin for some time, Ethereum finally outshone the king this week, marking an 18.5% gain to trade above $950. Litecoin increased 21%, Bitcoin Cash gained 12.4%, Chainlink was up 1.2% while Synthetix jumped 28.2%. It’s not alt season quite yet however with Bitcoin SV losing 2.9% and EOS down 7.3%. XRP‘s legal dramas saw it fall 53.1% and may have contributed to the 14.3% fall for Stellar, a similar project from XRP co-founder Jed McCaleb.
It seemed like Black Thursday occurred in reverse this week, with Bitcoin shooting up into price discovery mode. The price sailed past the US$20K mark early on Thursday (A$26.4K) and then kept going. It peaked at A$32K (a new all-time high) and is currently trading above $30,100, up 19% for the week. A contributing factor may have been MicroStrategy’s announcement that it had just bought 29,646 more Bitcoin, bringing its total to 70,470 BTC (more than $2 billion worth). Litecoin led the rest of the pack with a 28.6% gain, followed by Synthetix which gained 19.2%. Ethereum was up 4%, XRP (3.5%), Bitcoin Cash (15.6%), Bitcoin SV (3.3%) and EOS (3.7%). Stellar lost 2.9%, LINK (-4.3%) and AAVE (-5.5%). Meanwhile, WBTC (Bitcoin tokenised for use on Ethereum) is now the 15th largest crypto by market cap.
The Bitcoin price is once again in sight of the US $20,000 (A$26,550) mark, after dipping down to the mid $17,000s (A$23,425) on Saturday. At the time of writing Bitcoin was trading around $25,600 which is within 1% of where it was last week. Ethereum also finished flat, Stellar was up 1.2% and SNX gained 2%. Bitcoin Cash lost 2.7%, XRP was down 17.9%, Litecoin (-1.2%), Bitcoin SV (-7.2%), EOS (-3.5%) and AAVE (-6.5%).