Market update
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%).
Bitcoin has spent much of the week consolidating at just under $26,000. At the time of writing Bitcoin was just 1.2% down on seven days ago to trade at $25,750. On-chain analyst Willy Woo says he has “never been so bullish” and his “top model” suggests that $270,500 by the end of 2021 “looks conservative“. If you’re a fan of the Stock to Flow model, it suggests Bitcoin will not fall below $16,000 after this point. Most other coins headed backwards including Ether, which was down 2.3%, XRP lost 5.8%, Litecoin (-3.5%), Bitcoin Cash (-9.2%), Chainlink (-7.4%), Stellar (-14.9%) and EOS (-8.3%). Bitcoin SV finished flat while DeFi ‘blue chips’ SNX (8.8%) and AAVE (18.6%) gained ground. The Fear and Greed index is at 95 or ‘Extreme Greed’.
What a rollercoaster ride. After the euphoria reported in our last update, came a heavy reality check when the price plunged 16.4% in a matter of hours later in the week. But markets have since recovered all of that and more to reportedly top the USD all-time high price earlier today when it spiked as high as US $19,873. At the time of writing, BTC was up 6.8% for the week to trade at A$26,800. It was a mixed bag for other coins however with Ethereum up 1%, XRP increasing 8.9%, Stellar (54.9%), YFI (5.4%), AAVE (6.8%). Coins going backwards include LINK (-6.9%), Bitcoin SV (-5.7%), EOS (-3.5%) and SNX (-13.4%). Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash were flat. The Fear and Greed Index is at 88 or “Extreme Greed’.
It’s been one of those weeks that allows true believers to dream that everyone is on the cusp of becoming hilariously rich. You would have been exceptionally hard-pressed to lose money in the past seven days, with almost everything up in double figures in percentage terms. Bitcoin gained 10% and is trading around $25,200, which is 40.2% up on just one month ago. The impending launch of ETH 2 helped Ether to increase 32%, though it was completely outshone by XRP which more than doubled in price this week. Everything else was up: Chainlink (20.6%), Bitcoin Cash (26.5%), Litecoin (24.5%), Bitcoin SV (21.0%), EOS (30.2%), Stellar (57.7%), and SNX (23.4%). The Crypto Fear and Greed Index is at 90, or extreme greed.
Claims that Moderna’s vaccine has 95% efficacy helped push crypto and stocks higher today, with Bitcoin increasing 6% in the past 24 hours to hit a new 2020 year to date high above $23,000. Bitcoin has only been higher than the current price for less than two weeks back during the all-time high. The price has currently pulled back a little to finish the week up 8.9% at just under $23k. Bitcoin Cash lost 4.7% due to the fork, while Bitcoin SV lost 1.5%. Everything else was up including Ethereum (3.5%), XRP (14.8%), Litecoin (24.75%), EOS (2.95%), SNX (5.4%), YFI (24.2%) and AAVE (36.1%).
US stocks are back at all-time high levels after Joe Biden became President-Elect and Pfizer unveiled a hugely successful vaccine trial. Bitcoin was also making history, nudging the US$16,000 (A$22K) mark, which is the best price since the all-time high. At the time of writing it was 13.1% up on last week around $21,100. Ethereum performed even better, gaining 16.2% off the back of ETH 2 launch news. It’s currently at the highest point since mid-2018, around $610. DeFi came storming back with it, with Synthetix up 57.4% and Chainlink up 15.3%. Everything else was up: XRP (6.7%), Bitcoin Cash (2.5%) Litecoin (10.2%), EOS (3.1%), Stellar (5.3%), although Bitcoin SV was flat. The Fear and Greed Index is at 90 or Extreme Greed.
After increasing in price by a third in October, Bitcoin marked its second-highest monthly close ever. And to celebrate 12 years since the release of the Bitcoin whitepaper on October 31, 2008, it briefly topped US$14,000 (A$20,000) on the weekend – the highest price since January 2018. The price was unwinding back then, but this time it’s making higher highs and higher lows. Are we due a pullback, entering a period of consolidation, or headed to a new record high? The Bitcoin price is up 5.4% for the week and is currently trading at just over $19,600. Everything else headed in the opposite direction though. Ethereum lost 2.8%, XRP (-5.1%), Bitcoin Cash (-1.2%) Chainlink (-5%), Litecoin (-5.2%), Bitcoin SV (-9.6%), EOS (-6.6%), Stellar (-5.2%) and Synthetix (-20.1%).
Bitcoin blasted through the US $13,000 ($18,250) level this week for only the third time since the all-time high. It also saw its sixth-highest weekly close ever. This week will be critical for Bitcoin as it’s never held at these levels for long. With US stock markets falling on Monday on worsening infection numbers and concerns over the delayed stimulus, there are headwinds, however sentiment is extremely strong. The Fear and Greed Index is at 75 or ‘Greed’ and Bitcoin is once again getting coverage in the mainstream media. BTC finishes the week up 11.3% and is above $18,400 at the time of writing. Almost everything else is up including Ethereum (3.9%), Bitcoin Cash (3.7%), Chainlink (8.2%), Litecoin (17.9%), Bitcoin SV (8.2%), EOS (1.5%). XRP was flat however and Stellar lost 4.7%.
Bitcoin finishes the week close to where it began, around $16,700. Bitcoin is above its 10 day and 50-day moving average, which is a bullish sign. Katie Stockton, a technical analyst for Fairlead Strategies, believes we’re likely to soon see a “test of August’s high” above $17,500. Bitcoin has only spent 93 days in its history above US$11,500 (A$16,278) according to data from Skew. This means virtually every BTC holder is now in profit. Bitcoin Cash gained 3.2% and Stellar was up 9.3% this week but most other coins lost ground, including Ethereum (-3.7%), XRP (-4.1%), Chainlink (-7%), Litecoin (-6.2%) and EOS (-3.4%).