Since hitting an all-time high at $4,870 on Nov. 10, Ether (ETH) price has been posting lower lows over the past 50 days. If this downtrend continues, the lower trendline support suggests that the altcoin will bottom at $3,600. Still, derivatives data is signaling that pro traders are not concerned about the seemingly bearish market structure. Notice how the price peaks are getting lower on the 12-hour time frame as mounting regulatory concerns drive investors away from the sector. In a press conference on Dec. 17, Russia's Central Bank governor, Elvira Nabiullina, stated that banning crypto in the country is …

As of today, Coinbase has 139 tradable assets. The exchange added a whopping 83 assets to its trading list in 2021, nearly double the number of assets it had accumulated in the eight years since its founding. Is this rapid expansion a simple cash-grab? Are any of these lesser-known tokens and coins securities? Is this irresponsible or overly ambitious? What does this rapid expansion of assets by Coinbase mean? A money grab? I feel the answer to the first question is an emphatic “No!” Coinbase is making a lot of money on trading fees, but its token list expansion is …

Everybody loves a crypto bull market, but every green wave inevitably gives way to periods of sideways or downward movement. Skilled traders know that these phases of the market cycle can be rife with profit opportunities, too. Anticipating not only a digital asset’s upward price movements, but downturns and corrections can be useful when deciding on when to exit a position and lock in gains, as well helping to add toprofits by shorting crypto assets whose prices decline. In addition to a keen eye and common sense, anticipating price drops can be aided by data intelligence tools. One AI-driven indicator …

Those that were around in 2017 likely remember the initial coin offering (ICO) craze, which saw swathes of new projects emerge — many of which generated staggering returns for participants in a matter of weeks or months. Although many ICO-funded projects turned out to be duds, a small proportion grew and evolved to become the current heavyweight blockchain platforms, including Ether (ETH), Filecoin (FIL), Polkadot (DOT) and Cardano (ADA) — each of which are among the top 30 largest crypto assets by market capitalization. The average ICO generated a whopping 1,320% profit for short-term investors, making them among the most …

Avalanche (AVAX) strengthened its case for a potential upside run towards $160 in the coming sessions as it broke out of a classic bullish pattern earlier this week. Dubbed "bull flag," the pattern emerges when the price consolidates lower/sideways between two parallel trendlines (flag) after undergoing a strong upside move (flagpole). Later, in theory, the price breaks out of the channel range to continue the uptrend and tends to rise by as much as the flagpole's height. AVAX went through a similar price trajectory across the last 30 days, containing a roughly 100% flagpole rally to nearly $150, followed by …

Tokyo’s biggest finserv firm, SBI Group, will now allow general Japanese investors to purchase cryptocurrencies via its newly launched ‘crypto asset fund’. The fund is composed of seven cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), XRP, Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Chainlink (LINK) and Polkadot (DOT). The crypto-asset fund, to be traded and operated by the SBI Alternative Fund, was established on Dec. 02 with a dedicated capital of 5 million yen, worth approximately $45,000 at the time of writing. However, the company may choose to release the capital in smaller break-ups of 1 million yen each. According to the official …

Bitcoin (BTC) bears will probably be too "stoneless" to keep prices down much longer, fresh BTC price analysis argues. In a Twitter series published Dec. 18, popular account Light summarized the events which led to Bitcoin's recent 39% correction. Sheep in bear's clothing A combination of macro factors and smart action from big players left retail investors holding the bags in both Bitcoin and altcoins, Light explained. This was apparent before the comedown from $69,000 accelerated into December's liquidation cascade — smart money knew that such levels were unsustainable, and reacted accordingly. "25% of derivatives OI was closed or liquidated. …

Decentralized finance (DeFi) dominated media headlines throughout 2021 and the sector, along with nonfungible tokens (NFTs), helped to initiate the mass adoption of cryptocurrencies. While high yields on staking and instant profits from flipping jpegs have proven to be very lucrative for investors, it’s important to remember that none of it would have been possible without the underlying capabilities of smart contract technology. The Ethereum network remains, hands-down, the most widely used layer-one smart contract platform in the crypto ecosystem, but everyone knows about the high fee and clogged network issues of the past few years. In 2021, competing networks …

Bitcoin (BTC) bulls took another beating on Dec. 17 as a midday onslaught dropped the price to $45,500. The price did manage a quick bounce back to $47,000 but sweeping a new daily low could be a sign that additional downside is in store. Amid the wider market downturn, several altcoins provided weary traders with a source of refuge as token buybacks and increased network activity helped bolster their prices and provide shelter from the storm. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that the biggest gainers over the past 24-hours were Yearn.finance (YFI), Hxro (HXRO) and Arweave (AR). …

Solana (SOL) has become a top contender in the smart contract industry and in the past year the network's total value locked (TVL) grew by $660 million and stretches across more than 40 decentralized applications to hit an all-time high above $11 billion. Even with this growth, investors have reason to question whether the current $56 billion market capitalization is justified and how it compares to competing networks like binance smart chain (BNB), Avalanche (AVAX) and Polygon (MATIC). By analyzing the past 6-month price performance, there's an apparent decoupling from Terra (LUNA), Solana and Avalanche when compared to other smart …

Yearn Finance (YFI) emerged as one of the best performers in the crypto market this week, rallying by over 46% in just four days to reach a two-week high above $29,100. The gains surfaced primarily as Yearn Finance revealed that it has been buying back YFI en masse since November in response to a community vote to improve the YFI token's economics. The decentralized asset management platform purchased 282.40 YFI at an average price of $26,651 per token — a total of over $7.50 million. Furthermore, Yearn Finance noted that it has more than $45 million saved in its Treasury …

Former chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, Jay Clayton, was appointed by ex-President Donald Trump to serve in 2017. In his tenure as head of the SEC, Clayton often defended Bitcoin (BTC) as a store of value. This past Wednesday, during an interview with CNBC's Squawk Box show, Jay shared his thoughts on cryptocurrency and how it should be regulated going forward. The former SEC chair said that he is a “huge believer in crypto technology” and that its efficiency advantages in the financial system and tokenization are enormous. "I am a huge believer in this …