The phrase “hindsight is 20/20” is a perfect expression for financial markets because every price chart pattern and analysis is obvious after the movement has occurred. For example, traders playing the Feb. 28 pump that took Bitcoin (BTC) above $43,000 should have known that the price would face some resistance. Considering that the market had previously rejected at $44,500 on multiple instances, calling for a retest below $40,000 made perfect sense right? This is a common fallacy, known as "post hoc," in which one event is said to be the cause of a later event merely because it had occurred …

Ether (ETH) is still in troubled waters after failing to break a 5-week long descending channel top for the third time in a row. The March 2 test of the $3,000 resistance was followed by a 17.5% correction in 5 days, which signals that buyers are somewhat reluctant to defend the price. To date, Ether suffers from high network transaction fees, even though it dropped from $19 in mid-February to the current $13 per transaction. While this is less than peaks seen previously, $13 per transaction is still incompatible with most games, NFT and even DeFi transactions. Even more worrisome …

The global crypto derivatives and spot trading exchange FTX is expanding to Europe after receiving approval from the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC). The new venture called FTX Europe would offer leading products of the company to the European clients via a licensed investment firm across the European economic area. The new European venture is headquartered in Switzerland along with a regional headquarters in Cyprus. Cyprus is seen as one of the reputed jurisdictions that offers a regulated medium for financial firms to access the European economic area. Thus, FTX would be able to offer its derivative crypto products …

There is an old saying in traditional markets which is actually more like a trading rule. It goes, “when the trend is negative, one can only be neutral or short,” meaning bet on the price decrease. The problem is that a relief bounce tricks traders into believing that the negative prevailing sentiment has shifted into a buyers’ market. For example, after analyzing Ether's (ETH) price chart, one might conclude that after a 41% crash, a bull run should be ignited sooner rather than later. Unfortunately, this is a bit of a fallacy because markets can exist in periods of non-definition …

Bitcoin (BTC) bulls flipped the table on Friday's options expiry after a 14% rally on Feb. 28. Holding the price above $43,000 confirms a decoupling from traditional markets. For instance, the MSCI Emerging Markets equities index is down by 3.5% in 5 days, while the United States Russell 2000 small-capitalization index gained 0.9%. Investors are increasingly concerned about the ramifications of the U.S. Federal Reserve rate hikes expected throughout 2022. As a result, in the past 30 days some big names took a hit. For instance, Paypal PYPL traded down 38%, META corrected 34%, and Shopify SHOP lost 31.5%. The …

Bitcoin (BTC) entered an upward channel in early January and despite the sideways trading near $40,000, order book analysts cited "significant buying pressure" and noted that the overall negative sentiment might be heading towards exhaustion. Independent analyst Johal Miles noted that BTC's price formed a bullish hammer candlestick on its daily chart on Jan. 24 and Feb. 24, hinting that the longer-term downtrend is close to an end. However, the rally above $41,000 on Feb. 28 was unable to create strong demand from Asia-based traders, as depicted by the lack of a China-based peer-to-peer Tether (USDT) premium versus the the …

Even though Ether (ETH) price bounced over 20% from the $2,300 low on Feb. 22, derivatives data shows that investors are still cautious. To date, Ether's price is down 24% for the year, and key overhead resistances lay ahead. Ethereum's most pressing issue has been high network transaction fees and investors are increasingly worried that this will remain an issue even after the network integrates its long-awaited upgrades. For example, the 7-day network average transaction fee is still above $18, while the network value locked in smart contracts (TVL) decreased 25% to $111 billion between Jan. 1 and Feb. 27. …

Whenever Bitcoin (BTC) fails to break through important resistance levels, traders gain confidence and add to their altcoin positions. The logic is that, unless BTC drops significatively, these movements historically provide decent rewards for those shifting their portfolios toward higher risk. In the past seven days, the aggregate market capitalization performance of the cryptocurrency market showed a modest 3% increase to $1.78 trillion. This number is roughly in line with the performance seen from Bitcoin, Ether (ETH), and Binance Coin (BNB). However, comparing the winners and losers among the top-80 coins provides skewed results. For instance, while the gainers captured …

Ether (ETH) reached a $3,280 local high on Feb. 10, marking a 51.5% recovery from the $2,160 cycle low on Jan. 24. That price was the lowest in six months, and it partially explains why derivatives traders’ main sentiment gauge plummeted to bearish levels. Ether’s futures contract annualized premium, or basis, reached 2.5% on Feb. 25, reflecting bearishness despite the 11% rally to $2,700. The worsening conditions depict investors’ doubts regarding the Ethereum network’s shift to a proof-of-stake (PoS) mechanism. As reported by Cointelegraph, the much-anticipated sharding upgrade that will significantly boost processing capacity should come into effect in late …

Bitcoin (BTC) price traded down 23% in the 8 days following its failure to break the $45,000 resistance on Feb. 16. The $34,300 bottom on Feb. 24 happened right after the Russian-Ukraine conflict escalated, triggering a sharp sell-off in risk assets. While Bitcoin reached its lowest level in 30 days, Asian stocks were also adjusting to the worsening conditions, a fact evidenced by Hong Kong's Hang Seng index dropping 3.5% and the Nikkei also reached a 15-month low. The first question one needs to answer is whether cryptocurrencies are overreacting compared to other risk assets. Sure enough, Bitcoin's volatility is …

It is not the first time the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rejected proposals for a Bitcoin spot exchange traded product (ETP), but efforts continue to be made by different financial institutions. The recent attempt made by Cboe BZX Exchange on Jan. 25 to list the Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Trust as a Bitcoin ETP has also failed. The SEC letter published on Feb. 8 pointed out that the exchange has not met its burden to demonstrate the fund is “designed to prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts” and “to protect investors and the public interest”. Although proposals of Bitcoin …

Analyzing the aggregate cryptocurrency market performance over the past 7 days could give investors the impression that the total market capitalization grew by a mere 4% to $2.03 trillion, but this data is heavily impacted by the top 5 coins, which happen to include two stablecoins. Excluding Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Binance Coin (BNB) and stablecoins reflects a 9.3% market capitalization increase to $418 billion from $382 billion on Feb 4. This explains why so many of the top-80 altcoins hiked 25% or more while very few presented a negative performance. Gala Games (GALA) announced on Feb. 9 a partnership …