Sentiment plays a major role in the short-term price action of an asset. This truth was demonstrated today when Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, simply wrote 'Bitcoin’ in his Twitter bio. Crypto traders and Musk followers immediately noticed and Bitcoin price conveniently shot up a few minutes after the tweet. When BTC price makes a sharp directional move, traders buy into the breakout and short-sellers are squeezed out of their positions. That is what seems to have happened with Bitcoin (BTC) as the sentiment swiftly turned bullish. It is not only Bitcoin that has seen a pick up in …

The Ripple community is at a loss to explain the motivation behind a class-action lawsuit filed by Florida man Tyler Toomey against Ripple Labs and Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse over a $48.56 loss. In November 2020, Toomey purchased 135 XRP tokens at $0.724 each for a total value of $97.80. Following news of another lawsuit against Ripple in Dec that year, Toomey sold his investment for $49.24, suffering a loss of almost 50%. He’s now launched a class action costing eight times more in filing fees than the loss he claims to have incurred. According to the Middle District of …

Public companies have purchased about 85,000 Bitcoin (BTC) in the past year and institutional investors have pumped money into Grayscale Investments, which shows increasing institutional adoption is one of the main reasons for the recent Bitcoin rally. However, at the moment it seems institutional investors are unlikely to chase prices higher. If the fresh inflow of money stalls or reduces drastically, it could result in a pullback in Bitcoin’s price. If that happens, short-term traders and momentum players may book profits and trigger a deeper correction. A correction will be a healthy sign because it will shake out the speculators …

Ripple Labs, the company behind the Ripple payment protocol and XRP-based products, is facing another lawsuit alleging the firm violated securities laws in the United States. On Monday, Florida-based XRP investor Tyler Toomey filed a civil suit against Ripple Labs and Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse. The lawsuit alleges that the defendants failed to comply with Florida securities laws by failing to register with the Florida Office of Financial Regulation. Toomey notes that Ripple Labs and Garlinghouse ar already facing a similar lawsuit for reportedly violating federal securities laws. The $1.35 billion suit was brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange …

After the recent correction, Bitcoin (BTC) will need aggressive inflows to absorb the possible selling from the short-term traders and momentum players as the price nears $40,000. In the past few months, Grayscale Investments has been one of the major entities responsible for the pickup in demand. However, JPMorgan Chase analysts pointed out in a recent note that Grayscale inflows “appear to have peaked” on a four-week rolling average basis. Without a strong tailwind from the institutional investors, many analysts believe Bitcoin may not break above $40,000. The failure to resume the uptrend does not mean Bitcoin will plunge and …

Ripple Labs spent $690,000 on lobbying in the United States in 2020, which still didn't save the firm from the Securities and Exchange Commission. Per legally mandated disclosures for 2020, Ripple's lobbying program dwarfed those of other firms in the crypto industry. Coinbase, which looks to become the first American crypto exchange to issue public shares, spent $230,000 over the same year, while other exchanges like Binance.US, Gemini and Kraken did not report any spending on lobbying. Ripple's spending on lobbying is, however, relatively paltry compared with the giants of Big Tech. Facebook, for example, spent well over $5 million …

Aggressive profit-booking sent Bitcoin (BTC) spiraling below $29,000 on Jan. 21 but was this a sign that institutional investors dumped their positions? This is one of the main questions bothering traders because large institutional inflows primarily led the run-up to $42,000. Cointelegraph contributor Marcel Pechman analyzed derivatives data from various exchanges, which showed professional traders might have purchased at lower levels. The fall seems to have particularly hurt the excessively leveraged traders, resulting in $460 million worth of liquidations at derivatives exchanges. Data from CryptoQuant shows that Bitcoin’s biggest mining pool, F2Pool, witnessed daily outflows of 10,000 Bitcoin for three …

When an asset is in an overbought condition and traders are sitting on large profits, even minor negative news and events could trigger profit-booking. This seems to have happened following Janet Yellen’s adverse comments on cryptocurrencies during a virtual hearing with the U.S. Senate Finance Committee. In the same meeting, Yellen also told Congress to “act big” in order to support the U.S. economy. Another round of stimulus would probably further weaken the U.S. dollar and drive investors into assets that are considered as a store of value. This means Yellen's comments may have inadvertently boosted the sentiment surrounding gold …

Since then, the price of Bitcoin has suffered a correction, and most of the crypto market followed. Bitcoin is currently sitting at just over $35,000, and while traders suggest the pullback to be a healthy correction required for Bitcoin to maintain its bullish momentum, some believe the cryptocurrency may plunge below the $20,000. The Bitcoin price action has also been reflected in the altcoin market as it usually does, with many popular cryptocurrencies surging alongside BTC. Noticeably, Ether (ETH), the native token of the Ethereum platform, has doubled in value in the last month and is currently sitting at over …

After ending 2020 facing a lawsuit from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission under Donald Trump’s administration, Ripple’s leadership is looking to the new year and a new U.S. President to bring a change in regulations more favorable to the firm. According to a post on the Ripple website featuring comments from key executives, the firm is predicting the incoming Biden administration will most likely “bring a renewed focus on regulation and enforcement” in the crypto space. “As we’ve seen, a lack of a clear regulatory framework over the last four years in the U.S. especially has left fintech and …

This is the first of a three-part series based on Gary Gensler's extensive prior public statements on crypto. Here are parts 2 and 3. As the heir-apparent to the Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Gary Gensler’s most critical role in the future of crypto will be his thoughts on how cryptocurrencies intersect with securities regulation. Where crypto meets the SEC The SEC has been a focal point for the crypto world’s attention for a long time. While its initial enforcement actions in crypto were largely limited to overt fraud, the 2017 DAO Report was its entry into even …

Bitcoin (BTC) continues to trade in a tightening range within a pennant pattern and while the price has moved above the 20-day moving average, it's clear that the bulls and bears are fighting over the direction the digital asset will take. Data from Cointelegraph Markets and TradingView show that BTC traded in a range between $34,955 and $37,850 over the weekend but traders buying each dip appear to be doing so with less bullish conviction. JPMorgan research analyst Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou recently stressed the importance of Bitcoin breaking out above the $40,000 level soon in order to avoid being hurt by …