Category: TRENDING

Bitcoin (BTC) soared on March 9 as the Dow futures recovered sharply and United States Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s statement on President Joe Biden’s executive order regarding digital assets, which was released a day earlier by error, contained positive statements about the crypto industry.

For the past few days, investors seem to have been accumulating cryptocurrencies at lower levels. CoinShares data for the week ending March 6 shows that cumulative inflows of $127 million into digital asset investment products were the highest since Dec. 12, 2021, and Bitcoin products saw an increase for the seventh consecutive week.

However, Bloomberg Intelligence senior commodity strategist Mike McGlone sounded cautious when he warned that the current geopolitical situation and surging crude oil prices caused a global recession, Bitcoin and Ether could face selling pressure initially. McGlone cautioned that if the U.S. equity markets plunge, Ether could drop to $1,700 because it is closely correlated to Nasdaq 100.

Could Bitcoin and altcoins sustain the higher levels? Let’s analyze the charts of the top-10 cryptocurrencies to find out.

BTC/USDT

The failure of the bears to pull the price below the immediate support at $37,000 may have attracted strong buying by the bulls. Bitcoin has soared above the moving averages today.

The relative strength index (RSI) has jumped into the positive territory, indicating that the momentum may be turning bullish. If buyers sustain the price above the moving averages, the BTC/USDT pair could rise to the overhead zone between $45,000 and the resistance line of the ascending channel. The bears are expected to defend this zone with vigor.

If the price turns down from the overhead zone, the pair could extend its stay inside the channel for a few more days. The bears will have to pull and sustain the price below the support line of the channel to gain control.

ETH/USDT

The bears could not capitalize on the breakdown below the symmetrical triangle. Strong buying by the bulls near $2,400 started a recovery and Ether (ETH) has re-entered the triangle. This suggests that the recent breakdown may have been a bear trap.

The bulls are attempting to push and sustain the price above the moving averages. If they do that, the ETH/USDT pair could rally to the resistance line of the triangle. If bulls clear this barrier, it will suggest the possible start of a new uptrend. The pair could first rally toward the psychological level at $4,000 and then make a dash toward the pattern target at $4,311.

This positive view will invalidate if the price turns down from the current level or the resistance line. That could keep the pair inside the triangle for a few more days. The bears will have to pull the pair below $2,400 to gain the upper hand.

BNB/USDT

Binance Coin (BNB) has broken above the 50-day simple moving average ($392) and if bulls sustain the higher levels, the up-move could reach the overhead resistance at $445.

The bears are likely to mount a strong defense at $445. If the price turns down from this level, the BNB/USDT pair could drop to the moving averages. The flat 20-day exponential moving average ($387) and the RSI near the midpoint indicate a balance between supply and demand.

If bulls fail to sustain the price above the 50-day SMA, the bears will fancy their chances and try to pull the pair toward the support at $350. The price action inside the range between $445 and $350 is likely to remain volatile.

XRP/USDT

The bulls continue to defend the 50-day SMA ($0.72), indicating strong demand at lower levels. The buyers will now try to push and sustain Ripple (XRP) above the downtrend line.

If they succeed, the buying could accelerate and the XRP/USDT pair may rally to the overhead zone between $0.85 and $0.91. This zone may offer strong resistance by the bears but if the bulls bulldoze their way through, the pair could rally to the psychological level at $1.

On the downside, the bears will have to pull and sustain the price below $0.68 to turn the tables in their favor. The pair could then drop to the Feb. 24 intraday low at $0.62.

LUNA/USDT

Terra’s LUNA token bounced off the 20-day EMA ($77) on March 8, indicating that the sentiment remains positive and traders are buying on dips.

The bulls have pushed the price above the overhead resistance at $94 and the LUNA/USDT pair is now close to the all-time high at $103. This level is likely to act as a stiff resistance but if bulls overcome this barrier, it will suggest the start of a new uptrend. The pair could then rally toward $125.

Alternatively, if the rally stalls at $103, the bears will attempt to pull the price back below $94. If that happens, the bullish momentum could weaken in the short term. The positive momentum could remain intact as long as the price sustains above $94.

SOL/USDT

Solana (SOL) has bounced off the critical support at $81, indicating strong demand at this level. The RSI has formed a positive divergence, suggesting that the selling pressure could be reducing.

The bulls will now try to push the price above the downtrend line. If they manage to do that, it will invalidate the developing descending triangle pattern. Such a move may result in short-covering by the aggressive bulls, propelling the price toward the overhead resistance at $122. If bulls clear this hurdle, it could signal the start of a new uptrend.

This bullish assumption will invalidate if the price turns down and breaks below the strong support at $81. That will complete the descending triangle pattern and open the doors for a possible drop to $66.

ADA/USDT

Cardano (ADA) bounced off the $0.74 support, indicating that bulls are buying on dips. The bulls will now attempt to push the price above the 20-day EMA ($0.90) and challenge the psychological level at $1.

If the price turns down from $1, it will suggest that bears continue to sell at higher levels. The ADA/USDT pair could then spend some time inside the $0.74 to $1 range.

If bears sink the price below $0.74, the downtrend could resume. The pair could then drop to the next support at $0.68.

On the other hand, if bulls push and sustain the price above $1, it will signal a possible change in the short-term trend. The pair could then rise to $1.26 where the bears may mount a strong resistance.

Related: Trader gives $44K BTC price target as Bitcoin shrugs off executive order ‘nothingburger’

AVAX/USDT

Avalanche (AVAX) bounced off the uptrend line, indicating that bulls continue to buy on dips to this level. The buyers will now attempt to push the price to the downtrend line of the descending channel.

A break and close above the channel will signal a potential change in trend. The AVAX/USDT pair could then rally to the psychological level at $100.

However, this may not be easy because the price has turned down from the downtrend line on four previous occasions. The bears will again try to stall the up-move at this level. If the price turns down from the downtrend line, the bears will again try to sink the pair below the uptrend line. If they pull it off, the pair could extend its decline to $51.

DOT/USDT

The bulls held on to the support at $16 on March 7, which is a positive sign. Polkadot (DOT) will now attempt to break above the 50-day SMA ($18), which is an important level to keep an eye on.

If the price sustains above the 50-day SMA, it will indicate a possible change in the short-term trend. The DOT/USDT pair could then rally to the overhead resistance at $23. A break and close above this level could signal the start of a new uptrend with the first target objective at $30 and then $32.

Contrary to this assumption, if the price turns down from the 50-day SMA, it will suggest that bears are not willing to relent and are selling on rallies. That will increase the possibility of a break below $16.

DOGE/USDT

Dogecoin (DOGE) broke and closed below $0.12 on March 7 but the bears could not take advantage of this breakdown. This indicates that bulls are defending the zone between $0.12 and $0.10 aggressively.

The bulls have pushed the price back above the breakdown level at $0.12. If the DOGE/USDT pair sustains above this level, the bulls will attempt to drive the price above the moving averages. If they succeed, it will suggest that bears may be losing their grip. The pair could then rally to the overhead resistance at $0.17.

Contrary to this assumption, if the price turns down from the moving averages, it will indicate that bears have not yet given up and are selling on rallies. The sellers will then again try to sink the pair below the support zone.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph. Every investment and trading move involves risk. You should conduct your own research when making a decision.

Market data is provided by HitBTC exchange.

On Wednesday, total crypto donations across Ukrainian government wallet addresses, charities and relief efforts tracked by Cointelegraph has reached $108 million. The top three recipients of such funds are the official Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) wallet addresses of the Ukrainian government, and a BTC donations address for Come Back Alive. 

The same day, Kraken announced that it would distribute over $10 million to clients who created an account from Ukraine before Mar 9 for relief efforts. Regardless of their account balance, Ukrainian clients of Kraken will receive $1,000 in BTC each during the first tranche of fund disbursement, which ca be withdrawn immediately. The exchange also waived currency exchange fees for withdrawals of up to $1,000. Jesse Powell, Kraken’s CEO, gave the following remarks regarding the aid package: 

“Cryptocurrency remains an important humanitarian tool, especially at a time when many around the world can no longer rely on traditional banks and custodians.”

Funds will be distributed throughout the year, in part to give Ukrainian residents time to complete Kraken’s “intermediate” Know-Your-Customer verification process. Perhaps ironically, fees collected from Russia-based Kraken accounts will partly fund the aid package.

Kraken will distribute over $10 million worth of to aid clients in Ukraine. Tranche 1 recipients will be credited $1000 of #BTC, withdrawable tomorrow. The package is funded by historical Ukraine revenues and H1 2022 revenues from Russia-based trading.https://t.co/DdkY2TsVoB

— Kraken Exchange (@krakenfx) March 9, 2022

Bored Ape Yacht Club, or BAYC, also joined in on the crypto fundraising efforts for Ukraine on Wednesday. After collecting nearly $1 million in ETH from wallets containing a BAYC nonfungible token, the developers behind BAYC said it would match the contribution with a $1 million ETH donation of their own.

It’s been inspiring seeing our community come together in support of Ukraine – almost $1m in ETH has been donated to @Ukraine by wallets containing a BAYC ecosystem NFT. Today we’re matching that with a $1m ETH donation of our own. ♥️

— Bored Ape Yacht Club (@BoredApeYC) March 8, 2022

Other notable contributions include Binance’s Ukraine Emergency Relief Fund, which has received over $11.3 million in BTC, BNB and Binance USD since inception. In addition, during its last update on March 3, it appears Kuna’s Crypto Fund of Ukraine has received over $14 million in major altcoins such as Polkadot (DOT), Tether (USDT), Candle (CNDL), USD Coin (USDC) and Dai (DAI). 

Terra’s LUNA resumed its upward march this week, with the price of the token rebounding more than 30% in three days.

LUNA’s price reached nearly $100 on March 9 following a 15% intraday rally, coming near its record high of $106 from December 2021. At its week-to-date (WTD) low, the Terra token was trading at $75.60.

Over 120 million LUNA burned already

The recent bout of buying in the LUNA market appeared in part due to similar recoveries elsewhere in the crypto market. For instance, Terra’s leading competitor in the smart contract space, Ethereum, saw its Ether (ETH) token rise by 13.50% during the same period. Similarly, Bitcoin (BTC) also jumped by over 14% from its WTD low below $37,200.

Arthur Cheong, founder of DeFiance Capital, hinted on March 9 that LUNA price increased because of Terra’s ability to capture at least $1 trillion or more worth of decentralized stablecoin market space via its native U.S. dollar-pegged token, TerraUSD (UST).

The total addressable market size for the de-facto decentralized stablecoin is at least a few trillion dollars.$LUNA

— Arthur ⛩️ (@Arthur_0x) March 9, 2022

Notably, the supply of UST tokens reached over 1.4 billion on March 9, its highest level to date, according to data from Smart Stake. At the same time, the Terra protocol removed 120 million LUNA tokens from the supply permanently.

To recap: LUNA maintains UST’s dollar peg. So, if the stablecoin’s price rises above $1, the Terra protocol burns LUNA and mints more stablecoins. Similarly, if UST’s price falls below $1, LUNA’s valuation declines in tandem due to a slowdown in the burning mechanism.

Thus, an increasing UST supply likely boosted LUNA’s price rally in addition to the broader recovery in the crypto market.

Terra TVL hits all-time high

LUNA’s gains also appeared against the backdrop of more capital flowing into the Terra ecosystem.

The total value locked inside the Terra protocol surged from nearly $18 billion at the beginning of this year to $25.58 billion as of March 9, its highest level to date. This includes a spike in total locked LUNA tokens from 215.80 million to 298.89 million in the same period.

Terra also emerged as the highest staked asset among all the cryptocurrencies on a 24-hour adjusted timeframe, with over $35.75 million worth of LUNA tokens now locked across multiple platforms, according to data resource Staking Rewards.

What’s next for LUNA price?

While LUNA looks poised to establish a new record high this week, its longer-timeframe technical indicators suggest the possibility of downside risk.

Related: Ethereum’s TVL dominance drops to 55% as Bloomberg analyst paints $1.7K bearish target

For instance, LUNA/USD has shown a clear bearish divergence between its rising prices and falling momentum, as indicated by its weekly relative strength index — forming lower highs since the beginning of 2021 — in the chart below.

Similarly, the volumes attached with LUNA’s recent weekly price rally also appeared weaker, further suggesting that the underlying upside momentum could stall. If this happens, LUNA will risk undergoing a sharp pullback to test its exponential moving averages (EMA), primarily the 20-week EMA (approximately $64) and the 50-week EMA (approximately $38), as supports.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

Blockchain network Avalanche announced the launch of Avalanche Multiverse, an incentive program that will accelerate the adoption of subnets that are app-specific blockchain ecosystems.

According to the director of Avalanche Foundation, Emin Gün Sirer, subnets are the next big thing on the blockchain. GünSirer said that subnets enable functions that are only possible with “network-level control and open experimentation.” He also mentioned that while smart contracts carried innovations within blockchain in the last five years, he believes subnets are next.

The program will allocate up to four million Avalanche (AVAX), worth roughly $290 million, to fund blockchain gaming, decentralized finance (DeFi), nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and institutional use cases.

The Avalanche Multiverse is headlined by many prominent collaborators including DeFi Kingdoms, Aave, Golden Tree Asset Management, Wintermute, Jump Crypto, Valkyrie and Securitize.

The program will be bringing a subnet that’s specific to DeFi Kingdoms with incentives worth $15 million. According to Frisky Fox, a DeFi Kingdoms executive, Avalanche‘s subnet technology is a “perfect fit” for their project. “The entire DeFi Kingdoms universe is written into smart contracts, pushing the envelope of what is possible with blockchain technology,” says Fox.

Avalanche’s core developer Ava Labs will also be working with the rest of the collaborators to build an integrated blockchain with native Know Your Customer (KYC) functions created specifically for institutional DeFi.

Wes Cowan, managing director of DeFi at Valkyrie Investments, says that “Avalanche’s subnet with KYC infrastructure, will be a massive step forward for institutional adoption and we are proud to support the implementation.”

Related: Terra, Avalanche and Osmosis lead the L1 recovery while Bitcoin searches for support

Meanwhile, crypto exchange platform FTX has also created a fund that aims to support projects that are “massively scalable” and provide long-term solutions for humanity. The FTX Future Fund will deploy up to $2 billion for projects ranging from artificial intelligence, biorisk danger reduction and efficient altruism.

Bitcoin (BTC) hit $42,000 on March 9 as an impressive overnight candle saw bulls reclaim support levels.

Trader: Market “still fragile”

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD abruptly “squeeze” through previous resistance at $39,600, going on to deliver 24-hour gains of 11.3%.

Amid local highs of $42,438 on Bitstamp, the mood among traders was also improving, but caution remained. 

Multiple macro factors: The Russia-Ukraine war, inflation and the United States‘ incoming executive order on cryptocurrency all kept commentators wary.

“I can’t deny that the market is looking a bit better after this move. However, still very fragile, short timeframe and uncertain,” Cointelegraph contributor Michaël van de Poppe said as part of Twitter comments on the day.

Fellow trader and analyst Pentoshi was similarly cool on the performance, which took Bitcoin back to the upper segment of a range where it had lingered throughout 2022.

IF 40.7k holds on the 1D/3D THEN will look once again for the yearly open for a third time prev was from near blue “value area”. First two both came up just short. Third time likely the charm IF 40.7k holds

Below 40.7k = no bueno

Targets:
Hold 46.2k
and 52-53k https://t.co/zMkoiCZcjV pic.twitter.com/tSigWopXn3

— Pentoshi (@Pentosh1) March 9, 2022

“This was a nice squeeze, but ultimately want to see Bitcoin reclaim 46-47k to feel confident that momentum has been regained,” William Clemente, lead insights analyst at mining firm Blockware, added.

Bets remained open as to the impact of Thursday‘s consumer price index (CPI) data for February. This is expected to be 7.9% and a key driver of short-term volatility for BTC/USD.

The data would precede the following week‘s decision on key interest rates from the Federal Reserve, with expectations just as varied as to its scope.

“IMO BTC‘s first dip from 60k to 30k in 2021 was caused by China‘s mining ban. The second dip from 60k to 30k in 2021 was caused by inflation combined with possible rate hikes & QE ending,” PlanB, creator of the stock-to-flow family of Bitcoin price models, argued.

“Currently the odds of rate hikes & QE ending seem low.”

LUNA returns to top major altcoin returns

Bitcoin thus performed strongly even against many altcoins, with the top ten cryptocurrencies by market cap struggling to keep up.

Related: Bitcoin stems losses after US bans Russian oil, gold heads to record highs

Ether (ETH) was up 7.2% on the day at the time of writing, while others were flatter such as Ripple (XRP) on 3.7%.

The briskest gains belonged to Terra (LUNA) once again with LUNA/USD targeting 20% gains and its highest since mid-January.