Since the beginning of January, Bitcoin has fallen below $6,000 thrice. On those occasions, Bitcoin rose smartly. However, it was unable to cross above the $10,000 level. In the meanwhile, the overall sentiment turned bearish due to incidents of hacking and investigation over alleged price manipulation in the cryptocurrency exchanges. Last Monday, Bitcoin bounced back after touching $5,825. However, the reversal was too weak that Bitcoin started facing resistance at $6,200 levels. Later on Friday, Bitcoin made a new yearly low, pulling other cryptocurrencies deeper into the red. However, improvements in blockchain technology and other related activities are going forward at a brisk pace.
Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, has established a charity website that accepts cryptocurrency donations. The site, “GiveCrypto.org”, is intended to assist disadvantaged people across the world, reaching those most in need of help directly, bypassing any intermediaries. Armstrong stated that he got the idea after seeing a lot of young crypto millionaires who were in search of a reliable way to support the poor without third party involvement. Armstrong has personally donated $1 million to the fund, which aims to collect $1 billion soon.
Line, the popular messaging app in Japan, has announced its plan to open a cryptocurrency exchange called Bitbox next month. Notably, the exchange will not offer its services to clients in Japan and the US due to regulatory issues. Singapore, which offers a friendly environment for cryptocurrency-related business, has been selected for setting up the Bitbox exchange. Initially, Bitbox will offer around 30 cryptocurrencies, including popular ones such as Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ethereum (ETH), and Ripple (XRP). The exchange will also offer support in 15 languages.
One of the primary difficulties faced by companies dealing in cryptocurrencies is the lack of support from banks in Europe and the US. This may come to an end soon as Germany’s Solaris Bank has announced its intention to offer full-fledged banking services to companies dealing in blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies. Solaris bank will offer a tailor-made ‘Blockchain Company Account’ for blockchain companies and an automated escrow account for individuals.
The exponential increase in the popularity of cryptocurrencies has also drawn hackers and spammers who are always on the outlook for quick money. According to a report by McAfee Labs, in 1Q18, the number of unauthorized installations of coin miner malware increased 629% to 2.90 million, from 400,000 installations in the previous quarter.
Now let’s take a look at the individual cryptocurrencies making a statement this week:
Bitcoin (BTC)
A research report published by Diar states that Lightning Network transactions have a low probability of success. Each Bitcoin node has more than four channels open and the capacity of each channel is $20. The study found that transactions involving an amount less than $100 has only a 70% success rate. In the case of transactions involving more than $200, the success rate is only 1%. It’s a disappointment to the cryptocurrency community. However, it is comforting to know that Lightning Network is only in its beta stage. So, Bitcoin investors are hopeful that the bugs will be fixed in the next few months, leading to mass adoption. Lightning Network was created to resolve scalability issues of Bitcoin’s blockchain network.
#MetaHash (#MHC)
One of the main issues faced by blockchain networks is scalability. The Ethereum (ETH) network can process only 30 transactions per second, whilst Bitcoin (BTC) fares worst with just 7 transactions. The recently launched EOS (EOS) can process a minimum of 1,000 transactions per second. However, the network has only 21 block producers, making it a highly centralized system.
#MetaHash is a Swiss company that launched its mainnet on June 29th and is the first network to offer both scalability and decentralization. The testnet has a proven capacity of 100,000 transactions per second. So, analysts are expecting the network to challenge Ethereum soon.
Another notable thing about #MetaHash is that the company is offering its ICO after launching the mainnet. That gives more credibility to the project. Read more here.
Our Forex Trading Plan
Bitcoin. The double bottom formation and sharp reversal makes Bitcoin (BTC) our obvious choice of asset to trade in the Forex market. The stochastic oscillator is in the bullish zone. Therefore, we are expecting the rally to continue.
By opening a long position in the BTCUSD pair, we are planning to benefit from the uptrend. We prefer an entry and exit price of 6250 and 7300, respectively. To ensure a reasonable risk to reward ratio, we would definitely place a stop-loss order below 5800.
Our Binary Options Trading Plan
Litecoin. Litecoin (LTC), which usually follows the movement of Bitcoin, is our preferred asset to trade in the binary market. The LTCUSD pair has also formed a near double bottom pattern, with momentum indicator making new highs. The next resistance exists only at 98. Therefore, an uptrend is expected.
At the time of buying a call option from a binary broker, we will choose a date around July 10 as the expiry date. Furthermore, we may invest in the contract only if the LTCUSD pair is trading near $72 in the cryptocurrency market.
Disclaimer: Any financial trading analysis offered here is our opinion and is not intended as advice or direction for investors. We cannot guarantee the success of any trades made as a consequence of this article, and we encourage traders to incorporate a strong money management strategy to limit losses when they enter the markets. Please use this article as part of your own research before formulating strategies prior to trading.
