Market Insights

This post is a translation of the weekly cryptocurrency analysis by Crypto Lab, a wholly owned subsidiary of Monex Group (Tokyo, Japan). Monex is the parent of TradeStation Group. 

Summary

• Bitcoin (BTC) briefly fell below support at $8,000 before recovering to rise about 2 percent on the week.
• BTC’s gains came on the heels of a resurgence in Ripple (XRP) and deterioration of U.S economic indicators.
• Short-term price resistance is at $8,500, while the most recent low lies near $7,500.

Market Trends This Week

Bears remained in control of BTC early this week, driving prices below the psychologically important $8,000 level. But then prices recovered along with XRP, which rallied on news of expanding into Iceland.

BTC also enjoyed a bid from risk-aversion as disappointing economic data early in the week caused investors to fear a recession.

This Week’s Topics

• Six major Japanese companies including Rakuten Securities, SBI Securities, Monex, Nomura Securities, Daiwa Securities and Kabu.com have established the Security Token Offering (STO) Association to consolidate expertise in the industry. (10/1)
• XRP rallies on a planned expansion into Iceland. (10/1)
• Alibaba (BABA) affiliate Ant Financial and Bayer Crop Science have partnered to develop a blockchain system for monitoring farm production. (10/1)
• Several industry leaders such as Bittrex and Kraken established the Crypto Rating Council to help navigate U.S. law. (10/1)
• Hakuhodo has invented an “IP ledger” to manage the copyright of intellectual property using blockchain technology. (10/2)
• Leaked audio recordings show Facebook (FB) CEO Mark Zuckerberg fearing legal battles if Democrat Elizabeth Warren is elected President. (10/2)
• The Swiss Digital Exchange (SDX) has scheduled an Initial Digital Offering (IDO) for 2020. (10/2)
• Tether — not BTC — is the world’s most widely used cryptocurrency, according to CoinMarketCap.com. (10/2)
• Credit-card giants Visa (V) and MasterCard (MA) plan to introduce FB’s Libra cryptocurrency despite concerns about strict regulation. (10/2)
• The head of the Swiss Federal Financial Markets Authority (FINMA) said he will approach projects such as Libra with the same attitude and guidelines as others else and is not looking to make it impossible. (10/2)
• Blockchain leader LayerX has announced a new management structure. (10/2)
• Startbahn and Maecenas partner to operate a tokenized art market using a blockchain network. (10/3)
• Telegram plans to launch its own blockchain TON at the end of October. (10/3)
• A Korean court orders the CoinOne exchange to pay compensation for the loss of a hacked customer account. (10/3)
• New Balance has partnered with blockchain firm IOHK to prevent counterfeit sneakers. (10/3)

Next Week’s Market Forecast

BTC has struggled since early September, when attention shifted from cryptocurrencies to stocks. The important $9,000 support level finally broke as sentiment weakened. Prices can potentially rebound going forward now because several positive news items have come out. BTC may also move inversely to global equity markets because of its safe-haven status.

We’ll continue to watch price action for moves back above $8,500 or below $7,500.

Next Week’s Topics

• 10/7: DEX’s on Ethereum discussion in Osaka.
• 10/8-11: Devcon 5 in Osaka.
• 10/9-11: FinRech & Blockchain 2019 sponsored by Nikkei BP in Tokyo.
• 10/10: Blockwalks conference in Slovakia.
• 10/12: MinerSummit 2019 in Chengdu, China.