Market Insights

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

Summary

• Bitcoin (BTC) dropped about 6 percent in the last week as U.S equities continued to probe record highs.
• BTC’s resistance is at the recent peak of $10,500, while support is at the recent around of $9,500.

Market trends this week

BTC finally pulled back after six weeks of steady gains. Such profit taking is normal and was to be expected. The collapse of Chinese exchange FCoin also weighed on sentiment.

In other industry news, crypto exchange Binance performed unexpected maintenance due to market-data problems. At the present, service has been resumed and there are no serious problems.

Most altcoins followed BTC lower in the last week.

This Week’s Topics

• Australia plans to promote innovation through blockchain technology, according to a recently published national road map. (2/14)
• North Korea has increased mining of the anonymous cryptocurrency Monero (XMR) in an effort to avoid sanctions. (2/14)
• Spanish soccer team FC Barcelona and blockchain firm Chiliz will issue fan tokens to promote interaction with its audience. (2/14)
• Merj, a stock exchange in Seychelles, will list more than $200 million of tokens backed by high-end vehicles including Ferrari (RACE) sports cars. (2/15)
• The Cricket Club in Lancashire, U.K., will utilize a blockchain-based ticketing system for all matches in 2020. (2/16)
• The U.K. will ban sales of cryptocurrency derivatives to retail investors (2/17)
• Cisco Systems (CSCO) and Japanese technology giant NEC are building enhanced supply-chain management tools for security domain and critical industrial infrastructure over the blockchain. (2/17)
• About 80 percent of countries are developing or considering central bank-backed digital currencies, according to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). (2/17)
• Chinese cryptocurrency exchange FCoin ceased operations, still owning clients more than $100 million. (2/17)
• Steemit, a social-media and blogging platform, is migrating its apps to the Tron blockchain. (2/17)
• Binance is seeking an exchange license in Singapore. (2/17)
• Ginkan, an artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain firm, will offer gift certificates of seven companies through its virtual currency “Synchro” coin. (2/18)
• BTC mining has slowed in recent weeks because of China’s coronavirus outbreak, according to a Coindesk analysis. (2/18)
• Binance announces Binance Cloud to support the development of trading platforms. (2/18)
• Wells Fargo (WFC) plans to invest in in Elliptic, a British company helping crypto exchanges work with traditional banks. (2/19)
• The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has invited several crypto companies to a tax summit on March 3. (2/19)
• Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum (ETH), said in a Denver speech that ETH 2.0 is “preceding quite quickly and regularly in the last few months.” (2/19)
• U.K. authorities have removed ads by Chinese crypto firms from the London Underground. (2/20)
• Microsoft (MSFT) adds support of the ETH-based blockchain “Lition” on its Azure infrastructure. (2/20)
• Samsung’s new Galaxy S20 phone will continue to provide virtual-currency storage. (2/20)

Next Week’s Market Forecast

Cryptocurrencies may take their cues from U.S. equities. Bulls stress BTC’s “golden cross,” with its 50-day moving average rising above its 200-day MA. On the other hand, there hasn’t been significant industry news aside from negatives like FCoin and Binance’s outage.

The impact of coronavirus is still a big concern in Asia, while the U.S. stock market and economy have remained the strongest globally.

BTC may consolidate in a range next week as prices consolidate recent gains. Even with this week’s drop, the intermediate trend remains up. Traders may watch the $10,500 level for resistance and $9,500 for support.

Next Week’s Topics

• 2/27-28: Blockchain in Kyoto 2020 will be held in Japan.

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