Bitcoin has seen an uptick in volumes in the new year. A report by cryptocurrency market research firm Arcane Research shows that 7-day average daily trading volume has surged 126% in a week. Along with Bitcoin trading volume, the CME Bitcoin futures contract has also seen increased activity. The Bitcoin futures open interest has skyrocketed to a seven month high, which is only behind the peak seen at the end of June. A pick up in volume and open interest with rising prices or even if prices remain range-bound is usually a sign of accumulation by the stronger hands. This …

The CME Group will launch its Bitcoin options contract on Jan. 13. The analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. have spotted a 69% increase in open interest from year-end in CME’s existing Bitcoin futures contracts. They also noted that the number of large open-interest holders has picked up. This shows an increase in institutional interest before the launch of options trading. Nevertheless, as Bitcoin price action has been mixed during previous launches of such services, it is difficult to predict the move based on this event alone. Halving, however, is an important event and analysts at market research firm Fundstrat …

Safe haven assets were dumped on Jan. 8, on reports that the US-Iran conflict might not escalate to an all out war. Cryptocurrencies, which had surged alongside gold and oil with also retreated from two-month high. However, the positive sign is that most major cryptocurrencies have held their immediate support levels, which indicates buying on dips. This shows that the sentiment has changed from sell on rallies to buy on dips. With the news-based rally out of the way, the focus will again shift to the fundamentals. A new law governing cryptographic password management came into force in China on …

The crypto markets continue to respond to the events happening in the United States-Iran conflict. Any sign of escalating tensions is boosting the crypto markets higher. Google Trends shows that the searches for terms “Bitcoin” and “Bitcoin Iran” have surged in the past few days. This shows that investors are considering Bitcoin as a safe haven asset, similar to gold. A report released by analytics firm SFOX showed that Bitcoin had a very low correlation with traditional assets such as gold and stocks in the second half of 2019. This made it an attractive hedge in a portfolio. The report …

The price of an asset class is determined by its fundamentals and the sentiment towards it. At times of panic or exuberance, fundamentals take a back seat and sentiment dictates the price action. Currently, the US-Iran tension has sent investors scurrying towards safety. This has seen a move away from stocks and into assets that are considered safe havens. However, it is unlikely to be a one-way move. There will be periods of calm that would be followed by statements from both parties that would reignite the conflict. Accordingly, the volatility will remain high as the market participants interpret and …

Cryptocurrency-accepting booking service Travala has seen its revenue for the month of December go up by over 33.5% month-on-month following a partnership with Booking.com. According to a post published on the firm’s official blog on Jan. 1, Travala has also seen the total monthly number of accommodation nights booked through the service reach 1,528 in December, which is a 15.2% increase since November. Furthermore, the average room price increased by over 15%, from $115 to $133 over the same period. Chart of the monthly accommodation nights booked through Travala. Source: Travala Over 9% of December’s bookings were paid in Travala’s …

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong believes that rising cryptocurrency prices will generate massive wealth for the crypto investors in the 20s. His friends, Olaf Carlson-Wee and Balaji Srinivasan expect Bitcoin’s price to reach $200,000, due to which more than half of the world's billionaires will be from the crypto space. Armstrong also anticipates that “ a “privacy coin” or blockchain with built-in privacy features” will go mainstream in the 2020s. A Burger King outlet in Venezuela has started accepting Bitcoin and a few other cryptocurrencies. This is likely to expand to about 40 locations this year. While this is a positive …

Bitcoin started the new year on a weak note and looked to be losing ground. However, the news of the killing of Iran’s General Qasem Soleimani, in an airstrike ordered by the US President Donald Trump, caused a reversal in Bitcoin’s price. This shows that the market participants have again turned to cryptocurrencies in times of uncertainty and escalating geopolitical tensions. In other news, Antoni Trenchev, the head of decentralized finance (DeFi) platform Nexo.io, said that Bitcoin is a unique asset which is uncorrelated to the overall market. Trenchev said it is entirely possible that Bitcoin price reaches $50,000 in …

2019 was an eventful year for Bitcoin. In the first six months, it rallied about 310%, from a low of $3,355 on Jan. 29 to a high of $13,973.50 on Jun. 26. That stoked expectations that the leading digital currency might retest its lifetime highs at $19,531.90. However, the second half of the year was a disappointment as the price continued to decline and lost over 50% from its top at $13,973.50. As cryptocurrencies are a new asset class, they are difficult to analyze using traditional tools. Therefore, analysts have been issuing wide-ranging predictions on it. While Bitcoin enthusiasts expect …

As 2019 comes to an end, traders will closely analyze the events scheduled for 2020 that might boost cryptocurrency prices. One of the most talked-about and watched events would be the halving of Bitcoin miner rewards in May 2020. While Bitcoin’s price had surged following the previous two halving events in 2012 and 2016, it is difficult to say with certainty how the crypto markets will react this time. Many analysts are also divided on their expectations about the event. However, as halving nears, we anticipate the chart patterns will provide an insight into the likely reaction to the event. …

Swiss finance minister and outgoing president Ueli Maurer believes that one of the most ambitious crypto projects of 2019, Facebook’s Libra stablecoin, will not be accepted by regulators in its current form. Though Libra has not seen the light of the day, it has forced a number of central banks to take cryptocurrencies seriously. China could be one of the first developed nations to launch a central bank digital currency. Though cryptocurrency trading is banned in China, the regulators are worried about its comeback. The Chinese government wants to ensure that the digital form of yuan, when launched, does not …

South Korea’s central bank plans to recruit additional digital currency experts to build on its existing research into central bank digital currency (CBDC). Along with its own research, the bank also plans to discuss the developments of CBDCs with the Bank of International Settlements and other international organizations. While the larger economies are mulling launching or researching about CBDCs, the Central Bank of the Bahamas is expected to launch its digital currency pilot in one of the districts on Dec. 27. It plans to expand the project to another district in the first-half of 2020. Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: …