Aggressive profit-booking sent Bitcoin (BTC) spiraling below $29,000 on Jan. 21 but was this a sign that institutional investors dumped their positions? This is one of the main questions bothering traders because large institutional inflows primarily led the run-up to $42,000. Cointelegraph contributor Marcel Pechman analyzed derivatives data from various exchanges, which showed professional traders might have purchased at lower levels. The fall seems to have particularly hurt the excessively leveraged traders, resulting in $460 million worth of liquidations at derivatives exchanges. Data from CryptoQuant shows that Bitcoin’s biggest mining pool, F2Pool, witnessed daily outflows of 10,000 Bitcoin for three …

A recent report from CoinMetrics suggests that when a new altseason starts it will play out in a way that is vastly different from the market of 2017-2018. According to the authors of the report, the arrival of institutional investors and their interest in Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) has fundamentally shifted the cryptocurrency market landscape. Tokens with real world utility, Layer 2 technology or attractive staking ecosystems will outperform the large cap tokens from pre-2017. Bitcoin and Ethereum dominate but L2 tokens will catch up Institutional inflows firmly established Bitcoin and Ethereum as the chosen Layer 1 (L1) blockchains …

Ethereum is not the only blockchain platform seeing a significant increase in value as the decentralized finance space continues to move in tandem with the booming cryptocurrency ecosystem. The new year has continued to be good to the DeFi space, evident in the sheer amount of value that has been injected into various platforms. The value staked in DeFi protocols briefly surpassed $27 billion on Jan. 20, according to DappRadar, driven in part by the increase in value of a large majority of cryptocurrency tokens. Nevertheless, the space has seen growing adoption and development in recent months. Ethereum currently holds …

Bitcoin price is finding soft support at $35,000 after dropping 7.4% in the later hours of Jan. 19. According to Cointelegraph contributor Joseph Young, the correction was primarily the result of an overheated derivatives market and uncertainty over whether BTC can recapture the $40,000 level. Data from Cointelegraph Markets and TradingView shows that the price of Bitcoin (BTC) fell as low as $33,400 before recovering to the $35,000 level. Not all is lost for the top cryptocurrency though, as news BlackRock, a multi-trillion-dollar asset manager, had submitted filings to the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission that mention the possibility of using …

When an asset is in an overbought condition and traders are sitting on large profits, even minor negative news and events could trigger profit-booking. This seems to have happened following Janet Yellen’s adverse comments on cryptocurrencies during a virtual hearing with the U.S. Senate Finance Committee. In the same meeting, Yellen also told Congress to “act big” in order to support the U.S. economy. Another round of stimulus would probably further weaken the U.S. dollar and drive investors into assets that are considered as a store of value. This means Yellen's comments may have inadvertently boosted the sentiment surrounding gold …

Polkastarter (POLS) is a cross-chain token pool and auction protocol built on the Polkadot (DOT) blockchain. It launched in October of 2020 as a way for projects to raise capital in a decentralized environment and since January the token has rallied 500% to a new high at $1.78. Three possible reasons for the recent growth of POLS are the strong rally seen from Polkadot, strategic partnerships and exchange listings and an expanding list of token launches via auctions. The rise of Polkadot The rising popularity of the Polkadot network is arguably the most significant influencer on the price of POLS. …

Bitcoin (BTC) continues to trade in a tightening range within a pennant pattern and while the price has moved above the 20-day moving average, it's clear that the bulls and bears are fighting over the direction the digital asset will take. Data from Cointelegraph Markets and TradingView show that BTC traded in a range between $34,955 and $37,850 over the weekend but traders buying each dip appear to be doing so with less bullish conviction. JPMorgan research analyst Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou recently stressed the importance of Bitcoin breaking out above the $40,000 level soon in order to avoid being hurt by …

Investors are beginning to worry that Bitcoin’s (BTC) uptrend could be in peril after the top-ranked cryptocurrency failed to pull above the $40,000. Some traders are afraid that a repeat of the crushing 2018 bear market is on the cards again if BTC fails to find bullish momentum. However, a study of both the bull markets shows distinct differences that are noteworthy. Research from Pantera Capital found that after the current bull move, 86% of the crypto market's value is concentrated in Bitcoin and Ethereum, largely because institutional funds have flowed into each cryptocurrency. In 2017, the top two coins …

Bitcoin (BTC) has made significant moves already this year but altcoins are catching up. Once Bitcoin’s price starts to stabilize, the market environment becomes better for altcoins to begin their run. One of the strongest performers in 2021 is Polkadot, as this cryptocurrency has been making new all-time highs day in, day out. Polkadot’s price rallied by 85% in 2021 and 75% in the past seven days, surpassing XRP in market capitalization. DOT price eyes $20 or higher after this rally The daily chart of Polkadot shows a rounded bottom construction throughout the last quarter of 2020. Since then, a …

Grayscale products witnessed $3.3 billion in inflows in the fourth quarter of 2020, a large jump over the $1.05 billion seen in the preceding quarter. According to Grayscale, institutional investors accounted for 93% of the new investments. The significance and magnitude of the investments can be gauged from the fact that in 20, Grayscale received $5.7 billion in investments, which is four times the cumulative inflow between 2013 and 2019 Data from Glassnode also shows that since July 2020, only about one-third of the 900 Bitcoin (BTC) mined each day have made their way to exchanges. During that period, Grayscale …

There have been some big movers as the crypto market rally resumes and Polkadot’s DOT token is among them. According to figures from leading analytics portal Coingecko, DOT has flipped Ripple’s XRP in terms of market capitalization following a massive gain of 26% over the past 24 hours. This makes it the new fourth largest cryptocurrency by market cap. The Polkadot token has surged from an intraday low of just below $11 to top out at an all-time high of $14.80 before retreating slightly to $14.45 at the time of writing. The big price move has pushed its market cap …

The sharp correction in Bitcoin (BTC) may have shaken out many leveraged traders, but the data shows whales and institutions aggressively purchased the dip and now bulls have shown they are determined to push Bitcoin price back above $40,000. The total crypto market capitalization has also recovered and surged back above $1 trillion. Pantera Capital founder and CEO Dan Morehead said he stands by his earlier prediction of $115,000 for Bitcoin by August of this year. Morehead believes China's digital yuan developments may boost crypto adoption and prove to be a bullish trigger. Several altcoins have also turned positive and …