This week we saw a massive surge in bitcoin that simply dominated the entire crypto currency market.
Today, it seems we're experiencing a bit of a pullback. The is quite normal of course. Any asset that can surge 62% in a week and a half should also expect a sizeable retracement after such a run.
The odd thing is that while bitcoin was rising it seemed to be taking some of the value from elsewhere in the market and other crypto currencies fell. Now that we're seeing bitcoin fall back it's a bit strange that the other cryptos are falling with it.
The total market cap of all cryptos reached a new all time high yesterday of $140 Billion but has since lost $10 Billion of that back.
Something exciting could be right around the corner of this market but not for bitcoin. As we'll see below of of BTCs strongest peers may be about to get a huge boost.
Today's Highlights
- A Little Flat
- Oil Decision Point
- Ethereum Upgrade
Please note: All data, figures & graphs are valid as of August 16th. All trading carries risk. Only risk capital you can afford to lose.
Market Overview
Some up, some down, but nothing really moving far or fast in the stock market. Volatility is down from the highs we experienced at the beginning of the week but thankfully has not yet fallen to the record lows that we saw last month.
Moves in the currency markets have been a bit more telling with the US dollar emerging as the underdog that has finally pulled off a sorely needed surprise victory.
The dollar has been getting bucked around since the beginning of the year but so far in August is managing some gains.
For now, support at 92 points on the US Dollar Index is holding well.
Oil also has found some temporary support. $47 has held nicely after Monday's sell off. Today's inventories announcement could play a key role in the next movement. We could be in for a bit of a battle at $48 though.
It seems that both bulls and bears could find this spot an attractive entry. As we can see in this chart, we're very close to the top of the long term downward channel (yellow lines) but now sitting on the short term rising support line (blue). Let's see how this plays out.
Ethereum About to Upgrade
With all the excitement around bitcoin leading up to August 1st and since then ethereum has kind of been kicked to the backburner of alternative investors minds.
The many proposed upgrades to the bitcoin network have certainly been controversial but ethereum's upgrades usually have a lot more consensus. ethereum's founder Vitalik Buterin holds a great influence over the ETH community and so it makes it easier for everyone to get on the same page once he's given consent.
The new upgrade is called Metropolis and it will go into effect in the next few months.
Some of the features that we're excited about are the ability to send transactions without revealing the senders address making for anonymous transactions. As well as allowing contracts to pay their own gas, a feature that will allow users to interact with an Ethereum based coin without actually having ETH in their wallet.
Metropolis will also reduce the reward for miners, which is a particularly potential price moving factor.
Ethereum has been rather stagnant lately so we're very curious to see how the price will react as we near the implementation.
Wishing you an awesome day ahead!
eToro, Senior Market Analyst
Disclosure: This content is for information and educational purposes only and should not be considered investment advice or an investment recommendation. Past performance is not an indication of future results. All trading carries risk. Only risk capital you're prepared to lose.