Revolutionizing the Cryptosphere: Shift

As mentioned in our March Newsletter, we are aligned with Shift’s mission to institute decentralized web services via blockchain technology, by mitigating the threat of censorship and oppression that is rampantly visible while using centralized web services. In addition to being released on a top 25 exchange in the coming weeks, Shift is now ready to unveil that they have transcended their stalwart endeavor by introducing another groundbreaking, decentralized service. 👏

Shift is proud to announce they have successfully tested its blockchain as an Enterprise Data decentralized storage mechanism that can significantly alleviate the current data storage congestion found on many of the most popular existing blockchains.

Their testing took place roughly a month ago for a fairly complex ERC20 role-playing game that will remain anonymous, for now. A developer from the game itself reached out to Shift because they desired a completely decentralized game. Shift was able to successfully use their Phantom storage layer to run the game, which means, hypothetically, they could provide the same service to any other game or decentralized application that wanted to institute blockchain technology into their processes. This mission was not publicized by the Shift team until now as a result of uncertainty regarding whether they would be capable of performing this data storage service for other blockchains.

To stress the importance of decongesting blockchains, which Shift has now proven attainable, it is important for us to remember times of congestion for popular blockchains and the result of the stagnation. As humorous and popular as CryptoKitties were when introduced on the Ethereum blockchain, the immediate outcome on the network’s speed was debilitating. For nearly three days, Ethereum transactions were at a near standstill, rendering the platform useless.

Are we to expect that every time a blockchain actually institutes a popular feature of decentralized application, that it will bring the network to a halt? Shift will now be able to act as a pressure valve for various blockchains to store the data from immense amounts of activity when popular usage arrives. In our opinion, Shift should be a considered leader in the adoption of Blockchain with their working API, which now allows ERC20 blockchains and other cryptocurrencies to use their decentralized storage system.

The storage layer of Shift has been built on the InterPlanetary File System labeled as “Phantom”. Phantom is simple data storage application that will provide users a drag and drop interface for uploading and managing files on Shift’s blockchain. Data that is stored can be then pinned and unpinned at user’s discretion. This is comparable to how someone may manage their phone’s storage by utilizing the ‘cloud’ as a way to free up storage on their actual cell phone while also retaining other relevant information.

We are consistently made aware, in the digital currency ecosystem, of the congestion of blockchains and the problems therein. Shift will be able to act as a pressure valve for the data storage of blockchains that are currently overrun by the surplus of data and transactions that already exist on-chain.

🇨🇳 China's President Endorses Blockchain 🇨🇳

Currently the price of Bitcoin is $7340. Trading volume retraced over the past 24 hours by around 9% to 5.1 billion USD.

In other news, the Chinese President, Xi Jinping, spoke to an audience at an annual academic conference hosted by the Chinese Academy of Sciences on Monday. Xi had high praise and foresight when addressing emerging blockchain technologies and how this will revolutionize the current economic structure of the world (See direct quote below).

Xi's comments are a reaffirmation of our opinions on how the Republic of China will proceed in terms of their acceptance of blockchain and crypto moving forward. Historically, the Chinese have permitted disrupting technology to operate within their borders but have always done their best to provide 'home-grown' services to utilize the tech at hand.

We believe this will be the case moving forward as they will start to posture certain cryptos and blockchain companies as the ones that their government supports and then in turn receives the national media attention needed to grow and foster the strength of the industry within Chinese borders.

Despite the certain level of control that China will continue to enforce upon this emerging asset class, the clear sign of approval from their president has us excited for the future of this space, as it is transparent that the world is rallying behind crypto and blockchain, each in their own unique ways👍

🇨🇳 China's President Endorses Blockchain 🇨🇳

🚨Breaking: Bittrex to Accept Fiat Trading🚨

The Seattle-based cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex Inc. announced today that it has structured banking deals that will provide select customers the ability to trade in U.S. dollars – a step that may help the exchange increase its user engagement and enhance the entire space.🙌🏻

The agreements will allow corporate clients in Washington, New York, and Montana buy virtual currencies in U.S. dollars.

Bittrex is networking with Signature Bank, a full-service New York-based bank, and other financial firms. Signature Bank will possess the dollar-denominated funds.

Bill Sharia, CEO of Bittrex, proclaimed: “It has been a long path; It is not just about bank being able to trust Bittrex, but also about banks being able to trust crypto in general, and I think it is really showing that crypto is turning the corner in terms of mainstream acceptance.”

Bittrex will launch fiat trading today for Bitcoin, Tether, and TrueUSD. The corporate customers within the aforementioned states (Washington, New York, and Montana) will only have access to the fiat trading due to regulations.

This news demonstrates the growing acceptance of crypto currency. With banks slowly, but surely, accepting digital currencies, as made apparent with CoinBase and now Bittrex, we cannot help but stand optimistic for the future. 🐳

To learn more of this news, read Bloomberg’s coverage here: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-31/bittrex-gets-bank-agreement-to-help-you-buy-bitcoin-with-dollars

🌎Global Adoption of Blockchain Technology 🌏

For global adoption to occur, world leaders must drop their fears of the technological revolution we are experiencing and embrace the powers of Blockchain technology. A technological revolution, in case you are curious, is when one technology is replaced by another technology, generally one that is more superior. In this case, Blockchain technology is gradually replacing Information Technologies and data storage devices, but from a grand scale, Blockchain technology is likely to replace far more technologies going forward.

On April 20th of this year, the European Union (EU) Blockchain Partnership, comprised of 24 EU member states, was established with plans to improve dialogue across Europe for creating Blockchain technology. A partnership to this degree clearly illustrates the growing important, and demand for, Blockchain technology, but sadly this news has essentially gone unnoticed - which is a complete shame.

However, today, to bring light on this magnificent accomplishment, Denmark has declared that it has also joined the EU Blockchain Partnership. Brian Mikkelsen, the Danish Minister for Industry, Business and Financial Affairs, said: “Denmark will be the first country in the world [to] use blockchain technology to register ships in the Danish ship registers.” Therefore, currently in effect, Denmark plans to integrate the various features of Blockchain into all its commercial ships, which is likely a means to improve its supply chain logistics and much more.

Today’s announcement, and the development of the EU Blockchain Partnership, express the unwavering support much of the global powers have for Blockchain technology integration. Soon enough, all major powers in the world, such as the United States and China, will adopt similar schemes to ensure further integration of the tech occurs, and when they do, you can rest assured, we will be ready.

📊Going Green📊

For the second straight day, the market is flush with an ever-pleasing color: green. Bitcoin, at the time of writing, is $7,634, a 2.07% increase over the past 24 hours. Ethereum is sitting comfortably at $609.21, a 2.51% increase from its value 24 hours ago. 📈

Stablitiy in the market, should it continue, will fortify the positive sentiment and prepare the community for more grand days, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves, because any bad news could spark a firestorm, thereby regressing us to the darkest days of 2018. 🌑

But what could be the key reasons for the limited volatility and apparent consolidation over the last few days, or even week? There must be news providing reason for this, correct? In fact, there are. 🙌

Sometime this week, Steve Wozniak, Apple co-founder, expressed his views on Bitcoin at the Money 20/20 conference in Amsterdam, stating: “Only Bitcoin is pure digital gold.” His remarks are nearly identical to that of Jack Dorsey, the CEO of Twitter. Dorsey, who is an unquestioned supporter of digital currency, has said: “Bitcoin will become a global currency in the next ten years.” 🚀

Profound mentions of Bitcoin by two of the world’s most well-known figures could be responsible for much of what we are seeing this week. This is entirely subjective, of course, but it allows us to generate reasoning, which we will happily take. 👌

What else, though, could be the impetus behind the market’s state? Clearly more positive sentiment is in the news, but which is most impactful, strong enough to drive confidence in the market? Frankly, a strong foundation is derived from the basis of more European nations entering the EU Blockchain Partnership, China’s president expressing his good-will towards digital currencies and Blockchain, Visa being down, and authorities in Upstate New York officially allowing Bitcoin mining. 👏

Compounding all the factors from the last week create an ideal situation for the market, therefore we cannot definitively say one situation is responsible, but, instead, we state that an aggregate weight of each occurrence, within this short period of time, is likely the fortifying reason behind this period of stability.

⛏ 🌳 The Chop Continues 🌳 ⛏

We hope your weekend is off to a great start!

The current price of Bitcoin is $7615 with 24 hour trading volumes around 4.3 billion USD. It seems that trading volumes are declining into the weekend, as usual, but the price is holding consistently around the $7600 level. Pure consolidation is still occurring as the price for the past 7 days hasn't strayed outside of +/- 200 from $7600.
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It is easy to be caught in the chop and become discouraged. We understand that the current state of the market hasn't been extremely profitable for investors and has even become extremely difficult for day traders to operate effectively as well. Our underlying hypothesis on crypto markets is that the consolidation and chop we are seeing is, once again, large investors accumulating the coins they want at optimal prices. Bots are clearly in control of $BTC's price action which for us tends to show accumulation rather than dispersion.

On smaller time frames, our team is studying a recent uptrend channel that has provided support 5-6 times since May 25th (see chart below). We believe it is showing that the 'accumulator's are catching their bids at higher-lows. This may suggest that their accumulation phase is winding down and will then introduce the fresh volume needed to vault $BTC's price over the $7800 mark.
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📉A Life in Crypto📈

Hello everyone,

The price of Bitcoin is currently $6735, with 24 hour trading volumes around 5.7 billion USD. Over the weekend $BTC’s price dropped by nearly 12%. Volume has picked up, but this is mostly derived from many investors/traders attempting to liquidate their holdings as the market has plunged.

In the past few weeks, we have been as deliberate as possible while sharing our strategy with you all. We liked the consolidation that was occuring in the mid-$7000’s and decided to take some entries and reallocate our exposure. That being said, we continually highlighted the disapringly low levels of volume and discussed what our exit points would be in case the market continued to turn south. Many of our analysts signaled $7200 as their point of reducing exposure or turning net short, while others highlighted $6800 which has also been broken.

An aggregated estimate of our analysts exposure has us, on average, represented with 70% fiat and 30% crypto. While common technical analysis tools are indicating that Bitcoin is due for a bounce, it is hard to rely on those currently as sentiment across the cryptocurrency ecosystem is overwhelmingly bearish due to recent developments.

The explanation of the mass capitulation witnessed in the market this weekend cannot be, as we always suggest, linked to one specific event, although some occurrences hold more weight than others - such as when China cracked down on cryptocurrency trading last year. Active members in the space during that time understand the gravitas, or seriousness, of China’s involvement in the cryptosphere prior to its exit, which is why its departure was felt far and wide. 🌏

Nonetheless, the prodigious fall in the market this weekend was not a fault of a nation abandoning the market; instead, it fell due to media coverage of Coinrail being hacked and fears of potential market manipulation by four exchanges.

With respect to the media coverage, let us paint a picture for you: Coinrail, a small exchange literally ranked 100th in trading volume was hacked. The hack itself is unsettling, but the heist itself resulted in a total loss of $40 to $46 million. Yes, the fact of losing around $40 million dollars is hard to swallow, but much larger hacks have occurred and, therefore, the theft of $40 million dollars from an exchange used by less than a percent of the community would not send the market into a frenzy of mass panic. It certainly does not provide peace-of-mind, though.

A more pressing issue within the space is that U.S. regulators launched a probe into four United States-based exchanges this weekend: Coinbase, BitStamp, itBIT, and Kraken. The investigation is to unearth as to whether any market manipulation has occurred within the preceding exchanges, which are used by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange to derive its value for Bitcoin futures. An investigation of this extent is, hands down, the leading case behind the capitulation of this past weekend.

With the probe ongoing, we will continue to gather intel to successfully maintain a grasp on what unfolds. Rest assured, any updates in this investigation will likely send the market rapidly up, or down. Stay tuned.

🌏Steps Towards Global Adoption 🌏

The promotion of global success begins with a foundational instrument: education. 📒Your ability to read this text and communicate with those around you are, unequivocally, resultant of your years of education, through whichever format you were granted.

There is little doubt encompassing the importance of educating the world, which is made evident in the perpetual demand for educational reform and ensuring all global citizens, rich and poor, receive an education. Stemming off this comes the monumental push by the United Kingdom, which has delivered instructions (education) to banks on how to manage problems common with trading and investing in cryptocurrencies, or crypto assets. The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is orchestrating the initiative. ✍️

The FCA suggests banks implement a series of approaches, penned as “good practices”, to circumvent the negative effects often endured by crypto traders and investors. The suggestion also hopes to deter criminal activity. Furthermore, coupled with the previous information comes the FCA’s encouraging of banks to educate their employees on the cryptosphere. The idea, and a good one at that, is to create an environment in which bank employees can identify risks in crypto assets and converse with clients involved in crypto-related business. This structure would prove invaluable to the promotion of this space, as consumers would have trusted members to speak with, in-person, about their dealings in the space in addition to receiving well-designed steps to maintain safe practices while dealing with cryptocurrencies - an unquestioned demand across the space.

In addition to the United Kingdom’s announcement comes Ireland’s plan to become a global Blockchain hub. 🇮🇪 The plan, led by IDA Ireland, a governmental entity accountable for acquiring foreign direct investment (FDI), is to promulgate Blockchain investment and development across the country. The project itself is “Blockchain Ireland”, and it hopes to attract international Blockchain companies to Ireland by several promotional advertisements that, if successful, illustrate Ireland as an ideal location for all Blockchain-related dealings.

The announcements of the European Union Blockchain Partnership and the United Kingdom’s steps to achieve a more Blockchain savvy and cryptocurrency educated population are profound. 💪These partnerships and strategies are exactly what we have demanded for years, for when large governing bodies such as the EU and UK proclaim their faith in the cryptosphere, we take another step towards mass-market-adoption - a goal we fervently await for. 🙌

🚨Tether Investigation and More🚨

What is to be said aside from the obvious: Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt (FUD) have sparked one of the largest mass capitulations of 2018 and, arguably, ever. Prices continue to fall, and investors and traders alike are not sure how to handle this. Buying the dip has clearly resulted in catching falling knives, figuratively disfiguring the hands of the purchasers. HODLers are bleeding out, with every passing minute causing greater strife. These obvious situations further exacerbate the already unsettling issue, forcing more consumers to sell their positions. 📉

Within the past 24 hours, coins across the market have fallen anywhere from 10 percent to over 20 percent. Nearly every top ten coin is down by 10 to 15 percent, and no buffer appears in sight. Since June 1st, Bitcoin is down an astounding 25%, with its current price at $6,488. Ethereum, the highest market cap alternative coin, is down over 30% this month, as it is now trading at around $474.

Twenty four hour volume is around 4.7 billion USD, which is approaching the lows from the past 60 days. The price of Bitcoin wicked down to the mid $6300’s which is a new 90 day low. Prices haven’t reached that level since the violent move down in early February where we bottomed at $5900.

The majority of our team has sidelined their crypto for the time being into fiat and Tether. The rest of our crypto we are hedging via shorts on $BTC and $ETH. This is purely an investing decision. We, of course, believe in the long-term prospects of this industry and technology, but we want to preserve our capital to accumulate cryptos at lower prices.

Although $BTC is holding for the meantime in the $6400 range, we see further downside and, at this point, are eyeing a re-entry over the course of the next 30-60 days in the $3600-$5000. If those levels are reached, the retrace will extend to the same region as the crypto collapse of 2014 following the Mt. Gox hack. After those price levels are reached, we expect major consolidation.

A recent study done by two men from the university of Texas indicates that Tether is the reason that Bitcoin was able to reach such high prices and sustain minor dips in the Fall. This is, frankly, beating a dead horse with a stick, in our opinion. Using circumstantial evidence to propagate claims is something we are unaccustomed to witnessing in traditional markets and now crypto as well.

Of course Tether was spent during the bull run in the Fall - the only purpose of Tether in a bull run is to buy more crypto at opportune prices. We do not believe fraudulent behavior was being conducted by Tether or Bitfinex, rather no-coiners are still trying to explain to themselves the reasoning behind the 2017 crypto surge in the first place.

The signal we are now looking for in terms of sentiment, is no longer the fear of prices continuing to go down, but the apathy towards a slow moving market that should consolidate for months on end.

We will be here throughout this entire process and will continue to give you our opinion as the market provides us with more clues as to where we are headed next.

🚨 Ethereum deemed not a security by the SEC 🚨

A top official at the SEC has officially stated that they do not define Ethereum, in its current structure, as a security. This is obviously huge news for the space especially in the current market context. Once again, the United States sentiment on crypto has flashed overwhelmingly supportive which gives us, and the digital currency ecosystem as a whole, renewed vigor in these markets.
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We exercise caution as most cryptos have bounced exceptionally well since the news broke. That being said, the market was due for at least a partial recovery at these levels. Combining the technical support in this price region with the recent statement from the SEC and crypto is primed to recover over the course of the next few days.

If you enter positions based on this news, make sure you set appropriate stop losses (5% or so) to make sure if the bear market continues that you are not overly exposed.

https://www.ccn.com/newsflash-sec-director-says-ether-is-not-a-security/

🚨Ethereum Futures🚨

The air appears to have cleared with respect to the SEC’s stance on Ethereum. Yesterday, we covered William Hinman’s, the SEC’s director of corporate finance, announcement concerning Ethereum. Based on his comprehension of the technology and how it operates, he declaimed that the current offers and sales of Ethereum are not securities transactions. While this is not an official statement from the SEC itself, it is a huge breakthrough in what the community is trying to understand. We now have clarity on one of the most pressing issues this space has experienced.

Today, as a result of yesterday’s discussion, Chris Concannon, the president and COO of the CBOE, said: “The CBOE is pleased with the SEC’s decision to provide clarity around the issue [whether ETH is a security].” He went further by saying: "This announcement clears a key stumbling block for ether futures, the case for which we've been considering since we launched the first bitcoin futures in December 2017."

Overall, with less ambiguity present regarding the digital asset [Ethereum], it appears we have inched closer to the CBOE offering Ethereum futures. As more information is uncovered on this topic, we will ensure to inform you all. In the meantime, please have a safe and enjoyable weekend.

📆SEC Delays ETF Decision📆

…Kind of...

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has decided to delay making a decision on whether to approve an ETF proposed by Direxion until September (see link below).

*Direxion’s ETF is the one effected. However, the ETF proposed by the CBOE is still on track for mid-August. It’s important to note, there are multiple ETF’s being proposed.

It reads, in part, “the Commission, ... designates September 21, 2018, as the date by which the Commission shall either approve or disapprove the proposed rule change.”

https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2018-07-24/html/2018-15768.htm

What does this mean for Bitcoin and the market?🧐

There’s no doubt that sentiment surrounding $BTC is bullish, much of that had to do with the impending ETF announcement.

BTC is due for a pullback, likely to $7800 previous resistance. We don’t think the current trend has as much to do with the ETF as people think, so we doubt this delay will have much of a direct effect.

ALTs on the other hand have been sold off the last few days at an especially high rate as people FOMO into BTC.

This is opening the door for some exciting buy opportunities across the board, but we still encourage you to proceed cautiously⚠️

❗️ETF FUD: Really Denied?❗️

As most of you know, yesterday CNBC reported on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s decision to block an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that would have followed bitcoin.

The ETF was proposed by the Winklesvoss twins, who early last year were barred from establishing a Bitcoin ETF. Thus, today’s account is the second time the twins were denied to establish an ETF🛑

☝️Their "application" was actually an appeal from last year's decision. The SEC's main concern? Manipulation.

According to the SEC, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, the founders of the crypto currency exchange Gemini, were unable to establish adequate protocols to safeguard against potential Bitcoin ETF manipulation.This comes as a massive concern to members across the crypto sphere, resulting in a near-four percent decline in the price of Bitcoin.

However, the news should not be of major concern. We all saw what happened the last time a Winklevoss ETF was denied...the price of Bitcoin dipped and then pumped to $20k in less than 6 months📈

Consumers, therefore, should be most concerned with the pending CBOE $BTC ETF, in that experts perceive it as the most legitimate BTC ETF being analyzed.

The CBOE has infastructure in place, and a history of institutional trading, to thwart manipulation; they claim.

Stay tuned for updates👊

🚨Breaking: World’s Biggest Stock Exchange Operator is Launching a Bitcoin Market🚨

An announcement was made this morning by the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the possessor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), stating it will post a Bitcoin futures contract in addition to creating an entity to promote mainstream Bitcoin adoption. This is massive news for the community.🎉

We cannot help but view this as bullish. 🐂 With a financial entity of this magnitude promulgating Bitcoin as a valuable digital asset, who would bet against Bitcoin’s future? Certainly not us. 👌

To further hype this news, it is imperative that you understand the companies involved in the development of the platform through which the Bitcoin futures will be present. The platform is called Bakkt, and it has funding and developmental support from Microsoft, Starbuks, and BCG. This is an Allstar lineup that we are undeniably amazed by. 🙌

To list a physically-settled one-day Bitcoin futures product, replete with tangible storage infrastructure by ICE, Bakkt will work with the ICE’s U.S. futures market and clearinghouse. Bakkt, pending regulatory approval, product will launch in November. 📅

According to Kelly Loeffler, the CEO of Bakkt: “Bakkt is designed to serve as a scalable on-ramp for institutional, merchant and consumer participation in digital assets by promoting greater efficiency, security and utility.” She further stated: “We are collaborating to build an open platform that helps unlock the transformative potential of digital assets across global markets and commerce.”

Additionally, Bakkt is multifaceted, therefore it is more than just a futures exchange as it intends to be a multi-avenue platform that assists in the evolution of digital assets, making them a mainstream financial asset class.🌎

The infrastructure of Bakkt and the entities involved in its creation and promotion aim to generate confidence in this emerging market, subsequently placing digital assets on a worldwide scale. Thus, as mentioned, a star-studded cast is working to make digital assets common amongst the world, resulting in our reasoning to hold strong through the most bearish times because, rest assured, a bull market is only a matter of time. 🚀

🚨Bitcoin Breaks Downward after News of ETF Delay🚨

Bitcoin, currently priced at $6467.5, lost nearly 9% in value over the course of the past 24 hours 📉. The immense sell off began at 2pm CST, after news was released that the SEC would delay its decision on the VanEck-SolidX Bitcoin ETF approval.

The ETF is supported by the Chicago Board of Exchange BZX Equities Exchange (CBOE), resulting in mass belief that it would receive approval by the SEC. Thus, once the postponement was announced, little doubt occurred as to why Bitcoin’s price sharply fell - the community was riding on its approval, nothing less. 😪

The SEC addressed that the Securities Exchange Act grants a 45 day latency period from publication if it requires sufficient time to completely comprehend any relevant proposal. Therefore, the SEC believes that the presented materials are important 🙌 and, naturally, demand greater attention before any decision is made.

From a professional outlook, this seems promising, because it expresses that the SEC views the VanEck-SolidX Bitcoin ETF worthy of additional time and consideration. If the SEC had no care for it, an extension would not have been. Otherwise, the ETF would have been denied, in our opinion.

Although the SEC has chosen September 30, 2018, as the date it would make its decision on the ETF, it still has, under its scope of influence, the ability to further delay the ruling should it need additional time. Per the Exchange Act, the SEC can extend its ruling by 240 days from the date published in the Federal Register.

In terms of analyzing the state of crypto markets, our team is taking an entirely bearish mindset into action. Crucial support, of the theorized bull trend, was broken once the $6800 level was cracked. We now expect over the course of the next 2 weeks for $BTC to test 2018 lows between $5700-$5900 📉. Our group is moving into net short or heavily hedged positions as we believe better buying opportunities will arise in the coming weeks.

We think this level may poise more downside, but technical indicators may be pointing to $BTC rallying slightly over the next 48 hours. If that is the case, we will look for the best viable option to re-short the market.

Once again, everyone, Crypto is here to change the world of finance. If we just stare at charts all day, we will miss the most important parts of the picture. When investing in this space, make sure you invest time into understanding how major companies and entities are aligning themselves for the long-term development of this space.

🚨Market Update🚨

Good morning!

Welcome to another week in cryptocurrency. The Bitcoin sell-off has subsided, with $BTC bouncing firmly from $5970 this past Friday. Twenty four hour volume is leveling around 6.6 billion USD, which is a convincing uptick considering it is associated with an increase in price.🙌

We are waiting for the daily close today at 7pm CST to infer the strength of this recovery. Our team maintains our bearish sentiment but believes there could potentially be a movement to the $6800-$7200 range before downside continues.📉

If Bitcoin can continue its bounce, then a potential higher low could be printed against the 2018 low of 5740. The next couple days will be extremely important in determining the overall health of the markets. 🏥

As price action progresses today we will have a better assessment of the current situation. For right now, we are using our common hedging tactics and are still holding our low leverage short signaled on Friday.

🚨Primed for a Massive Move🚨

Good Morning,

The current price of $BTC is $6377, which is nearly 9% above the $5860 local low printed on the 13th. 24 hr volume is leveling around 4.52 billion.

We feel the next 24 hours will showcase an enormous amount of volatility.

Bulls have pushed back sellers from 2018 lows with decent volume but bears are still overwhelmingly present.

The amount of open shorts on Bitfinex have been on a parabolic rise over the course of the past 12 days. The long to short ratio on Bitfinex is currently 0.7 which is the largest advantage shorts have had in terms of open positions since April 12th. Consequently, on April 12th a $1000 green candle was printed resulting in a massive short squeeze.

In addition, there is a hidden buy wall currently operating on Bitfinex’s exchange with excess of 10k $BTC. There have been almost twice as many sells in the past 16 hours as buys which is traditionally bearish but we have to wonder if this whale is accumulating before a move upwards.

Finally, futures expiration is occurring today, August 15th at 4pm, traditionally this has caused positive price action after their expiration.

A volatile move should be incoming, our team will be vigilantly watching over the course of the day but our overall inclination is that a move upwards is likely before any continued downside. Expect resistance around 6800 and 7200

🚨Ranging Continues🚨

Bitcoin continues to range between $5800-6600. Its current price $6343, and the 24 hour volume is leveling around 4.6 billion USD.

The choppiness of the market is reminiscent of the lows from early April and late June.

The consolidation could be interpreted as accumulation, or a last stand by bulls before a continued move towards 5k.

We have been range trading over the course of the past week, but our market sentiment is obviously gauged upon a break of the range below $5740, or above $6650, to determine where the market is heading.

Futures expiration yesterday caused little to no volatility in the market - as experts expected.

Short totals on Bitfinex retraced slightly yesterday on the push to $6600 but have continued on their upwards trajectory. What is left to be discerned about the increasing number of short positions, is whether the majority are retail shorters or whales accumulating positions before they drive the market lower. This is a difficult question to answer, but it is important to acknowledge that the increase in shorts may not necessarily result in a short squeeze.

We will continue to monitor price action, but until the range is broken in either direction, we will remain hedged and wait for the market to provide its next course of action before introducing fiat or adding to our low leverage short hedges.

🚨ETF Decisions Looming🚨

Good morning, everyone!

Bitcoin is currently priced at $6460, with 24 hour volume leveling around 3.5 billion USD. The ranging at current levels has continued as market sentiment remains indecisive. The lack of clear direction could be attributed to the looming deadlines for SEC approval of ETF’s proposed by ProShares. 💆‍♂️

ProShares hosts one of the largest assortments of ETF’s in the entire marketplace. They will be considered as a strong candidate in the eyes of the SEC and public alike to host the first Bitcoin ETF. 💪

That being said, many speculators believe these ETF’s may be denied 😫. This is due to the consensus opinion that VanEck money management firm will receive the first nod of approval from the SEC to host a Bitcoin ETF. VanEck, along with crypto startup SolidX, would offer their ETF product with physically backed Bitcoin which differentiates their offering form anyone else currently in the application process. A decision for the VanEck ETF has a deadline of September 30th set in place by the SEC.📅

From pure speculation and analysis of strategic placements of these ETF’s and the companies proposing them, we have come to form the opinion that both Proshares ETFs will be denied this week as the SEC will most likely give the nod to VanEck by the end of September.🎉

We expect major volatility around the announcement on the deadline of the 23rd. With the current ranging of $BTC, we are approaching trading this chop cautiously. In our opinion, ranging will continue until the decision of the ProShares ETF’s are made public.

At that time we will address all of you with our thoughts on the SEC’s decision and what the resulting price action will indicate.