Bitcoin (BTC) Leaking Lower in Low Volume Trade

bitcoin Price, Chart and Analysis

Tight trading ranges and low turnover conditions persist.
Horizontal support seen at $6,110.

The week started with a sharp spike, subsequently sold into, before low volume and tight trading trading ranges took control of the market once more. This pattern has dominated for the past month and may be the calm before the storm with a breakout becoming more and more likely. While this market is more sentiment driven than most, the technical outlook points to Bitcoin (BTC) re-testing horizontal support around $6,110, a level that has held for the last six weeks. bitcoin trades below all three moving averages (20-,50- and 200-day), and continues to make lower highs when Monday’s spike is ignored. If $6,110 is broken and closed below, horizontal support between $5,769 and $5,887 comes into play and is expected to hold, at least in the short-term.

The picture may be clouded however due to the low volume backdrop – compounded by tight trading ranges – where any medium-to-large order can create an over-sized move either way. We warned about tight trading ranges at our weekly cryptocurrency webinar on October 10 – bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple: Beware of Tignt Ranges – and on Monday October 15 bitcoin spiked $1,100 higher from the open before retracing.

bitcoin (BTC) Daily Price Chart (April – October 19, 2018)

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What’s your opinion on bitcoin volatility? Share your thoughts and ideas with us using the comments section at the end of the article or you can contact me on Twitter @nickcawley1 or via email at nicholas.cawley@ig.com.

— Written by Nick Cawley, Analyst.

Published at Fri, 19 Oct 2018 10:50:00 +0000

April 8, 2017

Does Regulation Slow Down or Accelerate Adoption?

Recently, many countries and cities have published new laws and legislations to regulate bitcoin. Does this help contribute to mainstream adoption, or is it merely a hindrance to it?

Regulation Slowing Adoption

New York was the first state in the USA to tighten regulation on bitcoin and other virtual currencies, via its BitLicense. This is issued by the New York State Department of Financial Services, and it regulates businesses which work with virtual currency.

The implementation of this law caused some bitcoin companies to cease operations in the state, while some others decided to go through the regulatory process to operate legally. However, to date, only 3 BitLicenses have been granted. Circle, Ripple and Coinbase are the only companies with the right to operate, and they must collect information on New York residents and report it back to the NYSDFS.

Other companies, like BitFinex and Kraken, decided to cease operations in the area and ban New York residents from using their services. They deemed the BitLicense to be too complicated to work with, and simply moving out of the area was the simplest option.

In other countries like China, regulation has been a bit harsher. Major exchanges were forced to introduce fees, freeze withdrawals and disable margin trading to comply with new regulation from the People’s Bank of China. Zhou Xuedong, director of the PBoC’s Business Administration unit, stated:

“There is a significant risk, one is the risk of customer funds security, the second is the risk of money laundering, the third is the risk of leveraged transactions.”

Ways Around Regulation

However, the bitcoin community has developed solutions to avoid regulation. Decentralized, peer-to-peer marketplaces exist, where users can spend and obtain bitcoins without adhering to any official regulation since the platform isn’t run by a third party.

BitSquare is a decentralized bitcoin exchange, where users can buy and sell bitcoins without proving their identity. OpenBazaar employs a similar concept and allows users to set up stores to sell their products.

There are also other platforms that aim to promote decentralisation. For example, Blockonomics.co provides a free, detailed bitcoin invoice services for freelancers and businesses, as an alternative to Coinbase or BitPay. This means that again, users can enjoy the same services without having to go through long verification processes.

Regulation Fueling Adoption

Contrary to popular belief, regulation doesn’t necessarily have to slow down adoption. In some cases, regulation could help bring cryptocurrency technology to the masses; an excellent example of this is Humaniq.

Humaniq is a new platform which aims to bring mobile banking services to those who reside in emerging economies. The platform is powered by blockchain technology, but they aim to be compliant with KYC/AML laws in the countries they will operate in.

However, users no longer have to go through a complicated verification process. Instead, the users’ identity can be verified by simply having them take a photo of themselves or by reading a short piece of text.

This could mean a significant step forward for blockchain technology. Users would be able to access all of its advantages without too much trouble, which is very important for those who live in emerging economies.

Nonetheless, any person can use Humaniq; their ICO (Initial Coin Offering) begins today, April 6th, which is a great chance to contribute to the project if you haven’t yet already done so.

[Disclaimer: This is a sponsored article. Publication does not constitute an endorsement and should not be considered as investment advice. Bitcoinist is not responsible for any outcome that may result from investing in this ICO.]

Do you think that cryptocurrency businesses should be regulated? If so, why? Let us know your thoughts below!

Images courtesy of Blockonomics.co, BitSquare, Humaniq, NewsBTC, CoinFox and The Houston Free Thinkers.

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