Sunday, 31 July 2022

Bitcoin briefly tops $24,000 in post-Fed rally, notches best month since October – CNBC

Bitcoin topped $24,000 briefly on Friday, posting its best monthly performance in nine months as it continued to follow risk assets higher.

The world’s largest digital currency reached $24,412 earlier Friday, hitting a six-week high, according to CoinDesk data, its highest level in more than six weeks. Bitcoin has since pared some of those gains and sat just below $24,000 by the end of the session.

The cryptocurrency rallied 4.8% this week, and it ended July up 26.8% for its best month since October and the first positive month in four.

Bitcoin’s rally began after the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates on Wednesday, but signaled that the pace of such rises could slow. This sparked a rally in U.S. equities.

Moves in cryptocurrencies have traded broadly in line with U.S. stocks of late, in particular tracking the tech-heavy Nasdaq, which has jumped sharply in the last two days.

Other cryptocurrencies including ether were sharply higher on Friday.

“Overall, I think markets have reacted positively to the Fed’s comments and arguably have priced in most of the rate hikes,” Vijay Ayyar, vice president of corporate development and international at crypto exchange Luno, told CNBC via text message.

“There seems to be a lot of liquidity sitting on the sidelines, which is now coming in based on the last few months of consolidation/downward pressure, that is now easing up,” he added.

Still, bitcoin is down about 48% this year and remains more than 60% off of its all-time high price of $68,990.90 that was hit in November.

The crypto market has been plagued by a number of issues including the collapse of algorithmic stablecoin terraUSD, which sparked a chain of events that led to the bankruptcy of lending platform Celsius and hedge fund Three Arrows Capital.

Market participants are trying to figure out where the bottom is for bitcoin and whether the deleveraging and shakeout in the industry is over. Market players told CNBC that they want to see an improving macroeconomic picture and the completion of deleveraging before the bottom for bitcoin is found.

Bitcoin has been trading within a range of around $18,000 to just over $24,000 since mid-June, and Luno’s Ayyar said that investors had been accumulating bitcoin at those prices.



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What Is a ‘Recession?’ And Does Bitcoin Care? – CoinDesk

“It was simple to understand, it was black and white,” said David Wessel, senior fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution and former Wall Street Journal economics editor. “The NBER definition is kind of mushy, for good reason, because there are lots of factors.”



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Market Wrap: Bitcoin Pushes Higher Despite Negative GDP Report – CoinDesk

Bitcoin continued to move higher on Thursday, pushing past $23,000, despite a GDP report that showed second-quarter decline rather than growth. The negative 0.9% reading follows last quarter’s 1.6% decline and missed projections for a 0.5% increase in growth. Still, asset classes across the board responded favorably, with prices in both traditional finance and cryptocurrencies moving higher as investors saw evidence the economy is slowing at a slower, more desirable rate instead of plunging into recession.



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Bitcoin and Ethereum Prices Are As High As They’ve Been Since June Crypto Crash, But Experts Still Urge Caution for Investors – NextAdvisor

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Things are on the up for cryptocurrencies, at least for the time being. 

Bitcoin, the largest crypto, reached $24,000 on Friday — hitting a fresh new high in July as it continues to follow the rising stock market. Ethereum, the second-largest crypto, climbed above $1,700 and other cryptocurrencies were also trading higher on Friday.

The two largest cryptocurrencies are on track for their best month of the year. Bitcoin is up more than 20% in July and ethereum is up 50%, according to NextAdvisor’s crypto price data.

But after a dismal first half of the year, is the crypto market poised for a bull run in the second half? Experts say not quite, warning investors to remain cautious. The market could easily come crashing down again given the current macro environment, so it may not be wise take on risky bets right now.

“Many are warning we are not yet out of the woods from a macro perspective,” says Adrian Kenny, a senior sales trader at digital asset broker GlobalBlock. “A cautious thesis is a more logical stance to take in the current conditions.”

Bitcoin and Ethereum Prices: Is a Bull Run Starting?

A lot happened this week that led to a rally in the crypto and wider markets in general. 

Many big retail and tech companies — including Google, Apple, and Meta — revealed their second-quarter earnings, a factor that influences stock prices. The Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 75 basis points, but signaled it may slow down the pace of such rises. And an economic report revealed that U.S. GDP fell for a second consecutive quarter in a row. Though that follows a commonly understood technical definition of a recession, President Joe Biden and Fed Chairman Jerome Powell both said this week that the U.S. is not in a recession. 

Experts say all eyes have recently been looking to how the Fed would respond to the threat of soaring inflation and a potential recession. Experts say the upward movement in the markets suggest that investors were already expecting those outcomes this week, and will likely continue moving higher in the short-term because investors have already priced in the bad news. 

“The reaction has been very positive this week and the cryptocurrency markets once again tipped over the $1 trillion market cap once again,” Kenny says. 

While this week has for the first time in over a month seen some market recovery, there is still “an undoubtedly considerable mountain to climb in terms of ‘normality’ or the hopes of a return to the highs of 2021 anytime soon,” says Kenny. 

What This Week’s Crypto Rally Means for Investors

If you’re investing crypto for the long-term, the recent developments this week shouldn’t drastically alter your investment strategy. It’s simply a reminder that crypto assets are highly volatility and risky, particularly during times of economic uncertainty. 

While there has been positive momentum in the crypto market this week, bitcoin and ethereum are still down more than 50% from when they reached their all-time highs last November. Given crypto’s history of volatility, prices will continue to drastically swing up and down — and it’s extremely difficult to predict with certainty where they’ll go next. 

One thing is certain: there’s a gloomy list of long-term potential worries for the U.S. economy, so experts recommend playing it safe. Allocate no more than 5% of crypto to your investment portfolio and only put in what you’re OK with losing. Before putting any extra cash into the crypto market, always make sure your financial bases are covered — from your retirement accounts to emergency savings.



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Dow rallies 400 points as Powell hints Fed could slow pace of rate hikes, Nasdaq jumps 4% – CNBC

Stocks rallied Wednesday after the Federal Reserve announced its much anticipated 0.75 percentage point rate increase to fight inflation, but hinted that it could slow the pace of its hiking campaign at some point.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 436.05 points, or nearly 1.4%, to 32,197.59. The S&P 500 gained 2.62% to close at 4,023.61. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 4.06% to 12,032.42. Tech shares led gains a day after quarterly results from Alphabet and Microsoft.

Stocks hit their highs of the session in the afternoon as Fed Chairman Jerome Powell left the door open about the size of the central bank’s rate move at its next meeting in September and noted it would eventually slow the magnitude of rate hikes. Powell said in a press conference that the Fed could hike by 0.75 percentage point again in September, but that it would be dependent on the data.

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“As the stance of monetary policy tightens further, it likely will become appropriate to slow the pace of increases while we assess how our cumulative policy adjustments are affecting the economy and inflation,” he said.

Investors were also encouraged after Powell noted that he doesn’t believe the economy is currently in a recession. The second-quarter GDP reading is due on Thursday.

Investors have continued to worry that the central bank’s ongoing efforts to lower inflation will push the economy into a recession, or that we may already be in one. Those fears eased Wednesday after Powell said he does not think the U.S. is currently in a recession, adding that “there are too many areas of the economy that are performing too well.”

“The reason this is providing some relief to the equity market is the Fed is acknowledging that there can be an impact on growth to the economy based on their policy,” said Gargi Chaudhuri, head of BlackRock’s iShares investment strategy for the Americas. “They’re recognizing there are two sides of this: there’s a growth tradeoff to fight inflation. That recognition is something we had today that we didn’t hear before.”

Many regard two consecutive quarters of negative GDP readings as a recession, but the National Bureau of Economic Research, the official arbiter of recessions, uses multiple other factors to determine one. The GDP reading Thursday is expected to show barely an expansion after first-quarter GDP declined by 1.6%.

Stocks started the day on a high note after getting a boost from tech earnings. Tech stocks added to those gains as the overall market rallied.

Alphabet shares rose about 7.7% after the tech giant’s quarterly report showed strong revenue from Google’s search business. Microsoft gained close to 6.7% after reporting a 40% jump in revenue growth for Azure and cloud services. The gains came even after both companies posted earnings and revenue that fell below analyst estimates.

Meta Platforms shares rose nearly 6.6%, ahead of its earnings scheduled for after the bell. Amazon advanced more than 5% after getting hit by the retail carnage Tuesday. Apple added 3.4%.

Retailers rallied too as inflation concerns softened Wednesday afternoon. Walmart, which led retail declines in the previous session, climbed about 3.8%. Kohl’s, Ross Stores and Costco added more than 2% each. The SPDR S&P Retail ETF advanced roughly 2.6%.

Enphase Energy also popped on the back of its latest results, ending the day about 17.9% higher. Chipotle added 14.7% following its mixed second-quarter earnings release.

Lea la cobertura del mercado de hoy en español aquí.



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Market Wrap: Bitcoin and Other Cryptos Gain for Second Straight Week – CoinDesk

On Friday, the Fear and Greed Index was 39, which falls within the “fear” category, but is much higher than the 6 – an extreme fear level – of June 18. In the last 12 months, the index’s highest reading of 84 – extreme greed – came last October when BTC exceeded $60,000.



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Thursday, 28 July 2022

The stock market is practically begging for a recession – CNN

New York CNN Business  — 

Wall Street has a serious case of recession dread.

Inflation is at a 40-year high and the Federal Reserve is aggressively hiking interest rates. Economic growth is slowing and, and so is the job market. Cracks are forming in the home-building and home-buying markets as mortgage rates have surged. Consumer sentiment has plunged. No wonder stocks are in bear territory.

Alongside the slow, steady drip of sour economic data, investors have fallen into a foul mood. CNN Business’ Fear & Greed index has been stuck in “Fear” territory for months. But the anticipation of pain is often worse than reality, and the stock market is hoping someone will just rip the Band-Aid off, and declare a recession already.

The longer we talk about a recession, the more likely it is that the economy will continue to ache, said Ritholtz Wealth CEO Josh Brown. Recession fears themselves lead to more pullback. Consumer and investor psychology impacts the economy and we can “talk ourselves into a recession,” he wrote in a note.

“If enough people believe it’s time to rein in their spending – and then act on that belief – it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy,” said Brown.

Recessions are inevitable, they’re a part of every business cycle. Recessions will happen, and no amount of predicting and prognosticating can prevent them.

That’s why some Wall Street analysts are hoping, the National Bureau of Economic Research will officially determine we’re in a recession and allow markets to break the dread cycle.

“The sooner we get the recession, the better,” said Kevin Gordon, senior investment research manager at Charles Schwab.

Although that may seem counter-intuitive, pulling forward the recession’s start date would ultimately be a positive for investors, Gordon said. That’s because a recession would mean the turning point for stocks is closer rather than further away, and that the bottom is closer than we think.

Then, investors could move onto the next cycle: searching for hope. Economists liken it to finding green shoots after a forest fire.

“While it may seem economically bullish to assume the recession starts sometime in 2023, it’s actually market bearish, especially if you are of the belief that the market still has to price in more downside for earnings,” said Gordon.

A recession in 2023 could give us another half year of bearish markets, further harming the economy. But an earlier recession determination means an earlier recovery. It means a quicker return of risk appetite and increase in corporate profits. Wall Street’s corporate profits have never grown overall when the economy was moving toward recession.

Most importantly, it would mean inflation pressures would decrease more quickly and the Fed would be able to end its tightening policy sooner, minimizing economic damage and increasing investment opportunities.

The problem is the NBER is notoriously slow at announcing when we’re in a recession. It didn’t announce until June 2020 that the pandemic-induced recession had begun in February — and that was faster than usual.

So, sadly for Wall Street investors looking for some relief, the recession debate will almost certainly carry on for months.

Bank of America analysts, meanwhile, predict a “mild recession” will begin this year in the United States and will abate by 2023.

Recession is never a good thing, but a short and shallow recession now is better than a large and looming threat in the distance.



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Share Market LIVE: Bulls push Sensex 547 pts higher, Nifty ends at 16641; Sun Pharma, SBI top gainers – The Financial Express

Share Market News Today | Sensex, Nifty, Share Prices LIVE: Dalal Street headline indices snapped their losing streak to close with gains on Wednesday. S&P BSE Sensex rose 547 points or 0.99% to settle at 55,816 while NSE Nifty 50 index rose 157 points or 0.96% to end at 16,641. Bank Nifty jumped 1.03% to close the day’s trade at 36,783. Indi VIX, after having rise earlier in the day, closed 0.22% lower but was still above 18 levels. Sun Pharma was up 3.3% on closing bell as the best performing Sensex stock, followed by State Bank of India, and Larsen & Toubro. In the red was Bharti Airtel, falling 1.25%, accompanied by Kotak mahindra Bank, and NTPC.

Live Updates

Share Market Today | Sensex, Nifty, BSE, NSE, Share Prices, Stock Market News Live Updates



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Analysis: Investors gauge U.S. stocks rebound: ‘suckers’ rally’ or market bottom? – Reuters

A Wall Street sign outside the New York Stock Exchange in New York City, New York, U.S., October 2, 2020. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/File Photo

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NEW YORK, July 27 (Reuters) – As investors await another jumbo-sized rate increase from the Federal Reserve, they are taking the temperature of a weeks-long U.S. stock market rally that followed a vicious first-half selloff.

Even after Tuesday’s sharp fall, the S&P 500 remained up 7% from its June 16 low, buoyed in part by expectations that the Fed will pause its aggressive rate hikes early next year and a recent decline in commodity prices that investors hope will help ease inflation.

So far, the bounce has its share of doubters. Three rallies of comparable magnitude have already wilted this year, with stocks sliding to new lows each time. Blackrock, the world’s largest asset manager, on Monday warned investors that more volatility lay ahead and said it was underweight developed market equities on expectations that inflation will stay tenacious.

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“We think this is a bear market suckers’ rally,” said Steve Chiavarone, senior portfolio manager at Federated Hermes, who believes the Fed will remain hawkish longer than expected and has reduced his equity exposure as the S&P pushed higher over the last few weeks.

Expectations that the Fed will end its market-bruising rate hikes sooner than forecast have helped power stocks higher. Nearly two-thirds of investors now believe the Fed funds rate will stand at 3.5% or lower by March 2023, up from just a third a month ago with that view, according to CME. read more

Investors expect the Fed to deliver another 75 basis points of tightening Wednesday, after already raising rates by 150 basis points so far this year. FEDWATCH Hopes for moderation after that could be dashed if consumer prices remain stubbornly high in coming weeks – repeating a scenario that dragged stocks lower this year, Blackrock’s strategists wrote.

“Inflation data could surprise to the upside – and cause markets to rapidly price a higher rate path once again. Result: another equities sell-off,” BlackRock strategists wrote.

Data from the Wells Fargo Investment Institute showed the severity of the current bear market – which saw the S&P 500 fall as much as 23.6% below its January high – may depend on whether the economy is in a recession. read more

Bear markets accompanied by a recession have lasted an average of 18 months, during which stocks fell an average of 35.8%. Without a recession, bear markets lasted an average of 5.9 months with an average decline of 27.9%, the bank’s data showed.

On Sunday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen acknowledged the risk of a recession but said it was not inevitable. read more Still, parts of the market have continued to reflect investor unease, even as broader averages have bounced.

More stocks have posted new lows than new highs on the Nasdaq Composite Index for 76 straight days, the longest such stretch in 20 years, said Willie Delwiche, investment strategist at All Star Charts. The index is up nearly 9% from its June low.

“Until that relationship changes, it’s premature to say that a bottom is in place,” Delwiche said.

More optimistic investors point to an array of signals indicating bearish sentiment may have reached a crescendo in recent weeks, potentially exhausting sellers and making it easier for stocks to rebound.

A fund manager survey from BoFA Global Research last week showed expectations for global growth and profits at all-time lows and cash levels at their highest in two decades, two contrarian indicators the banks’ strategists said could indicate greater stock gains ahead.

Short interest in the S&P 500, meanwhile, recently stood at its highest level since the depths of the coronavirus selloff in 2020, a signal that has occurred during past market bottoms, the bank’s strategists wrote.

“We think it’s possible that the S&P 500 has already bottomed, and if it hasn’t, will find a bottom during the third quarter,” said Lori Calvasina, head of U.S. equity strategy at RBC Capital Markets, in a note to investors.

Calvasina recently added stock exposure, betting that a possible recession has already been baked into prices. read more

Christopher Murphy, co-head of derivatives strategy at Susquehanna International Group, believes this week’s earnings reports – which include results from heavyweights such as Apple Inc and Meta Platforms– could play a key part in determining whether stocks can continue rallying. read more

For the time being, “the risks to the market are very well known right now” and already reflected in prices, he said.

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Reporting by David Randall; Editing by David Gregorio

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.



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Dow rallies 400 points as Powell hints Fed could slow pace of rate hikes, Nasdaq jumps 4% – CNBC

Stocks rallied Wednesday after the Federal Reserve announced its much anticipated 0.75 percentage point rate increase to fight inflation, but hinted that it could slow the pace of its hiking campaign at some point.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 436.05 points, or nearly 1.4%, to 32,197.59. The S&P 500 gained 2.62% to close at 4,023.61. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 4.06% to 12,032.42. Tech shares led gains a day after quarterly results from Alphabet and Microsoft.

Stocks hit their highs of the session in the afternoon as Fed Chairman Jerome Powell left the door open about the size of the central bank’s rate move at its next meeting in September and noted it would eventually slow the magnitude of rate hikes. Powell said in a press conference that the Fed could hike by 0.75 percentage point again in September, but that it would be dependent on the data.

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“As the stance of monetary policy tightens further, it likely will become appropriate to slow the pace of increases while we assess how our cumulative policy adjustments are affecting the economy and inflation,” he said.

Investors were also encouraged after Powell noted that he doesn’t believe the economy is currently in a recession. The second-quarter GDP reading is due on Thursday.

Investors have continued to worry that the central bank’s ongoing efforts to lower inflation will push the economy into a recession, or that we may already be in one. Those fears eased Wednesday after Powell said he does not think the U.S. is currently in a recession, adding that “there are too many areas of the economy that are performing too well.”

“The reason this is providing some relief to the equity market is the Fed is acknowledging that there can be an impact on growth to the economy based on their policy,” said Gargi Chaudhuri, head of BlackRock’s iShares investment strategy for the Americas. “They’re recognizing there are two sides of this: there’s a growth tradeoff to fight inflation. That recognition is something we had today that we didn’t hear before.”

Many regard two consecutive quarters of negative GDP readings as a recession, but the National Bureau of Economic Research, the official arbiter of recessions, uses multiple other factors to determine one. The GDP reading Thursday is expected to show barely an expansion after first-quarter GDP declined by 1.6%.

Stocks started the day on a high note after getting a boost from tech earnings. Tech stocks added to those gains as the overall market rallied.

Alphabet shares rose about 7.7% after the tech giant’s quarterly report showed strong revenue from Google’s search business. Microsoft gained close to 6.7% after reporting a 40% jump in revenue growth for Azure and cloud services. The gains came even after both companies posted earnings and revenue that fell below analyst estimates.

Meta Platforms shares rose nearly 6.6%, ahead of its earnings scheduled for after the bell. Amazon advanced more than 5% after getting hit by the retail carnage Tuesday. Apple added 3.4%.

Retailers rallied too as inflation concerns softened Wednesday afternoon. Walmart, which led retail declines in the previous session, climbed about 3.8%. Kohl’s, Ross Stores and Costco added more than 2% each. The SPDR S&P Retail ETF advanced roughly 2.6%.

Enphase Energy also popped on the back of its latest results, ending the day about 17.9% higher. Chipotle added 14.7% following its mixed second-quarter earnings release.

Lea la cobertura del mercado de hoy en español aquí.



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Bitcoin tackles unique challenges in emerging markets

The adoption of Bitcoin (BTC) in emerging markets was a focal point on the first day of the Blockchain Economy Istanbul event, with calls for a focus on case-by-case use of Bitcoin to maximize its reach.

The two-day summit sees prominent speakers from the cryptocurrency ecosystem converge with the likes of MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin proponent Michael Saylor on the panel list at this year’s event.

Cointelegraph caught up with Ben Caselin, VP of global market and communications at cryptocurrency exchange AAX, to explore some of the concepts after his keynote address on the Satoshi Standard and emerging markets.

Caselin believes a logic-based focus on emerging markets is crucial, considering it is made up of some six billion people accounting for 85% of the global population. He also questioned the notion of mass adoption, primarily because different countries face drastically different realities:

“The people in Nigeria are dealing with a very complicated banking system that doesn’t actually help them. The government may have rolled out a CBDC project but it’s not interesting. People care about Bitcoin, people care about non-government money.”

Caselin also highlighted another anecdotal example from Afghanistan, where Roya Mahboob made headlines by paying her Afghan Citadel Software Company employees in Bitcoin as a solution to the difficulty for women to access bank accounts in the country.

Emerging markets also offer a unique challenge as cryptocurrency firms and service providers grapple with onboarding people that are unfamiliar with Bitcoin, stablecoins or decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols. A focus on challenges unique to a country or group of people is often the main driver of adoption:

“You are afraid of your government? Okay, maybe Bitcoin is good for you. If your challenge is that your local currency is bad because it is low quality, maybe there’s a different conversation about Bitcoin that we can have.”

Caselin believes the cryptocurrency space has moved out of the decade-long emergent stage of its life cycle from 2009 and 2019. He drew parallels to the early days of the internet, where Jeff Bezos was initially mocked for his online-book store which became today’s ubiquitous Amazon.

Caselin believes that a move into an adoption phase calls for the cryptocurrency industry to shape up. Recent market turmoil, exacerbated by the collapse of the Luna ecosystem and the failure of a handful of cryptocurrency lenders and hedge funds, detracts from the greater importance and utility of the space:

“If Bitcoin is not helping women in Afghanistan, or the people in Cuba, or the bankless communities in Nigeria, then Bitcoin is not that interesting.”

Data from Chainalysis backs up Caselin’’s assertion that emerging markets are more focused on “legacy” cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, while institutional investors from major economies have driven recent investment in more complex assets and products powered by DeFi.



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8 Best cryptocurrency to invest in 2022 – Economic Times

Cryptocurrencies have proven to be great investments over the years, despite the many ups and downs in the market. It is also true that saturated tokens can wipe out your savings overnight. How do you find cryptocurrencies that are actually worth investing in?

This article explores top eight cryptocurrencies that are ready to explode in 2022
. Some of these are new to the market, while some are currently in a downtrend. Emerging or established, they are all undervalued right now. It’s time to scoop them up!

Battle Infinity (IBAT)

image8Spotlight Wire

Battle Infinity tops our list of the best cryptocurrency to buy in 2022. As the world’s first NFT-based fantasy sports game integrated with the metaverse, Battle Infinity puts forward some excellent value propositions. It allows you to build your own battle team and earn while you flaunt your gaming skills in the metaverse.

Battle Infinity introduces six products to the market. The first of these is Battle Swap, a DEX that works like a bank in the Battle Infinity ecosystem. With Battle Swap, you can buy IBAT tokens directly and exchange your rewards for another listed currency. Since the DEX is integrated with the in-game marketplace, game store, and arena, the transactions on the platform are fast and smooth. The in-game assets on Battle Infinity are graded by rarity. You can trade them in Battle Market, an NFT marketplace that lists assets like characters and weapons tokenized using the BEP721 smart contracts.

image7Spotlight Wire

The platform gives users access to multiple play-to-earn NFT games through the multiplayer game store IBAT Battle Games. There is also a Battle Arena, where you have unique avatars. If you’re not satisfied with the features like hair or clothes, you can upgrade them on IBAT Battle Market. Battle infinity hosts multiple P2E battle games integrated with the metaverse world called ‘The Battle Arena’. The immersive gaming experience will be designed to bring traditional gamers onboard, which is integral to the long-term growth of an NFT gaming platform. Being a Web3 platform, the income streams from Battle Infinity are not limited to gaming. The platform has integrated Battle Staking, where you can lock up your holdings for a period of time in exchange for rewards and extra benefits.

IBAT is the native token of Battle Infinity, with a total supply of 10 billion. The wide ecosystem rich with features makes IBAT one of the best investments for this year. IBAT presale is currently live on the official website. Join the presale to grab them at a ridiculously low price (1 BNB = 166,666.66 IBAT).

JOIN IBAT PRESALE

Lucky Block (LBlock) — Best play-to-earn cryptocurrency

image10Spotlight Wire

Next on our list of the best cryptocurrencies is Lucky Block (LBlock). It is the native currency of a worldwide games and competitions platform of the same name that gives play-to-earn rewards using blockchain protocols. Lucky Block features jackpot draws and daily competitions where everyone’s a winner. All $LBlock holders have free access to the jackpot.

Interestingly, LBlock is the fastest cryptocurrency to hit the USD1B market cap. It recorded 50k+ Investors within the first 90 days of its launch. While LBlock was initially launched on the BSC blockchain, the next version will be on Ethereum. Moreover, it will be compatible with many major CEXs, bringing more users aboard. You can now buy LBlock on PancakeSwap. It is gearing up for launch on the leading crypto exchanges MEXC and LBank. This will be followed by more listings in the coming months to benefit from a dramatic increase in liquidity.

While the internet is flooded with online games of chance, very few are transparent and profitable. The decentralized structure gives them little possibility of growth in the long run. Lucky Block brings these games to the blockchain, making them accessible to a wide range of users. The new approach instills transparency and fairness in games so that each player has better odds at winning. The solid rewards strategy further caters to its popularity. If the platform keeps building and expanding, it will prove to be a lucrative hold for investors by the end of this year.

Decentraland (MANA)

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If you have been watching the crypto market for quite a while now, we don’t have to introduce you to Decentraland. MANA serves as the native cryptocurrency of this fast-growing metaverse that has been all the rage last year. Currently, MANA is selling for $0.798. This is significantly lower than its all-time high of $5.90, recorded in November 2021. As Decentraland grows and evolves with new partnerships and integrations, we expect the price of MANA to keep up.

Projects like Decentraland show that metaverse can be for all. It brings together people, businesses, and technologies to nurture a thriving metaverse that gives us a peek into the future.

The blockchain-run virtual reality platform has played an integral role in taking the decentralized metaverse movement to the masses. It is divided into virtual land plots that are tokenized for a transparent record of ownership. As a pioneer in the Web3 metaverse, Decentraland will continue to accumulate more value in the coming months. It is one of the best cryptocurrencies you can get hold of right now.

Polygon (MATIC)

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Polygon wrote one of the biggest blockchain success stories of 2021. It emerged into the mainstream during a time when users didn’t know what to do with Ethereum. The blockchain, despite its amazing use cases, burned a hole in the pocket. The delay in transactions was an added trouble. The trauma prompted many to leave the Ethereum ecosystem.

Polygon offered a helping hand with a decentralized Ethereum scaling platform. While it seemed too good to be true in the beginning, Polygon has successfully enabled developers to build scalable, user-friendly dApps. They feature low transaction fees without sacrificing security. Some of the most popular projects in crypto, DeFi space integrated Polygon for cost-efficiency, in turn driving the price of MATIC. As the crypto market gets back on its feet with increasing activities, we expect a significant surge in the price of the token.

The ecosystem is also fast-growing with projects from a wide range of sectors including DeFi, NFTs, and the metaverse. Ethereum 2 won’t phase out Polygon anytime soon if the latter focuses on cementing its position in the market with new use cases.

Chainlink (LINK)

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When it comes to relevance and innovation, Chainlink ranks first on our list of the best cryptocurrencies to buy this year. It is an evergreen project that offers a network of decentralized oracles for streaming reliable data to blockchain applications. They bring off-chain data on-chain to support advanced smart contracts on any blockchain.

The revival of the DeFi industry can significantly trigger the value of LINK in the coming months. LINK records a price of USD6.04 at the time of writing. While that is definitely good, it doesn’t do justice to the growth and expansion of the project. We expect the price to keep up this year.

Another key reason why we believe in Chainlink is because of its real-world utility. It is one of the few blockchain projects that have the infrastructure to encourage traditional users to get their hands on blockchain. For example, let’s say you are building a decentralized insurance protocol for farmers. You need to integrate accurate data about the weather and harvests to offer timely insurance to users. This can be done using the decentralized oracle networks provided by Chainlink. It motivates developers to introduce new use cases of blockchain technology.

Earthling (ETLG) — Top cryptocurrency with a social mission

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Earthling is a booming token that puts forward a strong, social mission. Earthling token (ETLG) will build awareness about climate change and initiate actions against it using the blockchain space. It will realize this through a Web3 on-chain carbon offset marketplace.

Earthling will help families, businesses, and individuals to reduce the impact of their carbon usage on the environment through offset tokens. The goal is to turn the world carbon-neutral and restore nature through decentralized activities across the world.

$ETLG tokens act as the fuel of the Earthling ecosystem, facilitating its wide range of use cases and governance. It gives you voting rights in the Earthling DAO, regarding important decisions like the distribution of treasury funds. While there are a handful of projects in the market that raise awareness about climate change, Earthling is building a vast ecosystem to support this mission. We believe that this can make a huge difference.

Ethereum (ETH)

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Ethereum is the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap. However, it is far from being saturated. With an acclaimed team that has been consistently building and adding value, it is only a matter of time before Ethereum bounces back into action.

ETH acts as the fuel of the Ethereum blockchain, powering a wide range of dApps and use cases. As the first smart contract blockchain, it has a vast ecosystem of projects including DEXs, lending platforms, insurance protocols, games, and metaverses. The Ethereum ecosystem continues to grow, despite the hiccups caused by network congestion. The emergence of Ethereum scaling solutions has further helped with this.

Additionally, Ethereum’s move to the PoS mechanism is highly anticipated across the blockchain industry. If the project keeps going ahead, addressing its shortcomings and actively promoting integrations, it has the potential to outstrip Bitcoin in terms of market cap.

Bitcoin (BTC)

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Bitcoin is one of the worst-hit in the recent crypto crash. But you need to take a better look at the performance of the asset over the years. As you know, cryptocurrencies are not just a medium for the exchange of value. In fact, they still have a long way to get there. Much of their popularity can be explained as excellent investments.

The rising inflation and dipping interest rates in the traditional markets opened our eyes to the massive potential of cryptocurrencies. Since cryptocurrencies can’t be directly influenced by monetary policies, investors diversified their portfolios to include them. Their first preference as a digital passive investment is, of course, Bitcoin. Many industry experts believe that bitcoin will not only cross its all-time high of $68,789.63 but also hit 100,000 if the crypto market gets back on its feet.

While high market cap projects like Ethereum and Bitcoin are waiting for the market sentiments to improve, Earthling introduces a unique social mission that has already won a community. Lucky Block, on the other hand, has some irresistible play-to-earn integrations. However, if you are looking for the best project to make your crypto investment this year, it is Battle Infinity. The metaverse-gaming platform has all the right elements to capture a wide user base. The gaming mechanics and play-to-earn model are designed to bring both crypto and non-crypto gamers onboard.

Disclaimer: The above content is non-editorial, and TIL hereby disclaims any and all warranties, expressed or implied, relating to the same. TIL does not guarantee, vouch for or necessarily endorse any of the above content, nor is it responsible for them in any manner whatsoever. The article does not constitute investment advice. Please take all steps necessary to ascertain that any information and content provided is correct, updated and verified.



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How the Latest Fed Rate Increase Could Impact Crypto Prices, Based on These 3 Charts – NextAdvisor

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If your crypto investments see some extra volatility this week, you can thank the Federal Reserve. 

That’s because the Federal Reserve just announced another big rate increase as it continues its effort to squash stubborn inflation. The Fed raised interest rates by 0.75% on Wednesday, the fourth consecutive increase since the start of the year.

If it’s anything like the last few Fed meetings, crypto investors could be in for another rollercoaster this week. Historic price charts show how bitcoin’s price dropped by at least 10% or more following the last three Fed meetings in March, May, and June. 

Here’s a closer look:

Bitcoin’s price briefly declined during the week of March 13, the same week as the Fed’s second meeting this year, before climbing back up. The Fed approved a 0.25% rate hike, which was the first increase since 2018.
Bitcoin’s price spiked immediately after the Fed’s meeting on May 3 and 4, but then began to decline significantly on May 6. The Fed in May approved a half percentage point hike and laid out a plan, starting in June, to reduce the central bank’s $9 trillion balance sheet. 
Bitcoin’s price dipped as low as $17,500 following the Fed’s two-day meeting on June 14 and 15. The Fed raised interest rates by 0.75%. 

While historic data doesn’t clearly indicate how markets will react in the future, especially in the volatile and unpredictable crypto market, experts largely agree that investors should expect new volatility this week following the Fed’s rate increase announcement. Sentiment in the crypto market appeared slightly bearish to start the week, though crypto prices climbed immediately following the announcement. Bitcoin is trading around $22,000 and ethereum trading above $1,500 as of Wednesday afternoon, both up more than 5% in the last 24 hours.

“In the near term, we’ve seen bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies generally sell-off with risk assets as the speculative frenzy that defined investing over 2020 and 2021 grinds to a halt,” says Stéphane Ouellette, CFA and founder of FRNT Financial, an institutional capital markets and advisory platform focused on digital assets.

This is happening against the backdrop of mounting recession fears which makes this week’s second-quarter GDP report and earnings reports all the more important. If the second-quarter GDP report on Thursday reveals that the U.S. is in a technical recession, which is defined as two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth, it could lead to “a bunch of mess” in the crypto market, according to crypto expert Wendy O.

“We do know that it’s rumored that we are going to increase rates by 75 basis points. If they only release rates at 75 basis points, we shouldn’t see any type of bad things happening in the market,” O says. “But at the same time, it could get canceled out when the second-quarter GDP report is released.”

How the Fed Meeting Can Affect the Crypto Market 

Aggressive rate hikes are not positive for crypto prices, and experts say the choppiness will likely continue in the short term. 

Risky assets like stock and crypto have been heavily correlated since the start of 2022. Both have been moving in unison and have struggled to gain any momentum this year as investors are pulling away in response to rising interest rates, surging inflation, and a potential recession. If the stock market dips because of the rate hike this week, the crypto market likely will too — and vice versa.

The Fed’s interest rate hike in June was one of many factors that rocked the crypto market in particular, which was already in “crypto winter” mode with prices slashed across the board. Bitcoin and ethereum fell down more than 70% in June since the peak of last year’s bull run. 

Investors are keeping a close eye on bitcoin, ethereum, and the crypto market at large to see “possible retest of the June lows,” according to Edward Moya, a senior market analyst at Oanda.

“The majority of crypto watchers are still awaiting further weakness,” Moya says. “As global recession calls grow, the focus will switch to how soon the Fed will be cutting rates.”

It’s difficult to know whether the market has already priced in this week’s potential rate increase, says Joshua Fernando, crypto expert and CEO of eCarbon, a blockchain tech company focused on carbon emissions allowances.

“75 basis points appears to be the consensus, so if we see something notably higher and it kills the equity market, then I would expect the crypto market to follow suit,” Fernando says. “Vice versa in the lower rate increase case. More important will be the guidance the Fed gives. If the Fed signals strong rate hikes through 2023, expect more pain in the markets.”

What Does the Fed Meeting Mean for Crypto Investors?

Any significant developments with the Fed, corporate company earnings, or the second-quarter GDP report this week shouldn’t drastically alter your long-term crypto investment strategy

If anything, it’s a reminder for investors that crypto assets come with additional risk and volatility, especially in times of economic and political uncertainty. Despite the positive momentum over the last week, the crypto market is still no where near where the highs it reached last year — with bitcoin and ethereum still down more than 50% since November. 

Given the crypto’s history of volatility, prices are just as likely to fall back down as they are to continue climbing — and it’s extremely difficult to predict with certainty where they’ll go next. 

With so much economic uncertainty in the air, now is the best time to play it safe by allocating no more than 5% of crypto to your investment portfolio and investing only what you’re OK with losing. Always make sure your financial bases are covered — from your retirement accounts to emergency savings — before putting any extra cash into a volatile, speculative asset like crypto.



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Wednesday, 27 July 2022

El Salvador citizens mostly avoid bitcoin, despite government adoption – Marketplace

In September, El Salvador recognized the cryptocurrency bitcoin as legal tender. The program, spearheaded by President Nayib Bukele, means that government institutions and businesses can recognize it as a lawful payment method.

Since then, the value of bitcoin has dropped by more than half. So how is the government’s bet impacting Salvadorans today?

Jacob Silverman is a freelance journalist who’s been covering the crypto space. He traveled to El Salvador with his reporting partner, actor Ben McKenzie. Their feature story was recently published in The Intercept.

Silverman said bitcoin’s plummeting value has hurt the government’s ability to pay back its crushing debt. But generally, it hasn’t wrecked residents’ day-to-day finances because many avoid bitcoin altogether. The following is an edited transcript of Silverman’s conversation with Marketplace’s Andy Uhler.

Jacob Silverman: For the people, it’s certainly been a problem. I mean, a lot of people lost money. We talked to a number of people who had their identity stolen. But that caused simply a lot of people just [to] forsake bitcoin and not be interested in it. Some people don’t have internet access, some people don’t have consistent electricity. Some people just don’t want to be involved or they had that bad first experience. So in that way, that’s sort of how it’s been a failure, I’d say, for the average Salvadoran. The proof is really also in remittances. About a quarter of El Salvador’s economy, their GDP, is powered by remittances because they have so many people living abroad. And only 2% of remittances are being sent through bitcoin at the moment, which really shows that the established methods of remittances, which are often things like Western Union or MoneyGram, seem to be sufficient for most people.

Andy Uhler: So if I’m in El Salvador, if I’m trying to spend money in El Salvador, how am I doing it if I decided that I’m not going to interact with bitcoin?

Silverman: Actually, El Salvador’s other official currency is the U.S. dollar. So most of the economy there is done in cash, and about 70% of people also don’t have a bank account. So, really, it’s a U.S. dollar-based economy there. That’s really what’s preferred. We were even in places like the airport in [the capital city] San Salvador, a nice, technologically up-to-date airport. We asked to use bitcoin to buy some souvenirs. They said they’d rather not and asked for dollars.

Uhler: You have a great line in this piece, where you call the bitcoin project “a tangled mess of government and private interests.” Tell me about the relationship between the Bukele administration and some of the private companies who might not even be in El Salvador working to promote crypto in the country. That’s actively happening, yeah?

Silverman: Very much so. And some of this is happening in the open. I mean, for example, a lot of this is run by a company called iFinex Inc., which is the parent company of BitFinex, which is a major crypto exchange, and Tether, which is a very controversial “stablecoin,” because some people have questioned its business practices, including the U.S. government. So we know that they are being invited to draft the securities laws that are supposed to be passed by the Salvadoran government. They have been heavily involved in giving away money and giving away bitcoin to people and sort of spreading the bitcoin gospel. It’s really not just the Salvadoran government choosing to give bitcoin to its people or give access to it. There are a lot of interested players and a lot of foreign ones. And ones we don’t exactly know what everyone is up to.

Uhler: Is there anything we can learn and sort of add to the conversation when it comes to this sort of bitcoin experiment?

Silverman: I think so. I think for one thing, it doesn’t work very well as a currency because it’s not very liquid, the value is very volatile. And despite the problem of inflation, which is a legitimate problem, people need their currency to be somewhat reliable in terms of 1 bitcoin will be worth the same amount one day to the next. And I think also when you see it implemented by a government that is perhaps not very trustworthy, or perhaps any government that might be beholden to private interests, it doesn’t become the democratic, liberating economic tool that it’s panned as. There are already people being displaced from Bitcoin Beach, the area in El Salvador being highlighted for bitcoin. So what you see is when bitcoin is actually implemented in a country like El Salvador, it’s actually a tool for private interests and for elites to enrich themselves. It’s not really the economic lifeline that its main boosters would claim it is.

Silverman, a freelance journalist, is writing a book with actor Ben McKenzie on cryptocurrency and fraud. Their story for The Intercept includes more context about how this experiment fits in with Salvadoran life, the widespread gang violence there and economic pressures like mounting foreign debt.

Rest of World, which covers global tech stories, has an article that shares details about the Salvadoran bitcoin wallet app, Chivo. Turns out, the app suffered from many technical bugs and security flaws. As many as 61% of consumers abandoned the app after collecting an initial government inventive.

If you want to find out a little bit more about cryptocurrency mining in the U.S., we’ve got a couple of stories for you.

One from The New York Times about recent congressional hearings. And I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention a story I produced a few months back about a giant mining facility in Rockdale, Texas.

Another article, from Quartz, talks about whether crypto mining is stifling our transition to cleaner, renewable energy — a conversation that’s near and dear to my heart.



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Stock-market investors too quick to price in Fed ‘pause’. That could doom the bounce, says Morgan Stanley’s Wilson. – MarketWatch

The fact that the S&P 500 is now flirting with the 4,000 level after clinching its second weekly gain out of the last three weeks has got some of Wall Street’s most prominent bears wondering what exactly is driving this latest rebound — and whether it’s a bear-market rally, or if the bottom is, indeed, in.

In his latest note, Morgan Stanley’s Michael Wilson — the head of U.S. equity research who was one of the few people on Wall Street to correctly anticipate this year’s selloff — suggested that equity investors have perhaps been a little too eager to price in a “pause” to the Fed’s rate-hike cycle this week.

During the past few Fed tightening cycles, there has typically been a pause between the end of the Fed’s rate hikes and the start of a recession. But with inflation running at its highest level in 40 years, and leading indicators suggesting that growth is already slipping, Wilson believes that the situation will likely be different this time around.

The question, now, is whether the Federal Reserve will halt its rate hikes later this year in an attempt to save the economy from a punishing recession. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell has already acknowledged that the Fed’s rate hikes could drive the economy into a recession, although he has insisted that this isn’t the Fed’s goal — rather, the central bank is hoping to engineer a “soft landing” that will see the unemployment rate move toward 5%, enough to blunt demand in a way that would undercut inflation.

Source: Morgan Stanley

And while Wilson believes that markets are likely correct in assuming that inflationary pressures have likely already peaked (given the recent weakness in commodity prices), the notion that the Fed could stave off a recession by dialing back rate hikes later this year seems more like wishful thinking.

“While we appreciate that the market (and investors) may be trying to leap ahead here to get in front of what could be a bullish signal for equity valuations, we remain skeptical that the Fed can reverse the negative trends for demand that are now well established,” Wilson said.

Morgan Stanley isn’t the only bank wondering whether markets have been too quick to price in the possibility that the Federal Reserve could start cutting interest rates as soon as February (which is what Fed funds futures markets currently suggest, according to the CME’s FedWatch tool).

Read: The Fed could get lucky or things might go wrong. A guide to where the economy might go from here

Economists at Deutsche Bank speculated last week that the Fed won’t be able to start cutting rates again until the official data reflect a sharp slowdown in price pressures while unemployment moves above 6%.

Former Richmond Federal Reserve President Jeffrey Lacker expressed a similar view on Friday. He said that the Fed will likely need to continue hiking rates into a recession, and that the Fed funds rate would likely need to surmount the rate of core inflation — which presently stands at just under 6% — to effectively constrain inflation. Of course, Fed funds traders don’t expect the benchmark rate to rise anywhere close to this level.

Wilson also claimed that stocks could face headwinds as expectations for corporate earnings over the next year continue to weaken as inflation saps consumer spending power while increasing input costs for corporations. Right now, more analysts are cutting expectations for S&P 500 sector earnings than are raising them, which is another reason to favor “defensive” growth stocks over the megacap tech stocks that led the market higher for years after the Great Financial Crisis, and have also led the latest rebound.

Read: Morgan Stanley finds a way to trade U.S. dollar based on obscure market’s accuracy on inflation

Depending on the sector, analysts have cut earnings expectations over the next 12 months by a range of 28% to a whopping 45%. Transportation, materials, insurance and consumer durables are seeing the biggest downward revisions.

For now, at least, stocks appear content to grind higher despite the event risk lying ahead: in addition to this week being the busiest week for corporate earnings, the Federal Reserve is expected to announce its next rate hike Wednesday following the conclusion of its latest two-day policy meeting.

The S&P 500 SPX, +0.13% was up 0.2% in recent trading, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.28% was up 0.3%. Only the Nasdaq Composite COMP, -0.43% was lower on the day, down 0.2%.



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Bitcoin price struggles to defend $21K as Coinbase faces new SEC wrath – Cointelegraph

Bitcoin (BTC) fell to $21,000 on July 26 after it emerged that major the United States cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase was under investigation.

BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView

$21,000 now “super critical” for BTC bulls

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed a swift reversion to lower levels for BTC/USD as reports emerged of fresh legal problems for Coinbase over securities trading.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Bloomberg originally reported, was looking into whether the exchange had allowed users to trade unregistered securities.

Part of a wider battle between the U.S. crypto industry and regulators over compliance, the move appeared to frighten the market, coming amid parallel allegations that a former executive conducted insider trading.

With that, Bitcoin was back to defending $21,000 as support on the day, with commentator Mark Cullen stressing that the level must hold for bulls to stay in control.

“The 21k level for BTC is super critical for the bulls to hold if they have any hope of this regaining a bullish posture,” he told Twitter followers:

“A 4hr close below there and the bitcoin ball is well and truly in the [bears’] court.”

Trader Crypto Tony eyed a slightly lower level as a short-term floor, warning that a “drop deeper” was nonetheless a likely future outcome.

For its part, Coinbase had been anything but passive in the U.S. regulatory debate, last week releasing a dedicated blog post on why the SEC should change course.

“If the Commission starts an open process where all of us can provide input, we look forward to sharing our thoughts on how to answer the important questions our petition raises, and we would encourage others to do the same,” chief policy officer Faryar Shirzad wrote:

“We may not agree every step of the way, but it’s critical that this is an open and transparent process, where the public has a chance to offer their views. Policymaking at this level is far too important to be made in a black box.”

Coinbase shares were down 3.7% pre-market, adding to 5.3% losses the previous day.

Trader warns Ether could “take out lows” next

A similar mood was visible on altcoin markets, with fellow account TraderSZ forecasting a return to $1,000 for Ether (ETH) even before the bulk of Bitcoin’s losses materialized.

Related: Will the Fed prevent BTC price from reaching $28K? — 5 things to know in Bitcoin this week

ETH/USD, previously the best performer in the July crypto market rebound, traded at just over $1,400 at the time of writing. Versus its peak on July 24, the pair was down 15%.

ETH/USD 1-hour candle chart (Binance). Source: TradingView

On July 25, TraderSZ warned that Ether and Bitcoin could both soon challenge lows, the latter aiming for $18,500.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.



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‘There is no such thing as a such factor as a free lunch.’ 4 classes for crypto traders from the FTX collapse – CNBC

Bahamas-based crypto alternate FTX filed for chapter within the U.S. on Nov. 11, 2022, searching for courtroom safety because it appears ...