28
Nov

Bitcoin is Back at $4,000; Nasdaq Still Planning Bitcoin Futures

Bitcoin has recovered slightly after suffering one of the worst bearish markets since its inception, with the cryptocurrency trading near $4,100 as of today. Over the course of one month, Bitcoin lost nearly $2,300 in value after a fairly stable quarter during which the USD price of the coin mostly moved around $6,500. Where the price heads next remains to be seen, although judging from the market stats, there’s still hope that the bearish momentum will come to an end.

As reported by CNBC, Bitcoin is now nearing one of its worst price declines in its 10-year existence. Some crypto enthusiasts are calling this latest price correction “crypto winter”, although it’s nothing the market hasn’t seen so far. In its first year, Bitcoin suffered a drop of over 92% before growing to $1,000 in 2013, only to be hit with another bearish market that drove the price down by 84% to a low $200.

For comparison, the latest price decline took the price down by just over 80%. However, the damage to the market in dollars is much more severe this time. With Bitcoin falling towards $3,500 and dragging other digital assets with it, the cryptocurrency market lost approximately $700 billion when compared to the 2018 high. And Bitcoin, the leading coin of the pack, has lost over $15,000 – a number much scarier than any previous price drop.

Nasdaq To Still Open Bitcoin Futures

According to Bloomberg, Nasdaq – the US Stock Exchange, will still pursue Bitcoin futures trading despite the steep price drop over the last year. As Bloomberg’s online portal reports, Nasdaq has been investing time and effort to ease the worries of the CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission) before releasing Bitcoin futures contracts, with the target period being Q1 of 2019.

According to official information from Nasdaq, the exchange is planning to release contracts that will differ from their competitors – the CME Group and Cboe Global Markets. Reportedly, the exchange’s futures contracts will be based on the cryptocurrency’s prices from a number of spot exchanges, as opposed to only the four markets of CME and one market of the Cboe contracts. Working alongside Nasdaq on the product is the VanEck Associates Corporation, which is also going for an approval from the SEC to launch a cryptocurrency exchange traded fund (ETF) separately.

Bulls Charge on the Scene

Bitcoin has had one troublesome week over the past seven days, with the price dropping from the weekly high point of $4,629.41 on Thursday morning to as low as $3,585.06 this Sunday. What can be clearly observed from this period are two surges in trading volume, one during the price decline and one during the price increase. During both times, the 24-hour volume jumped over $6 billion, as opposed to the usual level it circled around during the past two months – $4 billion. As of today, the trading volume is on a rise again, suggesting there will be another price correction following. The volume is currently sitting at $6.5 billion and rising, while the market cap is at a very low $70.4 billion.

Our technical analysis shows that the market is quite bullish, with 9 out of 12 oscillators and 10 of 12 moving averages being in the green zone, sending “buy” signals. However, the SMA 100 has dropped below the SMA 200, showing there’s less resistance to the downward path. If Bitcoin breaks off from the daily resistance of $4,200, we could be looking for a push upwards. But if the trading momentum changes, we might see another bottom form.

 

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