Market Update: Bitcoin Halving Hype, Golden Cross Signals, and GBTC"s 41% Premium
Cryptocurrency markets have seen fresh gains on Wednesday after the slight pullback that started two days prior. Most of the top 10 digital currencies by market cap have gained between 4-8% and the entire market valuation of all cryptos has hovered between $295-300 billion.
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On Wednesday, February 19, digital currency markets are in a sea of green again after a day or two of losses throughout Sunday and Monday’s trading sessions. Today most of the top 10 digital assets besides tether (USDT) are up between 4-8% but Tezos (XTZ) has captured the tenth position as XTZ is up 17.8% in the last 24 hours. BTC has once again surpassed the $10K zone and is currently meandering around $10,075-10,150 per coin. The digital asset is up over 4.7% today and has erased most of the losses from two days ago. BTC prices on Wednesday, February 19, 2020.
Ethereum is up 5.7% during the last 24 hours and has gained around 8.8% during the last seven days. Right now, ETH is swapping for $279 per coin and market aggregators show $3.8 billion in reported trade volume but Messari.io’s real volume for ETH today is only $646 million. XRP still commands the third-largest market cap and each coin is trading for $0.29. The currency has gained over 4% during the last 24 hours of trades. The top 10 cryptos by market cap on Wednesday, February 19, 2020. Tezos (XTZ) leads the pack with more than 17% gains in the last 24 hours. Bitcoin Cash (BCH/USD) Market Action
Bitcoin cash (BCH) currently captures the fourth position on Wednesday as far as market valuation is concerned. At press time, BCH is trading for $413 per coin and the currency has gained 5% today. The top five pairs swapped with BCH today are USDT (67.07%), BTC (17.53%), USD (10.01%), KRW (2.07%), and ETH (1.50%). The reported volume on Wednesday for BCH is $750 million, but real volume data shows $37 million in 24-hour trades. During the last 30 days, BCH has gained 3.4% but 90-day data shows around 84% in gains. For the last year, bitcoin cash has done very well, gaining 193% during the last 12 months. BCH/USD 7-day chart on Wednesday, February 19, 2020.
Fxstreet analyst John Isige explained on Wednesday that the BCH/USD market managed to hold the $400 threshold and is currently focused on $500. ”Bitcoin Cash bulls struggle to beat the seller congestion at $425 in readiness for gains aiming for $500,” Isige noted. “Development in terms of recovery has been very forthcoming in a couple of days after BCH downside took a breather at $375. Aiding in the support was the 200SMA in the 4-hour timeframe. BCH/USD is back in the limelight above $400 and focused on sustaining gains above $425,” the analyst added. BCH price on Wednesday, February 19, 2020. Searches for the Term ‘Bitcoin Halving’ Surge
Every 210,000 blocks, the BTC block mining reward halves and the coin reward decreases for miners hunting for blocks. The same event will happen on the BCH and BSV networks one month prior to BTC’s change, as coin rewards will be reduced from 12.5 to 6.25 coins. Right now, conversations about the halving are trending on social media platforms and forums like Twitter and Reddit.
Alongside this, Google Trends reveals searches for the term “bitcoin halving” have been steadily gaining traction. BTC’s halving is estimated to take place on May 12, 2020, 82 days from now. Google Trends (GT) shows the term “bitcoin halving” has a 75 value and recently crossed a GT value of 50. It’s following a similar pattern to four years ago prior to the BTC halving in 2016. The Confounded Golden Cross
This week traders have been talking about BTC charts showing a bullish indicator called the “golden cross” on social media and forums. Basically this means that the 50-day moving average crossed the 200-day moving average and this signal usually precedes a bull run. The golden cross is the opposite of a “death cross” which is a bearish signal. When the short-term moving average jumps above the long-term moving average, traders often believe a major rally will follow. #BTC …. BTC will touch 9k than continue upside movement…and also golden cross coming..so still in bullish on BTC..Not panic selling 9k is buying opportunity#BTC #ETC #EOS #ETH #LTC #BTC #cryptocurrencies #crypto #bitcoin #Altcoins #Binance #LTC #EOS #trading #blockchains pic.twitter.com/sDZIaksIkG
— Kvcrypto (@Kvcrypto1) February 17, 2020
The popular bitcoin trader Cryptobull explained the golden cross move when it happened on February 17. “Ladies and gentlemen… let me present the golden cross — The last time this happened was April 24th, 2019 at $5,400 — Before that was October 28th, 2015 at $300,” Cryptobull tweeted. However, not all golden crosses and death crosses materialize into anything, as one Twitter personality recently pointed out. “1/3 bitcoin golden cross/death cross-analysis,” said Sh___coin Riddler. “Since 2014 there were 10 golden/death crosses (50MA crossing 200MA). In 3 of 5 death crosses cases BTC price didn’t dump after the event [and] in 2 of 4 golden crosses cases BTC price didn’t pump after the event.”
Grayscale’s GBTC Premium 41%
News.Bitcoin.com recently reported on Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) seeing an uptick in demand and a 20-30% premium. This means investors are willing to pay more for GBTC than simply purchasing BTC on a traditional spot market. Investors who want to participate in a regulated environment have invested in Grayscale’s GBTC and this week the premium for the investment vehicle jumped to 41%. The CEO of Blockforce Capital, Eric Ervin, noticed this trend on February 18 and premiums have continued nearly every day since. “GBTC premium now up to 41%,” Ervin tweeted. “People want exposure to cryptocurrency and are willing to pay a significant premium to get it. Dear SEC, it is time for an ETF. Give investors the opportunity to make their own decisions.”
The Biggest Stablecoin Is Rumored to Be Coming to Bitcoin Cash
In a video posted to the Cryptofinder Youtube channel, the executive chairman of Bitcoin.com, Roger Ver, discussed the importance of the Simple Ledger Protocol (SLP) framework on the BCH network. Ver explained how anyone can issue tokens using BCH in a permissionless manner and he talked about stablecoins leveraging the SLP infrastructure.
During the video, Ver noted that “a little birdie told me the world’s biggest stablecoin, Tether, is about to launch on top of SLP as well.” Tether, the largest stablecoin by market cap and by transactions, is hosted on a variety of blockchains like Ethereum, Tron, and Algorand. News.Bitcoin.com reached out to members of the Tether team and our newsdesk will have more on this story soon.
Where do you see the cryptocurrency markets heading from here? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.
Disclaimer: Price articles and market updates are intended for informational purposes only and should not be considered as trading advice. Neither Bitcoin.comnor the author is responsible for any losses or gains, as the ultimate decision to conduct a trade is made by the reader. Always remember that only those in possession of the private keys are in control of the “money.” Cryptocurrency prices referenced in this article were recorded at 9:30 a.m. ET on February 19, 2020.
Images via Shutterstock, Trading View, Bitcoin.com Markets, Twitter, Eric Ervin’s tweet, Fair Use, Wiki Commons, Twitter, and Google Trends.
Want to create your own secure cold storage paper wallet? Check our toolssection. You can also enjoy the easiest way to buy Bitcoin online with us. Download your free Bitcoin wallet and head to our Purchase Bitcoin pagewhere you can buy BCH and BTCsecurely. Share this story: Tags in this story 41, BCH, Bears, Bitcoin, BTC, Bulls, Charts, crypto, Cryptobull, Cryptocurrency, Digital Assets, dump, ETH, GBTC, Golden Cross, Market Update, premium, Price action, Prices, pump, Sh___coin Riddler, Simple Ledger Protocol, SLP, Tether, Tezos, Traders, USDT, xtz Related BTC’s Market Share Drops Consecutively for 14 Days - Dominance Ratio Slides to 60% MARKET UPDATES | Jamie Redman
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Jamie Redman is a financial tech journalist living in Florida. Redman has been an active member of the cryptocurrency community since 2011. He has a passion for Bitcoin, open source code, and decentralized applications. Redman has written thousands of articles for news.Bitcoin.com about the disruptive protocols emerging today. Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.