You know the routine. First, recap last month's price post,
Bitcoin in the News : 2019-12 Price:-
The November chart was the fourth out of five in the second half of the year to show a falling trend.
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The December chart shows neither a rising nor a falling trend. It was basically flat.
Then show the Cointelegraph chart from last month. In January, the price was up, up, and away.
Bitcoin (BTC) Price Index
Then flag any volumes that stand head-and-shoulders above the others:-
2020-01-08 0000 (cluster peak)
2020-01-14 1600 (cluster peak)
2020-01-30 1600 (small jump)
Because they don't correspond to any sharp change in the price, none of those were typical of recent months. The first two, labelled 'cluster peak', occurred at the end of a multi-day rise in price. The last, 'small jump', occurred in a plateau.
Along with the monthly routine being broken, the Cointelegraph
Analysis
category flagged a couple of longer term trends.
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2020-01-14:
Crypto Community Eyes US–Iran Crisis As Tensions Flare
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'For one week, the Iran–United States military crisis gripped the crypto community. It began on Jan. 3 with a U.S. drone strike on a convoy traveling near Baghdad International Airport, killing Iranian major general Qasem Soleimani of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The price of Bitcoin (BTC) soared.'
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2020-01-21:
CME's Futures Options Sprinted Out of the Gate but a Marathon Lies Ahead
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'In the two years since it launched cash-settled Bitcoin futures, CME [Chicago Mercantile Exchange] has firmly established itself as a leader in the regulated crypto derivatives space despite not always being the first to market. In December 2017, it launched regulated Bitcoin futures a week after rival exchange CBOE [Chicago Board Options Exchange]. However, it only took 15 months for CBOE to completely withdraw from the market. By August, CME had announced record highs for Bitcoin futures trading.
Most recently, Bakkt came into the market ahead of CME with its regulated options on Bitcoin futures. However, after successfully launching its own options contracts on Jan. 13, it seems that the Chicago-based CME is once again emerging at the top of its game.'
A few posts in Cointelegraph's
Price Analysis
tag confirmed both trends.
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2020-01-08:
Price Analysis Jan 8: BTC, ETH, XRP, BCH, LTC, EOS, BNB, BSV, XMR, ADA
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'The crypto markets continue to respond to the events happening in the United States-Iran conflict. Any sign of escalating tensions is boosting the crypto markets higher. Google Trends shows that the searches for terms “Bitcoin” and “Bitcoin Iran” have surged in the past few days. This shows that investors are considering Bitcoin as a safe haven asset, similar to gold.'
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2020-01-15:
Price Analysis Jan 15: BTC, ETH, XRP, BCH, BSV, LTC, EOS, BNB, TRX, XMR
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'The crypto space is making a comeback and the rally is being led by altcoins. While several altcoins might participate in the initial rally, we believe that the market will start differentiating between each cryptocurrency based on its fundamentals [?]. Hence, traders should avoid buying the non-performers expecting a repeat of the previous bull market when every altcoin staged a parabolic rally.'
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2020-01-31:
Price Analysis Jan 31: BTC, ETH, XRP, BCH, BSV, LTC, EOS, BNB, ADA, ETC
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'The growing popularity of crypto derivatives indicates institutional players are gradually entering the space. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange group Managing Director and Global Head of Equity Index Alternative Investment Products, Tim McCourt, said: “CME Bitcoin futures have surpassed $100 billion in total notional value [?] traded since their launch in December 2017.”'
The words marked '[?]' require further research.
(1) Given that prices are primarily driven by psychology, what are 'altcoin fundamentals'?
(2) What is the measure of 'notional value'?
I'll take that up some other time.
I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but the ten coins listed in each 'Price Analysis' title are ordered by total market value at the time of the post. The changes from post to post might be worth analyzing. Ditto for the exchanges (currently five) listed near the top of my monthly price chart.
