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Market Recap

El Salvador continues to lead cryptocurrency innovation and adoption

There are now only seven days until bitcoin officially becomes legal tender in El Salvador. In preparation, El Salvador’s government has agreed to create a $150 million bitcoin trust to facilitate exchange between bitcoin and U.S. dollars in the country.

In bullish news for altcoins, El Salvador’s government also plans to launch government blockchain infrastructure on Algorand (ALGO) this year. They will store official government documents on the blockchain, including property titles, securities and bank guarantees.

Ethereum chain split quickly resolved

The Ethereum (ETH) ecosystem split into two separate chains after almost half of the network’s nodes failed to update their software with a bug patch. Luckily, the split was short-lived, as the majority of the affected nodes quickly upgraded to their software. The temporary glitch didn’t affect the price of ETH however, which increased over 30% through August.

Cardano set to launch smart contracts on Sep 12

Touted as an Ethereum killer, Cardano (ADA) is set to launch its long-awaited smart contract platform in September. In anticipation, there have been record-breaking inflows into the coin, pushing the price up over 100% in the last month. The growth has seen it claim the third-largest market cap.

Technician’s Take

Five-week rally taking a breather

Like many of us during lockdown, bitcoin (BTC) has run out of steam after a decent run. While it’s still hovering around the AU$65k support line, Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) has crossed over into bearish territory and this could most definitely mark the start of a retrace.

Although, in my humble opinion, there are more factors in play here;

1. There is a lot of liquidity going to altcoins such as ETH, SOL and ADA.
2. There is pending talk of regulation and some are waiting to see what, if any, changes come into effect from these talks.

We are still seeing plenty of institutional money moving into BTC, however, we are seeing ETH’s value proposition strengthen as recent network changes have started burning ETH as part of the network fees, making ETH’s monetary policy more similar to BTC.

So is this the end of BTC? Far from it, there will always be a place for bitcoin and I think times like these can make great buying opportunities for those who watch the charts and look for support and resistance.

Whether you want to Dollar Cost Average (DCA) your position or want to scalp these bounces and rejections. There can be money to be made when the market moves a little more sideways, not just when it’s volatile. As always, money and risk management are key to protecting your position.

Beginners recap:

• Bitcoin (BTC) is moving sideways and may be showing short term weakness.
• Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) in a bearish crossover.
• Plenty of opportunity for those who are patient to DCA existing positions or scalp bounces.

Disclaimer: Information provided is for educational purposes and does not constitute financial product advice. You should obtain independent advice from an Australian financial services licensee before making any financial decisions.