Cryptocurrency Market News: Bitcoin free-fall rollercoaster ride tumbles under $9,000

Here is what you need to know on Monday, June 15, 2020.

Markets:

The cryptocurrency landscape is not in the best shape on Monday as we usher in the European session. Selling pressure is currently very prevalent especially for the major cryptocurrencies. Volatility is also at the peak and if the technical picture continues to deteriorate, then investors can expect to be treated to another free-fall rollercoaster ride.

BTC/USD, for example, is down 2.92% on the day after adjusting lower from $9,329 (opening value) to $9,057 (prevailing market value). Over the weekend, there was an attempt to clear the resistance at $9,400 but Bitcoin bulls started to lose ground. Sideways price action was experienced above $9,300. However, the Asian session on Monday opened the Pandora box as Bitcoin spiraled towards $9,000. For now, support at $9,000 must be defended at all costs otherwise it might not be easy to clear the keep the price above $9,000 much longer.

ETH/USD correlation with Bitcoin price is still strong and, therefore, over the last couple of days, the price has swayed in the same direction as Bitcoin. At the moment, Ether is trading at $225 (last week’s lows). If losses are contained at this level, a double-bottom pattern as discussed in the price analysis would catapult Ethereum above $240. Meanwhile, the path of least resistance remains to the south especially with the volatility being high.

XRP/USD recently ousted the stability it was experiencing above $0.20. The losses happened in tandem with the generally falling crypto prices. XRP/USD initially sunk to $0.1850. Recovery remained limited under $0.1950 over the weekend. Moreover, the bearish leg continued on Monday sending the price back to last week’s support at $0.1850. XRP/USD is trading at $0.1862 after falling 2.15% on the day.

As mentioned, the market is generally in red. However, some of the worst-hit coins among the top 100 include Bitcoin SV (-5%), Cardano (-7.26%), Chainlink (-7.75%), Maker (-14.08%), VeChain (-13.75%), Enjin Coin (-11.62%), Nano (-11.31%) and Siacoin (12.27%).

Chart of the day: BTC/USD daily 

Market:

Bitcoin transaction fees are back to pre-halving levels after shooting to the roof between April 5 and May 20. The average Bitcoin transaction dropped below a $1 according to data by BitInfoCharts. The fee plummeted from $6.65 on May 20 to $0.56 on June 14. This is not the first time Bitcoin transaction fees have shot up pre and post-halving. In 2016 the fee increased by 200% from $0.08 on May 1 to $0.24 on July 31.

According to analysts from JP Morgan, Bitcoin showed extreme resilience during the Coronavirus crash in March that affected all markets including stocks and futures. The analysts said that Bitcoin has transformed from a unique uncorrelated asset to one that tracks the traditional stocks closely. The team led by Joshua Younger wrote in a note to investors:

Though correlations were modest and mostly mean-reverting around zero for much of the past couple of years, in recent months they have moved sharply higher in some cases (equities) and lower in others (U.S. dollar, gold).

The note continued:

At this point, bitcoin market depth is above its 1-year trailing average, while liquidity in more traditional asset classes has yet to recover.

Regulation:

According to Glenn Woo, Ledger Vault’s head of the Asia-Pacific region, China is likely to be the first country to launch a central bank digital currency (CBDC). The launch of the digital yuan could be expedited as trials begin with 19 businesses for example Starbucks and McDonalds.

I believe when it does come, it’s going to be one of the first, of not the first, real CBDC with a real use case globally.

He added:

[F]rom the retail user’s perspective, [you] wouldn’t necessarily know what has changed — it’s going to be the same.

They will still use WeChat, the super-app, to do a lot of different things — shopping, calling cabs, transferring money, you know, giving out the red packets during the holidays, and so on.

It's going to be seamless, no one is even going to know the difference.”

Quote of the day:

…if CBDCs are successfully launched, the infrastructure and education that would accompany the use of these bearer assets could serve as a gateway for further adoption of Bitcoin and other digital currencies. (@ Grayscale)

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