BTC Market update 7/3/14 Short Term Bear mode

Hello all. Sorry I have not been posting as frequently as I have in the past. I have been busy with non-crypto things. I did want to let me readers know about my most recent Bitcoin market prediction.  I predict the price will fall within the next few days down to the yellow target area (620-610) After a lot of buy pressure and a run from 560 to 660, this market looks like it is temporarily out of steam. Double top on the 660 which is a previous place resistance. MACD is still falling. RSI and Willy 21/13 MA is also falling. Additional with the 3-day weekend in USA about to happen I doubt we will see more fiat in the exchanges until Mon or Tuesday. Red arrow is my prediction, but I would not be too surprised to see the market fall down to 600 or 580 either (noted by the dotted red arrows). It would just take a large sell, or some bad news.

As always I recommended people trade on Bitfinex where you can trade Bitcoin and Litecoin with leverage, and now you can trade Darkcoin as well! Also if you are not into actively trading you can lend cryptos or USD to traders with excellent interest rates. Use my referral code (cgSjVGkGHV) for a discount on trading fees for your first month!  

See my post on Trading View for a higher resolution view at the technicals. 

P.S. Cryptsy just opened up a new USD trading function. Now you can trade USD for cryptocurrencies on one of the highest traffic cryptocurency exchanges. 

May 14th 2014 Bitcoin Market Update

It seems like for the past two weeks or so the price of Bitcoin has been relatively stable (for Bitcoin standards) and range bound.  On Bitfinex this looks like a high of ~ 470 and a low of ~420 (see chart 1 for more details)

Chart 1

Some savvy Bitcoin traders may have been able to profit by buying below 430 and selling above 455. For many people however, this somewhat stagnant price action has led to indecision and generally staying out of the market. In general the Bitcoin market has been bearish since the high in November/December 2013. However right now the price seems to be consolidating. I've spoken with many traders who think this is likely the bottom and the end of the bearish trend. I agree with this assessment an offer a prediction for the future of the market in Chart 2.

Chart 2

Now I know it is way to early to call a Cup and Handle. I also know this is extremely optimistic. However I can see something like this happening. I remember a large Cup and Handle forming after the rise in April 2013. It was a long period of consolidation followed by a quick drop and then an extreme bull run from ~110 to ~1000 (or ~ 2000 if your were trading on Gox). We may be in a similar period of consolidation right now. The dotted yellow line marks where I think the bottom of this cup is. If this pans out we will still likely have a rocky and highly volatile market but it should on average stay on course of the orange cup.

Again, this kind of extrapolating is hardly technical analysis, but I thought it was worth a share to my readers. If anything it can be something you can look at to feel better after making some bad trades.

• If you are new to Bitcoin please check out my post Bitcoin 101: a beginners guide
• If you are looking to learn about trading other cryptocurencies besides bitcoin (aka Altcoins) you might enjoy my guide on where to trade and exchange altcoins.
• And of course I am still doing an H2Ocoin giveaway! 

-BA

Altcoin Exchanges: A Brief Guide on Where to Trade Cryptocurrencies

For a long time there were only a few places to trade cryptocurrency and most of them only traded USD and Bitcoin. However, since the recent rises in popularity of cryptos more and more people have been releasing more and more coins, and more and more places to trade these coins have popped up. Bitcoin has made me a lot of money, and I believe it had the potential to continue to change the global economy. However, I also recognize that there is room for many other cryptocurrencies, and I welcome coins with a strong development team, strong marketing, and technological innovation. With so many coins being released it can be hard to keep up with what coins offer long term potential and what coins are going nowhere. I caution all of my readers to properly research a coin before making any long term investments. Additionally,  Bitcoin and other crypto currencies are still a new technology with any kind of trading software being even more new. There is not currently a good industry wide standard of practice when it comes to maintaining and securing an exchange. As a result many exchanges have been known to lag, have inaccurate price charts, go down suddenly, not fulfill a trade, get  "hacked" resulting in many people having their coins stolen, or just being an outright scam. You can of course mitigate your risk by following a few simple Cryptocurrency trading and investing tips: A) research an exchange before sending your fiat, BTC, or whatever to, B) never invest more than you can afford to loose, C) always use two factor authentication if possible, and D) never leave BTC, fiat, or any crypto on an exchange for longer than you have to. 

With all of that said here are some of the major Altcoin exchanges:

1. Cryptsy - Is one of the largest and most well known cryptocurrency trading sites. Recently they have upgraded and the site runs faster, and their support staff are efficient and courteous. Currently the Cryptsy site says they will have USD markets available May 13th 2014 for verified accounts. If you appreciate this blog please add my Cryptsy Trade Key 5f9aa84e9c6ef56c7f58e0017f72870c229e145d in your "I was referred by" section of your Cryptsy Dashboard. 

2.  BTCe - This is a major BTC exchange, and was one of the first exchanges to offer altcoins. Home of the original "troll box."

3. Mintpal - A somewhat newer site that is very popular at present and has a lot of trade volume. They continuously add new coins, and usually quickly add the new trendy coin provided it has enough volume. Popular with day traders and pump-n-dumpers. Has BTC and LTC markets.

4. CoinMkt - One of the few sites that lets you trade BTC and some Altcoins for USD. Secure and legit, but low volume. Currently you can trade the following coins: BTC, LTC, DOGE, PPC, NMC, FTC, XPM, MEC, WDC, QRK.

5. Poloniex - Has a large variety of coins to trade against BTC and LTC. I personally think they have the most informative and helpful charts of any exchange. They quickly add new coins to the markets and have great opportunities to buy coins cheap before they become popular.  The Cryptos that have enough volume are usually later added to more popular sites like Cryptsy or Mintpal. Poloniex also has a giveaway page and frequently have large giveaways of new coins!

6. Bitfinex - Great site where you can exchange, trade, and lend/borrow BTC, LTC and USD. The lending feture is nice if you want to earn interest on your funds. You can leverage your trade up to 2.5. This is one of my primary sites for BTC and LTC trading. Use my referral code  for a 10% discount for your first month! Code: cgSJGkGHV

7.  Bter - Is an exchange somewhat geared towards Chinese crypto-traders. Trade many coins against BTC, LTC, and CNY.  With all of the drama between the Chinese government and cryptocurrencies, Bter can sometimes offer highly profitable arbitrage opportunities. Volume can vary.

8. MCXNOW- This exchange has a complicated history. It was one of the first Crypto exchanges to offer and trade "fee shares" and let members earn interest on their deposits. Since all of the drama of this thread, the exchange was shut down and later reopened. Some people will never use it again, some people love it.

I hope this page has been helpful. I will continue to update it with more Altcoin exchanges as I get the time.

I am giving away 150 free @H2Ocoin to everyone #H2OGiveaway #H2O

Since I got involved in Bitcoin the number of Altcoins has gone out of control. The vast majority of these are simply an exact copy or slight variation of the Bitcoin or Litecoin code. They do not add much in value, do not have a responsive and dedicated team of developers, and in general do not add much to the cryptocurrency community. There are some notable exceptions to this but I wont go into that in this post. In general a lot of resources go into developing, maintaining, supporting, trading, etc a new coin. A long time ago I began to wonder if there was a way to harness some of these resources and put them towards a charitable cause. Sometime later, I ended up meeting someone on twitter because we both would often tweet about Altcoin giveaways and faucets and are both passionate about spreading the understanding and use of cryptocurrencies. A few months later he had an idea about a cryptocurrency that could help people all over the world obtain clean drinking water. Eventually with a lot of work on his end, and help from others H2Ocoin was released. Here is what you need to know about H2Ocoin: 

One H2Ocoin is reffered to as a drop. There will be 2.000.000.000 H2O drops in total (2 Billion coins). It is Scrypt Adaptive with -N factor Dark Gravity Wave. Pre-mine 2.5% for IPO shares and giveaway/bounty purposes. A percentage of all mining fees go to charity. It has already donated 17.5 BTC to help people in need get clean water!

So now that you know about the coin you are wondering how you can get some. I am giving away 150 Free H2Ocoin to anyone who tweets at me on twitter (@Bitcoin_Altcoin) with their H2O address and a reason why H2Ocoin is great! 




To find out more about H2Ocoin visit the sites below


H2O Official Web Site: http://www.h2ocoin.net/
Offical Bitcointalk thread: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=494229.0
This Weeks Coin's site: http://thisweekscoin.com/
My twitter: https://twitter.com/Bitcoin_Altcoin

Bitcoin Market Update 4/11/14

Yesterday was rough for the Bitcoin Market. We had a large drop down to $340 followed by a quick bully rally up to $430 this morning. If you have been following my tweets, you would have known to be short during the past few days. If you had been trading short on leverage at Bitfinex or Plus500, you would have been profiting quiet a bit (use referral code cgSJVGkGHV on Bitfinex for 10% off your first month!) 

Here is a chart I have been working with for the past few weeks. The dotted red lines are historic resistances and supports. The solid red lines are historical trend lines. Since the high in December, we have been consolidating in a descending triangle pattern. The good news from the sell off last night was that 340 held, and now the consolidation pattern will likely continue. The dashed light blue lines are prediction lines a drew a few days before this most recent sell off. While we went lower than I anticipated, I still think that we will continue to bounce around in the 340 - the solid red trend line and complete the triangle. Watch for high volatility as our trading range gets more narrow. In the short term I'm predicting volatility. Also, I think we will probably break up and out of this triangle. There is a smaller risk of breaking down though. Watch for the resistance levers around 260. If we break below that we could easily revisit double digit prices.

  

What is Bitcoin?

What is Bitcoin? (via CNN Video)

CNN Money's Zain Asher explains the concept of Bitcoin and if it's the currency of our future.

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New Texas Memorandum Outlines Initial Bitcoin Exchange Guidelines

New Texas Memorandum Outlines Initial Bitcoin Exchange Guidelines (via http://bitcoinnewsbrief.com)

The Texas Department of Banking released a supervisory memorandum on 3rd April, outlining its regulatory stance on digital currencies within the guidelines set by the Texas Money Services Act. The document draws a line of distinction between bitcoins…

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