Trading

Jun 26 2021

3 reasons why Quant (QNT) price rallied 125% this week

Real-world use cases and delivered value are important when evaluating the long-term prospects of a cryptocurrency project, and this is especially true in down markets when sentiment is low and the possibility of an extended bear market is a reality.

One project that has been gaining momentum over the past month despite the market-wide downturn is Quant (QNT), an interoperability-focused project designed to help enterprises integrate and operate distributed ledger technology (DLT).

*QNT/USDT 4-hour chart. Source:* *TradingView*

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that following a brief dip to $44 on June 22 as the entire crypto market faced a sell-off, the price of QNT surged more than 125% to establish a new record high at $99.11 on June 25.

Coinbase bump in full effect

The rapid turnaround in the price for QNT following the pullback was due in large part to its listing on Coinbase Pro, which began accepting deposits on June 23.

Inbound transfers for BOND, LPT & QNT are now available in the regions where trading is supported. Traders cannot place orders and no orders will be filled. Trading will begin on or after 9AM PT on Wed 6/24, if liquidity conditions are met. https://t.co/ozmX17nhsz

— Coinbase Pro (@CoinbasePro) June 23, 2021

Price action for QNT began to pick up on June 24 as trading via limit orders opened up on Coinbase Pro, and its addition to the front-side of Coinbase which includes the Andriod and iOS apps on June 25 saw another boost in trading volume and token price.

As a result of the momentum brought by the new listing, the average 24-hour trading volume for QNT soared on June 25.

Protocol upgrades attract attention

Prior to the Coinbase listing and market sell-off, QNT price began to gain traction around June 14 following the release of a mid-year technology update called Overledger 2.0. This is the project’s hallmark “DLT gateway that delivers interoperability across different systems, networks and DLTs,” according to the project’s website.

Excitement for the update had been building since early June as evidenced by the recognition Quant has received from several reputable sources including cloud infrastructure provider Oracle and the professional services network Deloitte, which included the project in its nominations for the Most Disruptive Fintech Award for 2021.

VORTECS™ data turned bullish ahead of Quant’s most recent rally

VORTECS™ data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro began to detect a bullish outlook for QNT on June 22, prior to the recent price rise.

The VORTECS™ Score, exclusive to Cointelegraph, is an algorithmic comparison of historic and current market conditions derived from a combination of data points including market sentiment, trading volume, recent price movements and Twitter activity.

*VORTECS™ Score (green) vs. QNT price. Source:* *Cointelegraph Markets Pro*

As seen in the chart above, the VORTECS™ Score for Quant actually reached a high score of 71 on June 22 as the market was selling off and was subsequently followed by a 125% rally in price over the next three days.

The NewsQuake™ service from Cointelegraph Markets Pro also highlighted the Coinbase listing announcement on June 24, which was followed by a 50% increase in the price of QNT over the next two days.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

3 reasons why Quant (QNT) price rallied 125% this week

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Jun 26 2021

Bitcoin Price Prediction: BTC/USD Creeps toward $31,000

Bitcoin Price Prediction – June 25

The Bitcoin price moves below $32,000 as the king coin is likely to climb steadily with a few downward moves.

BTC/USD Long-term Trend: Ranging (Daily Chart)

Key levels:

Resistance Levels: $37,500, $39,500, $41,500

Support Levels: $26,500, $24,500, $22,500

In recent days, BTC/USD has been turbulent keeping its price above the 9-day and 21-day moving averages. During the European session today, the Bitcoin price rises sharply by moving above the resistance level of $32,500. Meanwhile, the first digital asset exceeded this level before correcting lower. At the moment, the price is declining and remains below the 21-day moving average at $31,426.

Bitcoin Price Prediction: What is the Next Direction?

A crucial uptrend could form above the 9-day and 21-day MAs, with support close to $30,000 on the daily chart. However, if the decline occurs below this barrier, the price could extend its downward correction to the $28,000 level and any other loss could possibly push the Bitcoin price to the support level of $26,000.

Looking at the daily chart, the Bitcoin price touches the daily low of $30,173 and a further drop may cause the market to reach the critical supports at $26,500, $24,500, and $22,500. In other words, if the market were to rebound, traders could see the next buying pressure towards the resistance levels of $37,600, $39,500, and $41,500. Nevertheless, BTC still ranging on the daily chart, with the Relative Strength Index (14) moving sideways.

BTC/USD Medium-Term Trend: Bearish (4H Chart)

Looking at the 4-hour chart, the resistance at the $32,000 was too heavy for the bulls to overcome. So the price is seriously struggling in a consolidation mode, which has made BTC remain indecisive over the past few hours now. The resistance levels to watch are 34,000 and above.

However, the Bitcoin price is still roaming around $31,755 and we can see that the bullish supply has been slowly turning heavy in the market, while the bears are trying to drag the price below $32,000 support. Meanwhile, the $30,200 and below may come into play if BTC breaks the mentioned support. The technical indicator Relative Strength Index (14) is moving to cross below the 40-level, suggesting more bearish signals.

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Bitcoin Price Prediction: BTC/USD Creeps toward $31,000

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Jun 25 2021

Altcoin Roundup: Stablecoin pools could be the next frontier for DeFi

In times like these, when the entire cryptocurrency market is down and there is nary a sector-wide runup to be found, traders have to dig into data to see how the market dynamics may have changed to pinpoint signs of new growth.

Stablecoins are the newest trend to emerge in the decentralized finance (DeFi) arena due to the resiliency they bring to the sector, especially since protocols that are more reliant on the dollar-pegged assets continue to offer token holders low-risk yield opportunities in turbulent market conditions.

Possible evidence of stablecoins rising influence can be found in the difference between the decline in Ether’s (ETH) price and the total value locked in smart contracts. The price of Ether declined by 20% more from its peak than the decline in the total TVL of the DeFi sector.

*TVL in smart contracts vs. Ether price decline. Source:* *Glassnode*

When one takes into account that most of the crypto market saw price declines on par with what Ether experienced, the fact that the DeFi TVL fell less percentage-wise than the price of Ether points to the stability offered by stablecoins.

Stablecoin marketcap increases tenfold

The total amount of stablecoins available in the market has skyrocketed from under $15 billion to more than $113 billion over the past year, led by Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC), bringing an increased level of liquidity to DeFi protocols.

*Top seven stablecoins by market capitalization. Source:* *CoinGecko*

The top stablecoins are included in a large percentage of the liquidity pool (LP) pairs available on DeFi platforms, as well as being included as a standalone token that users can deposit on protocols, such as Aave, to earn a yield. This further makes them an integral part of the burgeoning DeFi ecosystem.

Stablecoins have, in fact, led to the creation of a specialized subset of DeFi protocols, which focus on yield farming stablecoins and provide a safer way for investors to earn a yield while minimizing risk.

Early on in the DeFi craze, protocols attracted new users and deposits by offering high yields that were typically paid out in the native token of the protocol.

With a majority of DeFi tokens now down at least 75% from their all-time highs, according to data from Messari, many of the gains that users thought they made through staking and providing liquidity have evaporated, leaving little to show for the risks taken on these experimental platforms.

The battle for stablecoin liquidity

The rise of successful stablecoin-focused protocols such as Curve Finance, which is a decentralized exchange for stablecoins that uses an automated market maker to manage liquidity, platforms such as Yearn.finance, Convex Finance and Stake DAO battle to offer the best incentives that will attract a larger share of the Curve ecosystem.

Supplying stablecoins to Curve, or as a stablecoin LP like as a USDC/USDT pair, amounts to the blockchain version of a savings account. Many of the top protocols, including the three listed above, offer between 10% and 30% yields on average for stablecoins deposits.

Thanks to smart contracts, users can make deposits to automated, compounding stablecoin liquidy protocols, reducing the stress of the daily market gyrations.

*Total market capitalization of the top 100 DeFi tokens. Source:* *CoinGecko*

The aftermath of the May 19 sell-off is still impacting investors, and in times like these, the yield opportunities provided by supplying stablecoins to DeFi protocols is an attractive way to diversify a crypto portfolio and hedge against market downturns.

Want more information about diversification into the above-mentioned projects?

Altcoin Roundup: Stablecoin pools could be the next frontier for DeFi

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Jun 25 2021

Bitcoin Price Prediction: BTC/USD Climbs Above $35,000 Again

Bitcoin Price Prediction – June 24

Looking at the daily chart, the Bitcoin price is showing positive signs and it is likely to accelerate further higher in the near term.

BTC/USD Long-term Trend: Ranging (Daily Chart)

Key levels:

Resistance Levels: $40,000, $42,000, $44,000

Support Levels: $28,000, $26,000, $24,000

According to the daily chart, after touching the daily low of $32,300, BTC/USD breaches $35,000 as all-time high beckons. The king coin is seen touching the 9-day and 21-day moving averages at $35,295. More so, the Bitcoin price is within touching distance of forming a new all-time high above the $35,000, which is quite remarkable.

Bitcoin Price Prediction: Will BTC Price sees a Further Upside?

At the time of writing, the Bitcoin price is seen trading comfortably towards the upper boundary of the channel as the price establishes a new bullish signal. Like the look of things, one could say that the long-term outlook is favoring the bulls, giving the daily close produced a large bullish engulfing candle with eyes now set on the daily resistances at $40,000, $42,000, and $44,000 respectively.

However, any drop from the current level could lead to declines to the critical support and caused the coin to remain below the 9-day and 21-day moving averages. In case BTC/USD drops and touches the low of $30,000 support, then the coin can rely on the long-term support levels at $28,000, $26,000, and $24,000. Moreover, the technical indicator Relative Strength Index (14) is now moving above 40-level, suggesting more bullish signals.

BTC/USD Medium-term Trend: Bearish (4H Chart)

According to the 4-hour chart, the Bitcoin price is seen trading above the 9-day and 21-day moving averages at $34,795. However, today’s price move happens to be an impressive one as it climbs above the long-awaited resistance level of $35,000 with a sharp upsurge. However, the Bitcoin price is now maintaining its bull-run around the upper boundary of the channel as the technical indicator Relative Strength Index (14) moves above 50-level.

On the contrary, BTC/USD may take a downward move if the bulls failed to push the price above the channel and the first digital asset may drop below the 9-day and 21-day moving averages which could reach a critical support level of $32,000 and below. Nevertheless, if the bulls find a decent resistance level above $35,000, the coin may continue the bullish movement by crossing above the channel to reach the resistance level of $37,000 and above.

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Bitcoin Price Prediction: BTC/USD Climbs Above $35,000 Again

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Jun 23 2021

$3.6B in Bitcoin vanishes in ‘hack’ along with owners of South African crypto platform

Around 69,000 Bitcoin has vanished from a South African investment platform along with two brothers who owned the crypto firm.

Although the facts are yet to be proven in court, if it turns to be an exit scam rather than a hack, it would be the biggest in history according to Bloomberg. There were warning signs for investors either way, with users reportedly promised returns of up to 10% a day.

AfriCrypt was founded in 2019 and operated by brothers Ameer and Raees Cajee. It had reportedly amassed around 54 billion rands worth of BTC, or $3.6 billion USD at the time, when it sent a message to investors on April 13 claiming the platform had been hacked.

The firm said it would halt operations while it began the process of “attempting to retrieve stolen funds and compromised information.”

South African law firm Hanekom Attorneys, which has taken the case on behalf of affected users, said suspicions were aroused as the message included the warning that: “clients may proceed the legal route, but we ask clients to please acknowledge that this will only delay the recovery process.”

“We were immediately suspicious as the announcement implored investors not to take legal action,” Hanekom Attorneys said. The law firm also claimed that “Africrypt employees lost access to the back-end platforms seven days before the alleged hack.”

Hanekom Attorneys alleges that the brothers transferred the 69,000 BTC — which is now worth $2.2 billion after the recent price tumble — from AfriCrypt’s accounts and client wallets, and subjected the funds “to various dark web tumblers and mixers, resulting in severe fragmentation” to make the funds untraceable.

The brothers have been unreachable, with calls going directly to voicemail, while the AfriCrypt website is also down. The law firm has reported the case to an elite unit of the national police dubbed the “Hawks.”

South Africa’s Gauteng South High Court has granted a provisional liquidation order against the Cajee brothers, and they have been given until July 19 2021 to respond to the order.

According to African online crypto news outlet BitcoinKe, AfriCrypt drew in clients by targeting high net worth investors and urging them to refer their friends, while also offering returns of up to 10% daily.

The eye watering daily return puts the 10% monthly return promised to users of South African crypto Ponzi scheme Mirror Trading International (MTI) into the shade.

MTI has been described as the biggest Ponzi-scheme the country had ever seen, pulling in 23,000 BTC from investors ($774 million at today’s prices) with MTI’s CEO, Johann Steynberg reportedly fleeing to Brazil to escape punishment when the firm was placed under provisional liquidation in 2020.

$3.6B in Bitcoin vanishes in \’hack\’ along with owners of South African crypto platform

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