The crypto market is steaming hot again - Bitcoin has just reached a new, spectacular  all-time high of over $66,930, which made blockchain enthusiasts around the world enthusiastic and bullish. Like always, the success of BTC was also reflected in the altcoin market, and many alternative cryptocurrencies were able to make two-digit gains this week. Without further introduction, let’s take a look at some of the most interesting developments that happened in the blockchain ecosystem over the past 7 days!

Solana Finally Recovers, Becomes One of the Best-Performing Coins of the Week

The past couple weeks were not that great for Solana investors, since SOL was regularly one of the worst performers among all major crypto assets. Even the recent listing of Solana on the massively popular trading platform eToro wasn’t enough to alleviate the bearish price action of SOL.

Now, it seems like the tide has turned and that Solana is entering into a bullish phase again. This week, the SOL price has appreciated by 23.84%, which makes SOL one of the top 10 best performing major cryptocurrencies on the market.

While the rapid spike of the Solana price was mainly caused by Bitcoin’s new ATH, it’s worth noting that SOL has outperformed BTC as well - the original cryptocurrency has only grown by 8.75% over the past 7 days.

Many experts are convinced that the SOL price was suppressed for far too long, and that Bitcoin’s ATH came at the right moment to give Solana a much needed push upwards. But will the SOL price really keep growing as the Solana enthusiasts claim?

Cardano Does Badly, Ends the Week On Negative

Solana and Cardano are often seen as direct competitors, and this week ADA has been the definite loser of the battle between two coins aspiring to be “Ethereum killers”. Instead of growing in price, Cardano has decreased in value by 0.62% over the past week.

It’s worth noting that Cardano was losing value not only in relation to the US Dollar, but also to Bitcoin. The ADA/BTC price chart has been seeing a steady decline, and some technical analysts are predicting that Cardano's inability to outperform Bitcoin is a very bearish signal for the ADA price.

The current problems of Cardano seem to be mainly motivated by the massively underwhelming release of the Alonzo hard fork of the ADA network. The update which promised to turn Cardano into a DeFi powerhouse can now be clearly declared as a flop - so far, there are still no functional dApps utilizing ADA as their core layer.

The SHIB Chart Looks Bullish: Is Another Shiba Inu Breakout About to Happen?

At first sight, the past week was not that great for the most successful DOGE clone - Shiba Inu has decreased in price by 0.19%, while the original Dogecoin has grown in value by 5.20%. However, technical analysts looking at factors other than the spot price - such as the volume of SHIB transferred to and from exchanges - are pointing to a possible bullish breakout of Shiba Inu.

According to technical analysts, the sideways price action of SHIB combined with the steadily lowering volume suggest that SHIB is ready to spike soon and to continue its mission of replacing DOGE. Simply put, less and less people are willing to sell their SHIB tokens, while bulls seem to be just waiting for the right moment to buy more tokens.

Another bullish factor for Shiba Inu is the fact that the number of active SHIB wallets constantly keeps rising and has just recently reached a new all-time high - currently, over 742,000 people around the world own some SHIB.

It seems like the threat posed by SHIB to Dogecoin is becoming more and more serious. But of course, like with all meme cryptocurrencies, the situation can change dramatically within seconds because of a single tweet.

Whales Keep Buying More LINK - Will Chainlink Become the Next Favorite Crypto of Institutional Investors?

The LINK price has appreciated by 6.48% over the past 7 days, which might seem underwhelming compared to other coins and tokens that noted two-digit gains. However, many underlying factors suggest that Chainlink might be up for a massive bull run in the near future.

It seems that while many retailers were focused mainly on Bitcoin, a lot of huge investors and institutions were interested in accumulating more LINK instead. According to the on-chain analytics company Santiment, whales have recently purchased LINK tokens worth $431 million in total. But will the interest of whales be enough to make Chainlink enter the list of top 10 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization again?

Bitcoin fell again earlier today as the index was forced to defend the $60k support level. The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization had a bumper day before yesterday as it recorded a new all time high of around $67k. However, now it seems like the index is now retesting earlier support levels just to be sure. Altcoins on the other hand gave a steady performance overall with some posting small losses while still others hanging on to their prices. More on that later on.

In other news, Paypal has just recorded its highest Bitcoin transaction volume since May earlier this year. The premier payment platform in the world enabled a Bitcoin ownership and buying feature last year and has become a popular option. However, the overall use of the feature fluctuates a lot, often rising with the bullish moves and lowering with bearish ones. More on that later on.

Walmart, one of the largest megastore chains in the United States has announced that it has installed over 200 Bitcoin ATMs in Walmart stores around the country. The company aims to keep on installing more such digital currency cashout machines and the set target is 8,000 which is a pretty big number considering the total number of Bitcoin ATMs in the US is around 48,000 and was less than 10,000 just a year or so ago. This shows the lightning speed of the crypto adoption in the country and the companies are realizing a demand for it. 

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has accused the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of being biased to his XRP crypto project and so much so that Ethereum tipped it to cement its place as the second largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. While there is some truth to the matter, XRP was never in contention with Ethereum for most of the time. The closest it came was back in December 2019 when a monster rise propelled XRP across Ethereum to #2 on the charts. However, it didn’t stay long there as it shed a lot of value in a massive price dump that some analysts believe was maneuvered. It hasn’t been able to challenge Ethereum ever since even before the SEC legislation popped up.

Deputy Treasury Secretary of the US Wally Ademayo has stated that the vast number of online crypto transactions are legal and not against the law as well. However, he did acknowledge that despite that, the government is looking to add further sanctions on the sector to weed out the bad guy.

Bitcoin Retraces back to $60k

Bitcoin is currently trading at around $60.7k at press time. The cryptocurrency dropped to as low as $60k just a few hours before press time and recovered back to around $61k soon enough but the recovery is slow and the bulls are being overworked especially on the lower side of the spectrum.

The last 24 hours started with Bitcoin at around $62.7k. It traded largely sideways for much of the day except for a few hours in between when it rose to $63.8k at one point. However, at around 4 PM in the evening, the index began to fall once again just like yesterday, but deeper. First, it came down to $61k and then further to $60k. However, it didn’t go down further and the bulls were able to push the index back to $61k where it is currently wandering around at press time.

Going forward, Bitcoin is currently fresh off of a new all-time high so a retracement is entirely within the realm. Infact, this retesting of early support levels was predicted by our analysis yesterday's analysis. However, if things go below $60k, there will be some issues for the bulls for sure. However, a complete trend shift back to the bears will not occur till $50k so there is some room for the two to fight it out. 

The total market capitalization of Bitcoin was around $1.15 trillion and its share of the proceedings was 45.35%.

Altcoins Remain Steady

Interestingly, altcoins didn’t follow Bitcoin into a price drop. Rather, most of the altcoins remained steady while a few posted some gains instead. Many of these are catching up to the premier cryptocurrency as they have been lacklustre during the last month or so, registering very little price increases along the way. Solana (SOL, 6%), Terra (LUNA, 11%), Avalanche (AVAX, 9%) and Algorand (ALGO, 6%) were the top gainers of today as other cryptos largely remained stagnant. 

In Other News….

Paypal Nearing All Time High Bitcoin Transactions

The world’s largest online payment company Paypal is processing near record levels of Bitcoin transactions right now. Over $145.6 million worth of BTC was processed by it the day before yesterday when the index recorded its new all time high of $67k. 

However, there is some concern for the bulls as the last time the transactions hit so high back in May, the cryptocurrency fell hard. While various other indicators were also flashing red back then and it may not occur this time around, the similarity is there.

Against all odds Bitcoin (BTC) has recovered from the dramatic sell off experienced in May, which saw BTC price plunging all the way below $30,000. Currently, the price of Bitcoin is coming off of a new all-time high of $67,016 (based on Bitstamp pricing), which has opened the door for the next big milestone of $100,000 to be reached.

Throughout this analysis we’re going to outline both the short-term and the long-term outlook for BTC price and see how sustainable is the $100,000 target.

Short-Term Analysis

In the short-term, based on the Elliott Wave analysis, it appears that the rally from the June low of $28,600 to the current all-time high is corrective in nature and not impulsive. In Elliott Wave theory, the entire rally from the June low can be labeled as a zig-zag pattern.

In essence the zig-zag pattern is comprised of 3 waves A-B-C, which can be subdivided as follow:

1. Wave A is an impulsive 5 wave formation
2. Wave B is a corrective abc formation
3. Wave C is another impulsive 5 wave formation

If we break down (see figure above) the price structure from $28,600 low to the intermediary swing high $52,956, we can distinguish a 5 wave formation. The pullback from the $52,956 high developed in an abc price formation. From there, we’re currently developing wave C, which can also be broken down into a 5 wave price formation.

Generally speaking, wave C of a zig-zag pattern finishes between 1 and 1.272 Fibonacci extensions of wave A and wave B combined. In this case, the 100% extension falls at 63,233 respectively the 1.272 extension falls at 69,668.

The minimum Fibonacci ratio requirement is satisfied and wave C can be called completed. However, since the Elliott Wave count can be subjective, we have still room for a pullback in wave 4 as a result of some profit taking which can be followed by another swing higher to complete a more visible 5 wave price formation in wave C.

Long-Term Analysis

In the long-term, all the previous bullish cycles where build around the previous Bitcoin halving events. The impact of halving cycles on the price of BTC can be studied in the chart below.

In essence, the first halving event (28 Nov 2012) has inspired an increase of about 8,000% before experiencing an 86% crash. The second halving event (9 July 2016) has inspired an increase of about 3,000% before experiencing an 84% market crash.

Between the two halving events, Bitcoin price gains have dropped by 62.5%. If we take that into consideration, the third halving event (11 May 2020) can inspire a rally of just 1,125%, which is 62.5% decrees from the previous bullish cycle. 

Final Words

In summary, if the current bullish cycle inspired by the third halving event only gains 1,125% it will give us a target of around $107,000. However, in the short-term we can expect some type of retracement unless the bulls take charge and manage to keep BTC price above the previous all-time high.

Thank you for reading!

Bitcoin has finally gone above the previous all time high of $64.5k after a gap of six months to go as high as $67k earlier in the day. The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization is now back in deeply bullish territory and is expected to record further gains in the coming weeks. Altcoins also followed Bitcoin and posted some gains of their own after a long hiatus. More on that later on.

The first Bitcoin futures ETF has been listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The listing started at $40.8 and the ETF is trading around $43.5 at press time. This is the first such ETF launched in the country and may be a precursor to a direct Bitcoin ETF in the near future. More on that later on.

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn has stated that Bitcoin is probably the best hedge against inflation. The big fund manager believes that the US government’s continuous efforts to stimulate the economy are resulting in a lot of inflation and limited supply emerging assets like Bitcoin are the best bet for investors. Icahn however hasn’t commented on his own crypto investments but crypto investor Bryan Adams believes that the billionaire already has a considerable position on the digital currency. 

The chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Gary Gensler has given his two cents about the anticipated Bitcoin ETF in a recent interview. The top securities regulator in the country did give a cautious answer but it seems like the basis for a new ETF is near and the crypto sector is likely to see one in the near future even if Gensler can’t say it out loud in public.

The top crypto lobby in Washington is once again urging the US lawmakers to adopt a neutral policy in regulating the crypto sector. The Chamber of Digital Commerce outlined a six-point plan for future regulation that will cover necessary aspects yet still allow the crypto sector to continue with its incredible innovation.

A Pakistani top court has ordered the federal government to come up with a plan to regulate the crypto economy in the next three months. The Sindh High Court (SHC) gave these orders in response to a motion filed by a crypto investor community that wanted clarity on the matter. 

Bitcoin Rises to $67k

Bitcoin was on the move yet again earlier in the day. The digital asset made another important move today as it went above its previous all-time high of $64.5k reaching $67k in the process. The bulls have been trying to reclaim control in the market but now, they have actually done it with a swift motion above previous record highs.

The last 24 hours started with the index at around $64k. It traded sideways for a large part of the day, threatening the all-time high but not able to move above it. It appeared as if the index would still close agonizingly just below the $64.5k resistance yet again but at 3:30 PM, things began to change. The bulls started a massive uptick that propelled the index first above $66k and then to as high as $67k in a matter of a few hours. The index did recede slightly to $66k at press time but the new record has been set and now, the bulls are in complete control. 

Going forward, Bitcoin’s key on-chain statistics are heavily in favour of a continued rally. However, this time around, the cryptocurrency is going on a slow-and-steady approach and it may take its time going further above to resistance levels like $70k, $80k and then finally $100k itself. But, the floodgates have opened and it will take a monumental effort from the bears to keep it at bay for long.

The total market capitalization of Bitcoin was around $1.25 trillion at press time and its share of the proceedings was 47.1%.

Altcoins Post Price Increases

Other cryptocurrencies aka altcoins also had a bumper day earlier today as they finally got out of their month or so losing streak against BTC. Ethereum (ETH, 8%), Solana (SOL, 11%), Polkadot (DOT, 8%), Terra (LUNA, 16%) and Litecoin (LTC, 11%) were the biggest gainers of today. However, the alts still have a long time to recover from their massive losses against BTC and kickstart the second alt season. 

In Other News…..

Bitcoin Futures ETF Launched on New York Stock Exchange

The first Bitcoin Futures ETF was launched on the New York Stock Exchange. ProShares made this move possible and listed the BITO ETF that started trading yesterday. The initial reaction to the listing was phenomenal with over $1 billion trading volume recorded. 

Here is how it fared against other ETFs:

Only one ETF ever came close to beating Bitcoin. However, according to Bloomberg analyst and Bitcoin bull Eric Balchunas, the activity around Blackrock US Carbon Emissions Readiness Test was backed by one big investor and thus it cannot be called a “natural volume”. So, this makes it effectively the biggest ETF launch on the exchange. This is a sign of big things to come in the whole crypto sector and the bull run enters its final climax.