Blockchain

14/21, or 66%, of the top gas-consuming smart contracts on Base, a layer-2 platform for building and deploying smart contracts, are unverified. According to Token Terminal data on October 24, the same contracts are some of the most actively used, reading from gas fee trends over the last month. 

Friend.tech Leads The Gas Race On Base

Base is a layer-2 scaling solution and one of OP Mainnet and Arbitrum’s competitors. The platform relies on the Optimistic Rollup technique, allowing transactions to be batched off-chain before being confirmed on the mainnet. This is the same approach competitors, including Arbitrum and OP Mainnet, adopted. 

As of October 24, the most gas-consuming protocol already labeled and known to be deployed from a given developer is Friend.tech. Still, the developer remains anonymous.

The decentralized social media protocol allows users to buy and sell keys to each other’s X accounts. In this way, trading parties can access exclusive in-app chatrooms and content by a given user. 

By deploying on Base, Friend.tech users enjoy lower trading fees than they would have launched on the mainnet. Beyond fees, the protocol can also scale since the layer-2 solution can handle higher throughput than the mainnet.

In the last month, Friend.tech generated over $253,000 in gas fees. The execution fee, often known as layer-2 fee, on Base, which uses Optimism, is set by the network and is flat.

The fee prevents users from spamming the network and rewards nodes that prove all transactions submitted on the platform. The other fee is the approximate for confirming the same transaction batch on the mainnet. This fee is generally higher than the execution fee.

The Case Of Popular But Unverified Smart Contracts

While gas fees generated by Friend.tech is over $253,000, it is down over 47% in the last month. This could suggest that trading activity fell since the fee generated by a network is directly proportional to how frequently it is used. 

Friend.tech fees, when writing, remain suppressed, underperforming the activity of unverified smart contracts, looking at fees generated over the last month. Over the previous 30 days, one unverified contract has seen a 104% increase in trading fees, reaching $42,000. Another contract has increased by 1,690%, exceeding $11,000 in the same period.

As the name suggests, these unverified codes have yet to be confirmed by a third party. This can mean there is no guarantee that the same developer built and deployed code on Base. At the same time, the code might contain malicious code that could steal from addresses it interacts with.

Bitcoin’s (BTC) price could be set to experience a 300% surge if a Spot Bitcoin ETF is finally approved by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

BTC Could Surge 300% When A Spot ETF Is Approved

The predictions of Bitcoin experiencing a 300% surge in its price from analysts can be traced back to the growth of Gold over the years after a Spot Gold ETF (SPDR Gold Shares) was approved back in November 2004, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

The price of Gold had experienced an eight-year consecutive bull run following its first spot gold ETF. Before the listing, the price of Gold as of November 2004, was around $430/oz, and 3 years later, the numbers had doubled.

Fast-forward to the end of 2011, the price of gold was already trading at $1,800/oz indicating a 300% surge in price. Currently, the price of gold is closely gaining on its highest peak price of $1,977/oz, bolstered by geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. 

Gold moves slowly and steadily, and it is significantly less volatile than Bitcoin, but analysts anticipate the price of Bitcoin is likely to reach $120,000 in the next couple of years if the digital asset manages to reiterate the movement of Gold since its spot gold ETF approval. If the Bitcoin price were to follow this same pattern, then it could hit $100,000.

Recently, Bitcoin has achieved its highest price peak of $35,000 since May 2022. The recent increase in price can be traced back to the propaganda and excitement encompassing a spot Bitcoin ETF approval. However, the digital asset is still 50% down from its all-time high in 2021.

Last week, Bitcoin experienced a whirlwind rise of over 10% within minutes after a false report was released by Cointelegraph that a spot Bitcoin ETF had been approved by the SEC. However, the digital asset’s price later fell almost immediately after the report was proven to be false by Blackrock’s Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink.

Its significant market movement this week has prompted analysts to enter “price prediction mode.” The breakout was anticipated by cryptocurrency expert Mags for the end of the year. In addition, a decline below $30,000 is anticipated within the following few months.

Analysts believe that this will be the last area of accumulation before a significant breakout that would see the asset rise up to $50,000 prior to the halving. 

Bitcoin Spot ETF Boasts Higher Chance Of Approval

Recently, analysts have predicted a spot Bitcoin ETF to be approved by January 2024, due to the recent developments following the approval of a Spot Bitcoin ETF by the SEC.

Bloomberg crypto analyst James Seyffart shared his team’s prediction of a spot Bitcoin ETF approval on his official X (former Twitter) handle. The team believes that there is a 90% chance of approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF by January 10, 2024.

The team’s prediction came amidst ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF filling that had been updated with 5 new pages. The move suggested a “constructive conversation” with the SEC, an indication that an investment fund is likely to be approved soon. 

This week, Bitcoin and other altcoins livened up the crypto market, potentially lifting up Ethereum price and saving it from further collapse.

With ETH now moving away from the bottom trend line of a massive long-term price pattern, the next possible target is the upper trend line of the same pattern. That target points to $10,000 per Ether, but how long might it take to reach the lofty price objective?

Ethereum Rising Wedge Targets $10,000 Or More

For almost its entire history of price action, ETHUSD has been filling out what appears to be a massive rising wedge pattern. Such patterns are predominantly bearish, breaking down roughly 60% of the time.

That leaves 40% of the time that these patterns break upward. Descriptions of the pattern reveal that wedges are notoriously prone to false breakouts and/or false breakdowns, where price violates one trend line, only to reverse and target the other.

In the latest case, however, Ethereum is holding the bottom line. This makes the next logical target the upper trend line, with at least some probability that it can break upward still. The trend line, happens to be located at around $10,000 per ETH currently and rises with each passing day.

When ETHUSD touches the upper trend line is still up for question, but considering the length of past rallies lasting anywhere between six months to a year, it may be less of a wait than many expect.

Is This The Beginning Or End of ETH?

Ever wonder why a rising wedge pattern can break upward if it is a bearish pattern? In Elliott Wave Principle, wedges fall into the diagonal family of patterns. Diagonals can be leading or ending, expanding on contracting.

A leading diagonal kicks off a sustained move. It’s wedge-like appearance is deceiving as traders expect the pattern to break down, yet instead it breaks upward. In contrast, an ending diagonal finishes off a sustained move. In this case, the bearish breakdown that should be expected in a rising wedge plays out.

Ethereum is potentially in a massive diagonal pattern, not the rising wedge that it appears. What we also don’t know is if this is the beginning of a larger sustained move and a leading diagonal, or the end of the largest altcoin’s dominance capped off by an ending diagonal.

Both patterns form in a five-wave pattern. Unlike standard Elliott Wave patterns, diagonals have unique rules. For example, wave 1 must be the longest, wave 4 must enter wave 1 territory, and wave 5 is the shortest of the waves. Since this is the last wave and potentially the shortest of them all, the touch of the upper trend line could be on the way soon.

The current Bitcoin rally has taken most of the crypto space by surprise after going from under $27,000 to $35,000 in less than two weeks. As prices continue to fly, on-chain data tracker Santiment has revealed something different between the current Bitcoin rally and its previous rallies above $30,000.

Altcoins Refuse To Fall Behind Bitcoin

In the report that was posted on X (formerly Twitter), Santiment revealed that altcoins have changed their usual routine for when the Bitcoin price is surging. For instance, when Bitcoin had rallied to $30,000 in April and July of this year, altcoins had taken a back seat, allowing BTC to enjoy the shine.

This time around, the rally has been just as prominent in altcoins as it has been in Bitcoin, and in some cases, even outshining BTC’s price trajectory. Some of these altcoins that have shown teeth this time include Chainlink’s LINK, Polygon’s MATIC, Aptos’s APT, AAVE, and UIP. All of these altcoins have defied the established trend with their prices surging double-digits in a short time.

Not only are these altcoins seeing a lot of success at a time when Bitcoin would be the only one rallying, but they have also managed to decouple completely from the leading cryptocurrency. According to Santiment, all of the named altcoins “are all seeing their best performing decouplings of 2023.”

Meme Coins Show Their Prowess

As the crypto market rally has progressed through some of its most bullish stages, other altcoins such as meme coins have begun to also show a lot of promise. The usual culprits such as PEPE saw double-digit gains as well, with ELON rallying up to 57%. Additionally, $BITCOIN also saw a $36 rise in one week.

PEPE has continued to surge as well and is up 34.55% in the last day, bringing its weekly gains to 51.49%. The meme coin’s run has seen it emerge as a top gainer, also trending alongside the likes of Bitcoin (BTC) and Chainlink (LINK).

Another altcoin that stands out is Troller’s TRB. The coin rose around 750% in a 3-month period to emerge as one of the winners of the rallies. It also saw large transactions from unique whale addresses, suggesting a very high level of interest in the altcoin from investors.

In all, this rally is completely different from the previous rallies recorded this year in that the whole market seems to be pulling up together. This is interesting because rallies like these are usually seen in bull markets, with 2021 serving as a perfect example.

In a remarkable turn of events for the business intelligence (BI) company MicroStrategy, the recent bullish momentum of Bitcoin (BTC) has resulted in significant profits and a resurgence for the company. 

MicroStrategy has returned on a profitable trajectory after a prolonged period of market downturn and losses suffered by companies with cryptocurrency holdings.

MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin Holdings Surge 

Just a month ago, MicroStrategy and its subsidiaries made a strategic move by increasing their BTC holdings. According to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the company, co-founded by renowned investor Michael Saylor, added 5,455 BTC to their portfolio, valued at $147 million.

As of the time of writing, MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin holdings stand at a staggering 158,245 BTC, with a total valuation of approximately $4.68 billion. 

Over the past 24 hours, Bitcoin has experienced a remarkable upswing, breaking through a long consolidation phase above $27,000 and reaching a new 2023 high. With a significant surge of 12.2%, BTC peaked at $35,300. This surge has unlocked substantial unrealized profits for MicroStrategy.

According to Lookonchain, MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin holdings have generated an estimated unrealized profit of around $746 million. 

With BTC’s skyrocketing price, MicroStrategy’s strategic accumulation of 28,560 BTC since May 2022, at an average price of $25,707, has proven profitable. 

MicroStrategy’s success in capitalizing on the recent price surge of Bitcoin highlights the company’s strategic approach and belief in the long-term value of the cryptocurrency. 

By significantly increasing their Bitcoin holdings, MicroStrategy has positioned itself to benefit from BTC’s continued growth and adoption.

BTC Bears Crushed As $300 Million In Shorts Liquidated

The cryptocurrency market witnessed a stunning surge, resulting in a staggering $100 billion addition to its total market capitalization within a single day. This rapid ascent also triggered a wave of liquidations amounting to over $400 million, with shorts accounting for a significant portion of the losses. 

With BTC experiencing a 12% price increase, this led to the liquidation of more than $180 million in short positions out of a total of $222 million in BTC liquidations. 

Ethereum (ETH) traders also saw a significant loss of $60 million, with $44 million coming from those anticipating a price drop, according to data from CoinGlass.

Most of these liquidations, totaling $317 million, occurred within the last 12 hours, with short sellers accounting for a substantial 76% ($241 million) of the total losses. 

Concurrently, trading volumes for the top three cryptocurrencies on the derivatives market witnessed significant growth. 

Bitcoin’s volume experienced a remarkable 221% surge, while Ethereum and XRP saw a 108% increase in trading activity. As a result, approximately 95,000 traders faced liquidation during this period of intense market volatility.

Scott Melker, an investor and host of a cryptocurrency podcast, commented on the situation, stating:

Bitcoin bears have been left reeling as the market witnessed an extraordinary rally, resulting in massive liquidations of short positions. This surge has caught many traders off guard, leading to substantial losses in a short period.

Featured image from Shutterstock, chart from TradingView.com 

As the broader cryptocurrency market breaks out on the back of Bitcoin’s big rally, FET is the next altcoin to double-digit gains. The AI cryptocurrency at one point hit 14% higher intraday.

The move could be the start of something special, according to a “golden” signal in Fetch.ai.

FET Soars 14% As Golden Cross Triggers

FET is up 14% today as cryptocurrencies across the board see significant gains led by Bitcoin (BTC) this week. Even before the big move, the AI coin had opened this weekly trading session forming a golden cross of the 50-week and 200-week moving averages.

A golden cross occurs when a short term moving average crosses above a long-term moving average from below. This is a buy signal in trend-following technical systems and suggests that a new trend is potentially blossoming. A death cross is the opposite sell signal.

While the signal in and of itself is bullish based on the performance of trend-following systems, FET could be showing itself as a crypto market leader by being among the first coins to form such a golden cross. Ethereum (ETH) and Bitcoin are still death crossed, for example.

Even recent market stars Chainlink (LINK) and Solana (SOL) haven’t formed a golden cross on the weekly timeframe.

Can Fetch Recapture AI Hype?

There’s no denying fetch.ai’s latest double-digit price surge has brought fresh excitement and validation to the project. The startup’s vision of an AI-powered decentralized machine economy clearly resonates with many crypto investors. Furthermore, hype around AI leftover from Nvidia’s epic rally could find its way further into Fetch.ai.

FETUSD rallied by more than 2380% starting from October 2020 through April 2021. In late 2022, Fetch.ai did another 900% following the release of ChatGPT and other big AI projects. What might this next rally result in for return on investment, if it continues higher?

Former all-time highs reside around $1.20, which could be the next logical target if price exceeds $0.60, which was the 2023 peak so far. Beyond that, FET would enter price discover and there is no telling how high it could go. But with only two months left in 2023, the $0.60 peak might stand as the record, with FET not able to break above it until 2024.

Volatility is back in the crypto market as the XRP price and the price of other major cryptocurrencies trend to the upside and into new year highs. The cryptocurrency is heading towards its next resistance level with a high chance of

As of this writing, the XRP price trades at $0.57, with a 9% increase in the last 24 hours. The cryptocurrency recorded a 16% spike in the previous seven days and closely followed Bitcoin and Ethereum’s price action, which recorded a 22% and 16% profit over the same period.

XRP Price On Its Way To Next Critical Level

According to an XRP trader on social media platform X, the token’s price exceeded the critical resistance level of $0.528. The analyst claims that there is a high chance that the XRP will rise close to $0.60 in the short term.

In that sense, the trader believes that $0.66 will operate as the next critical resistance level based on the chart below. The analyst compared the current XRP price with the 2017 bull run.

The chart shows that during the 2017 run, XRP closed above the weekly Ichimoku Cloud, a level used to gauge critical resistance and support levels. Once the token broke above that level, it could quickly fall into new highs and price discovery.

The analyst stated the following about the XRP price and its potential to continue its run:

This is not a warning or financial advice, but I would like to share it with you and emphasize how close we are after this weekly close. It seems the weekly Ichimoku close will be above the clouds, and it only happened before the 2017 run and 2021. When it happens, it happens. Be Ready.

Crypto Market Poised For Further Highs

A report from Bitfinex Alpha corroborates the market susceptibility to “new narratives.” In particular, the potential approval of a spot Bitcoin Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) in the US.

As the XRP price and the market continue to rip higher, volatility in the sector is likely to remain high. As seen on the chart below, the crypto has been inching higher and higher with each volatility event (the potential approval of a Bitcoin ETF was the most recent.

In addition, the crypto research firm points to an increase in on-chain activity, which has historically supported higher prices for the sector:

On-chain activity also continues to support the conclusion that higher volatility is here to stay and that it will grow in the coming months. Our analysis of Spent Output Age Bands (SOAB), which track the age of coins when they’re spent, and in particular the “age bands” of UTXOs that are most active, we can discern which group of investors is predominantly influencing market changes. For instance, if the UTXOs aged between three and five years show significant activity, it implies that investors who have held their positions for that time span are the primary movers in the market at that juncture.

Cover image from Unsplash, charts from Bitfinex Alpha, Dark Defender, and Tradingview

Following reports of BlackRock’s Spot Bitcoin ETF being listed on the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) with the ticker IBTC, the BTC price had rallied above $35,000 based on investor expectations alone. The quick nature of this surge saw tens of thousands of crypto traders caught in the crossfire as over $400 million was liquidated in one day.

More Than 95,000 Crypto Traders Lose Their Positions

According to data from Coinglass, the crypto liquidation volumes ramped up quickly following the Bitcoin price surge. The platform reports that almost 95,000 traders were liquidated, with short traders bearing the brunt of these liquidation trends.

Of the $400 million liquidated in the 24-hour period, short traders accounted for 75.83 which came out to $303 million. Long traders were, however, not left out of the onslaught as $96.88 million in liquidation volumes still came from long positions despite the direction of the crypto market rally.

The single largest liquidation order took place on the BTCUSDT pair on the Binance crypto exchange. This trader lost an eye-popping $9.98 million when their position was liquidated. In the same vein, Binance has also seen the highest liquidation volumes of all crypto exchanges with $133.88 million.

Bitcoin accounts for the overwhelming majority of liquidation volumes at $222.93 million. Ethereum comes second with $59.93 million in liquidation volumes. Solana clinched the third place with $10.35 million. But interestingly, Trellor (TRB), a low-cap altcoin that just made it into the top 200, snagged 4th place with $9.40 million in liquidations. The altcoin has been one of the most impressive performers through the market action as well, rising from a range of $50 to $96 before retracing.

Bitcoin Shows Strength

Although Bitcoin has since retraced from its 2023 high of $35,000, the leading cryptocurrency continues to show dominance. Daily trading volumes have already risen above $46 billion, which means that investors are coming back into the cryptocurrency en masse.

This suggests a willingness to purchase Bitcoin at higher prices and this will continue to prop up its price. Since buyers currently outnumber sellers in this market, it is more likely that the Bitcoin retracement is only temporary and a restart of the price surge can send BTC above $36,000 next.

Also, BlackRock’s ETF listing on the DTCC remains very fresh and is still providing fuel for the rally. This will likely continue for another couple of hours before exhaustion kicks in and leaves ample time for Bitcoin to regain its footing for another surge.

If Bitcoin crosses $36,000, then liquidation volumes are expected to rise even more. This could lead to one of the worst liquidation trends in 2023.

On-chain data shows the Bitcoin long-term holder supply has set a new all-time high (ATH) despite the rally offering a profitable exit point.

Bitcoin Long-Term Holders Haven’t Given In To The Allure Of Profit-Taking Yet

In its latest weekly report, the on-chain analytics firm Glassnode has discussed how the BTC long-term holders have reacted to the latest rally in the asset towards the $35,000 level.

The “long-term holders” (LTHs) refer to those investors who have held onto their coins since at least 155 days ago. Statistically, the longer a holder keeps their coins still, the less likely they become to move them at any point.

Thus, since the LTHs have been holding their coins for a significant amount, they generally tend to remain quiet in the future. Throughout history, this cohort has shown this conviction regardless of whatever is going on in the market, whether FUD from crashes or FOMO from rallies.

Because of this, the times that the LTHs participate in selling can be ones to watch for, as they show that the market has pushed even these diamond hands towards selling.

Now, here is a chart that shows the trend in the supply held by the Bitcoin LTHs throughout the history of the cryptocurrency:

As displayed in the above graph, the Bitcoin LTH supply has increased recently and has set a new ATH of about 14.9 million BTC. This suggests that a net amount of the supply has continued to mature past the 155-day threshold despite the sharp rally that the asset has enjoyed.

From the chart, it’s visible that at some point during major historical rallies, these LTHs have usually participated in at least a bit of net selling as some members of the cohort look to harvest their gains. Interestingly, that hasn’t happened with this rally so far.

In the chart, Glassnode has also attached the data for another metric: the amount of the LTH supply being held at some loss. It would appear that 29.6% of the supply owned by these HODLers (about 4.28 million BTC) is currently carrying a net unrealized loss.

The on-chain analytics firm notes that this is quite a high value considering the significant uptrend that Bitcoin has seen since the lows in 2022. Such indicator values have rather been seen during the deep bear market phases historically (except the March 2020 spike, which occurred because of the sudden COVID crash).

“This suggests that the LTH cohort may be a more hardened and firm-handed cohort compared to prior cycles,” explains the report.

BTC Price

Bitcoin has seen a sharp 13% jump in the past 24 hours as the cryptocurrency is now trading at $34,500.

Solana (SOL) has recently surged to a crucial price level, setting the stage for a pivotal moment that will shape its foreseeable future. This cryptocurrency’s price trajectory is now at a crossroads, as it eases off the recent bullish breakout that captured the attention of investors worldwide.

Trading at $31.40 on CoinGecko, the cryptocurrency has experienced a 0.6% gain over the last 24 hours, accompanied by an impressive seven-day rally of 28.6%. Despite this promising trajectory, several key resistance and support levels are shaping the future of SOL.

While the $30 mark remains a vital resistance level for SOL, the cryptocurrency is also facing significant barriers at the $25 and $35 thresholds. Historically, $25 has proven to be both a support and resistance level, potentially offering a safety net for any immediate downward movements.

Conversely, breaching the $35 threshold could signify a major breakthrough for SOL, propelling it to new highs and solidifying its bullish course in the market.

Analyzing SOL’s Technical Patterns 

Amidst these price fluctuations, the emergence of the “golden cross” pattern on SOL’s price chart has captured the attention of market analysts and investors alike. In technical analysis, the golden cross occurs when a short-term moving average crosses above a long-term moving average, indicating a potential bullish trend. 

Its presence within SOL’s current price movements signals an optimistic outlook, with the potential for sustained upward momentum.

Despite the optimistic indicators, recent developments within the Solana ecosystem have cast a shadow on SOL’s potential trajectory. News of Marinade Finance, the largest protocol on the Solana network, halting operations for users in the United Kingdom due to compliance concerns has reverberated throughout the cryptocurrency community. 

The move reflects the protocol’s commitment to adhere to the regulatory framework outlined by the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). This development has introduced an element of caution and potential volatility into SOL’s otherwise promising market performance.

RSI Reinforces The Bullish Narrative 

Further fortifying the bullish sentiment surrounding SOL is the surging Relative Strength Index (RSI). Currently on the rise, SOL’s RSI indicates robust buying pressure within the market.

While an RSI above 70 is generally considered overbought, and one below 30 is deemed oversold, the current upward trajectory suggests a strong investor sentiment favoring continued upward movement for SOL in the near term.

As Solana stands at this critical juncture, investors and analysts are closely monitoring both the technical indicators and the regulatory landscape to gauge its future performance in the increasingly dynamic cryptocurrency market.

(This site’s content should not be construed as investment advice. Investing involves risk. When you invest, your capital is subject to risk).

Featured image from The Independent