Tag: cryptocurrency

Bitcoin: Digital Gold, Inflation Hedge Or Stock Market Gauge?

Posted on by Aibek Burabayev

Bitcoin celebrated its 13th-anniversary last month. Which place in the financial universe does this "teenager" take over the time? Naturally, the judgment on this constantly changes with the growing acknowledgment of Bitcoin. It started as a revolutionary experiment, and nowadays, it is considered a financial asset with a growing acceptance from investors reflected in the market cap of over $700 billion.

Earlier, Bitcoin was called a "digital gold," which came to replace the ancient store of value. However, it better suits the lifestyle of the modern generation, as it is easier to handle and store compared to gold; moreover, it is digitally trendy.

After that, some analysts considered it as an inflation hedge as the emission of Bitcoin is limited with twenty-one million coins while fiat is not. The ninety percent of maximum supply has already been mined.

Recently, it's been acknowledged as the gauge of the stock market as they collapsed simultaneously.

Let's check on the daily chart below to determine which nickname suits Bitcoin best. Continue reading "Bitcoin: Digital Gold, Inflation Hedge Or Stock Market Gauge?" →

This Chart Pattern Spells Upside For BTC

Posted on by Wayne Burritt

If you've been reading my articles here at INO.com, I don't have to tell you that I lean on fundamental analysis when I talk about crypto.

You've also noticed that I don't hesitate to pull out a chart and do some technical analysis.

That's why today, we're going to use some technical analysis to explore a chart pattern that I've used for a long time and that all of a sudden popped up on my screen when I was in the midst of my routine studies of Bitcoin (BTC).

But before we get to that dynamite chart pattern, let's look at the difference between fundamental and technical analysis.

What's Fundamental And Technical Analysis?

Fundamental analysis looks at what an asset does, what its markets are, how it makes money. By looking at these features, fundamental analysis can provide opportunities for investors. And the assets that you can target with fundamental analysis can be pretty much anything, from a stock to a bond or a cryptocurrency. Continue reading "This Chart Pattern Spells Upside For BTC" →

The Truth Behind The Bitcoin Sell-Off

Posted on by Wayne Burritt

Let's get right to it, if you invest long enough, you're going to have to deal with markets behaving in knee-jerk ways, and the recent selloff is Bitcoin (BTC) fits the bill to a T.

The fact is Bitcoin, along with the entire crypto asset class, got pummeled because the Fed signaled that they're in the mood to raise interest rates sooner rather than later. This outlook, which came from the Fed's minutes of the December meeting, wasn't what the markets expected. And we all know that when the markets don't get what they expect, they take their toys, go home, and sell pretty much everything in sight.

So, what juicy secret did the minutes reveal? As with most Fed announcements, precise forecasts are hard to glean. But the gist was that the Fed would raise rates sooner rather than later.

But if you think that it was just crypto that took it on the chin, think again. This more hawkish view on interest rates also hammered stocks, especially tech stocks.

All told, since the beginning of 2022, Bitcoin has dropped 14%, the NASDAQ 7%, and the S&P 4%. So, basically, once the Fed's minutes hit the street, there was nowhere to hide.

What’s So Bad About Higher Interest Rates?

So, why don't markets like higher rates? Continue reading "The Truth Behind The Bitcoin Sell-Off" →

Block and PayPal - Ostensibly Bottomed

Posted on by Noah Kiedrowski

Before the massive market rotation and tech-heavy selling, specifically in high beta and richly valued stocks, fintech had been in a multi-year secular growth trend. Recently, high-quality names in the space such as Block (SQ), formally Square, and PayPal (PYPL) have seen their stocks nearly cut in half. Block has come down from $298 to $138 or a 54% drop, while PayPal has come down from $310 to $179 or a 42% drop. All the rage has been about the buy-now and pay-later platforms as a disruptor to the entire payments space. However, Block came through with a $29 billion, all-stock deal to buy Afterpay, a major buy-now, and pay-later platform. Block's acquisition highlights consumers circumventing traditional credit, especially younger buyers, for installment loans. PayPal also offers their version of buy-now and pay-later offering, which showed fantastic growth over the holiday season and a surge of 400% on Black Friday alone.

Both Block and PayPal are firmly in the buy-now and pay-later space while also enabling businesses at the point of sale, analytics, peer-to-peer payments via Venmo (PayPal) and Cash App (Block), small business lending, cryptocurrency transactions, and support traditional credit card integrations into their platforms. Block and PayPal offer end-to-end financial solutions for businesses and consumers while powering the next generation of financial technology. These financial technology companies are creating additional revenue verticals while addressing unmet needs in the financial services space. Both Block and PayPal may offer long-term growth at very reduced valuations due to the tech-heavy selling, when factoring in their end markets are current growth rates. Continue reading "Block and PayPal - Ostensibly Bottomed" →

Bitcoin 2022 Price: $113,972!

Posted on by Wayne Burritt

While I’m not in love with price predictions, when I figured out a reasonable 2022 target for Ethereum (ETH), I have to admit I kinda enjoyed it.

So, I figured, why not kick off our first installment of 2022 with a bold prediction of where we think the price of Bitcoin (BTC) is headed over the next 12 months?

For this exercise, we'll ignore the fundamental factors that are in play behind these price movements. Instead, we'll just look at some charts, do a little math, and see where our BTC prediction journey leads us.

So, let's get started! Continue reading "Bitcoin 2022 Price: $113,972!" →