was nearly 8% lower than its ATH of $41,941, based on data from CoinMarketCap.

While BTC has repeatedly attempted to breach the $40,000-level, these attempts have either been brief or unsuccessful. It would therefore seem that the increasing active supply on exchanges has posed a challenge to Bitcoin’s price rally.

While some HODLers and retail traders are selling, many other retail traders and institutions who bought Bitcoin above the $30,000-level have accumulated and instead, may be protecting the asset from a cascading sell-off. As Bitcoin continues to leave exchanges and hit wallets or reserves, there is a possibility that reserves may continue to drop till they hit December 2020 levels. 

Based on the attached chart, the cryptocurrency’s price has ranged between the $37,000 and $40,000-level for the past 24 hours. While there is enough volatility, despite the increasing volume, Bitcoin’s price hasn’t sustained itself above the $40000-level for over a few hours. The rebound is a signal of the positive sentiment in the market, but based on data from Skew charts, Bitcoin is rebounding toward $40,000 backed by relatively low volumes. 

A drop in spot exchange reserves and an increase in the trade volume suggest that the sentiment is positive on spot exchanges. In addition to the activity on spot exchanges, there has been a sharp movement in the Options market.

Skew charts highlight that short-dated calls in Bitcoin are in high demand right now. In fact, on a top derivatives exchange like the CME, nearly 35,000 calls were traded earlier this week, a level which was already above breakeven with Bitcoin trading $38,600.

Further, volatility in price has risen, with the same inching closer to its 2017-level, supporting further price discovery above $40,000. 

On Crypto-Twitter, many on-chain analysts have predicted drops and corrections in the price rally ever since price discovery started beyond the $35,000-level. However, after a few drops in volatility and momentum, institutional buying has notably supported the price rally and with increasing non-zero Bitcoin addresses, there is a change in sentiment among retail buyers as well.

If the buying continues through the weekend, there is a high probability of pursuing the rally to $41,000 in the coming week.

Cardano Price Analysis: 15 January

Polkadot, Dash, Uniswap Price Analysis: 15 January

Ekta is a full-time journalist at AMBCrypto and her specialization lies in spot markets. Currently pursuing her MBA, she is passionate about trading, fintech, and everything decentralized.

How can the CME’s rise affect Bitcoin’s spot prices?

Bitcoin: Why CME might take a U-turn in 2021

Are the prospects for a Bitcoin ETF high in 2021?

Yet another signal to indicate why Bitcoin’s price peaks will continue

CME Bitcoin Futures open interest hits ATH

Bitcoin at $20,000: what to expect?

support is an important psychological level and a key support that traders are watching. If traders are able to flip the level to support, then extension toward $45,000 is the line of thinking followed by many traders.

While the previous rally above $40,000 was driven in part by a flurry of buying from retail investors, Guy Hirsch, the managing director for eToro’s U.S. wing sees institutions as the driving force behind the current rally. According to Hirsch, it “wouldn’t be a surprise to see a new all-time high during or even before this coming weekend.”

In private comments to Cointelegraph, Hirsch said:

While Bitcoin’s recent price volatility has given some of the newer institutional investors a cause for a pause, the more seasoned of the financial powerhouses bought the dip from the weak hands, taking full advantage of the sharp downturn.

Noticeably, it’s not just BTC that is receiving institutional attention as the current market cycle progresses. Denis Vinokourov, head of research at Bequant, sees the growing trend as a positive development for the entire cryptocurrency ecosystem.

Vinokourov said:

As reported by Cointelegraph, since BTC’s drop on Jan. 11 some of the more prominent figures in the space have been more bullish than ever and are likewise calling for Bitcoin to reach a new all-time high in the near future.

Decentrader founder filbfilb said, “The immediate future for the top cryptocurrency is “50/50 as to what happens at this point.” A move above $40,000 will establish a new support level at which point “retest of the all-time high is very likely.”

In a private conversation with Cointelegraph the analyst stated:

Regardless of what happens, the analyst sees $40,000 as a “key pivot point which will dictate the next couple of weeks.”

Altcoins are also seeing positive price action for a third day in a row. Ether (ETH) rose by 9% to $1,245 and Polkadot (DOT) found additional momentum as it rallied 33% to a new high at $14.92.

The overall cryptocurrency market cap now stands at $1.04 trillion and Bitcoin’s dominance rate is 69.1%.

Dubbed Galaxy Digital Mining, the unit will be led by Fidelity’s former director of mining, Amanda Fabiano. The firm described that it will offer services like trading and risk management, investing and lending and corporate advisory to Bitcoin miners.

Additionally, the business wing will directly engage in Bitcoin mining as well. It set up its facility in a third-party datacenter in the United States.

“Bitcoin mining is the foundation of the Bitcoin network,” Fabiano said. “By mining ourselves, we are able to deeply understand and solve for the financial needs of miners, while also enhancing the strength of the industry and thus the strength of the Bitcoin network.”

Stocks to Watch This Week – Expedia Group, IncGo to article >>

Galaxy’s trading business covers a basket of digital assets and runs an OTC sales desk to facilitate trades on behalf of institutional investors.

Last November, the company made two key acquisitions, one is crypto lender, DrawBridge and the other proprietary trading firm, Blue Fire Capital, to diversify its businesses.

It is diving into the crypto mining business when the industry commercialized heavily with the setting up of many major mining facilities. Additionally, the recent influx of miners in the United States and Canada positioned itself well to offer services to the industry.

“We see major opportunities in mining project financing, equipment financing, digital asset-backed financing, as well as working capital optimization and hedging solutions for mine operators and investors utilizing Galaxy Digital Trading’s industry-leading capabilities,” Galaxy’s Co-President, Chris Ferraro, said.

industry of digital assets has since been created. Despite the cryptocurrency’s longevity and staying power, there’s still debate amongst policy makers, regulators, and even investors, if the asset class should be defined as “money.”

A recent survey conducted by the International Monetary Fund has respondents overwhelmingly saying “yes” that Bitcoin and other altcoins are indeed money, and should be viewed as such.

Bitcoin price is trading at under $40,000, a few thousand from its recent high. And while a drop of that magnitude in the past would bring forth obituaries about Bitcoin, today, its viewed as an opportunity to get in slightly cheaper.

Investors and institutions are voting with their capital that the cryptocurrency will outperform the dollar and help to offset the coming bout of hyperinflation. Bitcoin is up more than 500% against the dollar since the pandemic struck, and while the short-term trend might be taking a breather, the long-term trajectory has always been up.

BTC is now the 16th world’s largest currency and climbing. It could some day become the global reserve currency, and be the first non-sovereign currency that’s used worldwide. There’s been over $10 trillion in value transacted across its network. Yet for some reason, there’s still debate over if cryptocurrencies are money.

The word currency is in the name, and Satoshi Nakamoto had every intention of his invention acting like money. And according to the general public, they also view cryptocurrencies as “money.”

The International Monetary Fund’s official Twitter account recently shared a survey asking followers if “digital currencies” are “really money?” Out of nearly 100,000 votes, the poll is currently leading around 80% in favor of crypto as money.

The IMF is a global organization consisting of “190 countries working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade,” and more.

— IMF (@IMFNews) January 14, 2021

Recently, central banks in the US received the green light to begin using digital currencies to transfer money. Each passing day, cryptocurrencies take another step toward becoming “money.”

The debate exists, however, because although Bitcoin itself can easily be used as “money” to spend, few who buy the cryptocurrency plan on using it that way. But this is how superior forms of money first emerge. Owners of the old form of money begin to exchange it for what they perceive as the better form of money, and hold onto it because they believe it is more valuable.

Eventually, when enough people do this, the currency itself becomes undeniably money on its own. Could this be the path crypto is currently on?

mark. 

During the same period, the institutional investment firm added 4,618 BTC to its portfolio at a current value of $182 million. Including last quarter’s intake of $3.3 billion, which is mostly BTC, Grayscale’s crypto portfolio sits at $27.6 billion.

Bitcoin isn’t the only coin to see strong support since January 13 with the entire crypto market adding $137 billion to surge once again past a $1 trillion market cap.

Since Bitcoin’s halving late last year, approximately 900 BTC are being mined each day. According to crypto analytics platform Glassnode, however, on average only one-third of those are actually being sent to exchanges since July 2020.

During the same period, Grayscale has purchased roughly 224,930 Bitcoin, equating to more than 1,200 BTC per day. Not taking into account other institutional investors, the available supply is quickly drying up.

Not all stats suggest institutional investors are playing a core role in crypto’s price however with Grayscale’s Ethereum Trust not receiving the same interest over the last month. The balance has actually reduced by 6036 Ether since December 9 when it reached an all-time high of 2.94 million ETH. During that period, Bitcoin rose by 116%, but Ethereum increased by more than 122%.

later:

Aksakov also urged for strict regulations on Bitcoin, hinting that global jurisdictions should probably ban it as a payment method. Russia has already banned crypto-powered payments effective from Jan. 1, 2021. 

Aksakov stated, “It is necessary to cut off all channels for using Bitcoin to finance drug trafficking, terrorist operations, money laundering, corruption schemes, and so on.” 

Aksakov also noted that Bitcoin is “the mother of blockchain.” “Blockchain technology has existed for a long time, but thanks to Bitcoin it became popular and is now widely used,” he said. 

Aksakov is not alone in maintaining that Bitcoin is a bubble. Michael Hartnett, chief investment strategist at Bank of America Securities, argued that Bitcoin looks like “the mother of all bubbles” in early January 2021.

As previously reported by Cointelegraph, Aksakov emerged as one of the biggest Bitcoin critics in 2020. He is confident that Bitcoin “has no future” and that crypto payments would destroy the global financial system.

to break milestone after milestone, climbing above $40,000. Who knows? Maybe by the time you finished reading this paragraph, it already hit another milestone.

But is it too late to join the Bitcoin party? While the world’s first and largest cryptocurrency is at an all-time high, there may still be a chance for investors to jump on the crypto wagon, and on eToro you can start with as little as $500.

Bitcoin’s all-time high

The last time Bitcoin had such an incredible bull run was at the end of 2017, when its price soared to nearly $20,000, fueling an incredible crypto rally and reaching heights that were unprecedented at the time.

However, that feat dwarfs in comparison to the current crypto rally, as Bitcoin improved upon its previous record by 75% and the crypto market as a whole reached the largest market cap ever. However, since cryptoassets are known to be extremely volatile, will this bull run be sustainable?

How much higher can Bitcoin climb

Unfortunately, there’s no crystal ball that can answer that question for sure. On the one hand, Bitcoin has taken roller coaster rides in the past, going to terrible lows quickly after reaching incredible heights.

On the other hand, there’s no telling when the peak will be reached. As opposed to most other financial assets, which have decades of history and charts to analyze, Bitcoin is fairly new and has less history in its charts. Is $40,000 the peak? Will it be $50,000? JPMorgan Chase thinks it’ll be a whopping $146,000.

Why is the crypto market rallying

As opposed to other markets, in which the reason for rallies is often easily found in the fundamentals, the situation is not the same for crypto. While sometimes it is easy to pinpoint the reason for a bullish trend, often markets seem to rise independently of information available.

However, there is one trend that started in 2020 which could be the reason for it all –  institutional involvement. There is often a positive correlation between Bitcoin’s mainstream inclusion and a price rally, and there have been several pieces of news that supported such an inclusion.

Aside from the aforementioned JPMorgan endorsement, PayPal also recently announced support for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, fueling the rally that pushed Bitcoin past $20,000. Moreover, in recent years, several mainstream banks and financial firms have started offering Bitcoin custodianship to their customers.

What’s next for Bitcoin

That’s the question to which anyone in the world would like the answer. The simple truth is –  nobody knows. While some have long believed that Bitcoin will reach six digits in our lifetime, others think that it will once again succumb to its highly volatile nature and come crashing down. Judging by the world’s first cryptocurrency’s history, either side could be right –  and perhaps both will be, as Bitcoin could maintain its record-to-crash cycle.

Either way, saying that a certain direction is certain would be a fool’s belief. If the history of financial markets, and especially that of Bitcoin, has taught us anything, it’s that bulls can run for a long time but can also crash in an instant. What do you think will happen?

Cryptoasset investing is unregulated in most EU countries and the UK. No consumer protection. Your capital is at risk.

This is a marketing communication and should not be taken as investment advice, personal recommendation, or an offer of, or solicitation to buy or sell, any financial instruments. This material has been prepared without having regard to any particular investment objectives or financial situation, and has not been prepared in accordance with the legal and regulatory requirements to promote independent research. Any references to past performance of a financial instrument, index or a packaged investment product are not, and should not be taken as a reliable indicator of future results.

All contents within this report are for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. eToro makes no representation and assumes no liability as to the accuracy or completeness of the content of this publication, which has been prepared utilizing publicly-available information.

Cryptoassets are volatile instruments which can fluctuate widely in a very short timeframe and therefore are not appropriate for all investors. Other than via CFDs, trading cryptoassets is unregulated and therefore is not supervised by any EU regulatory framework. Your capital is at risk.

upsides.

After a successful break and a follow up move above $36,000, bitcoin price started a strong increase. BTC broke a couple of key hurdles near the $38,000 level to move further into a bullish zone.

The price gained pace and broke the $39,200 resistance. It even spiked above the $40,000 resistance and settled above the 100 hourly simple moving average. A high is formed near the $40,212 level and the price is currently consolidating gains.

It corrected below the $39,500 and $39,200 levels. A low is formed near $38,052 level and the price is currently forming a breakout pattern. It climbed above the 50% Fib retracement level of the recent decline from the $40,212 high to $38,052 low.

It seems like there is a key contracting triangle forming with resistance near $39,425 on the hourly chart of the BTC/USD pair. The triangle resistance is close to the 61.8% Fib retracement level of the recent decline from the $40,212 high to $38,052 low.

If there is a clear upside break above the triangle resistance, the price could clear the $40,000 level. In the stated case, bitcoin price might aim a strong surge and the bulls are likely to aim a new all-time high in the coming sessions.

If bitcoin fails to clear the triangle resistance and $40,000, there is a risk of a fresh decline. An initial support is near the $38,500 level.

A downside break below the $38,500 and $38,000 support levels may possibly push the price towards the main $36,000 support zone in the near term.

Technical indicators:

Hourly MACD – The MACD is slowly losing momentum in the bullish zone.

Hourly RSI (Relative Strength Index) – The RSI for BTC/USD is moving lower towards the 50 level.

Major Support Levels – $38,500, followed by $36,000.

Major Resistance Levels – $39,450, $40,000 and $41,800.

Q1. 

The rally of altcoins has in part been led by the momentum of Ethereum. After ETH surpassed a major resistance level at $600, it continued to rally above $1,000.

ETH is now close to reaching its all-time high above $1,400, rising 60% in the first two weeks of 2021. Pal wrote:

Possibly due to the improving market sentiment around ETH, altcoins have also performed particularly well in the past week.

As Cointelegraph reported, large-cap altcoins, such as Polkadot (DOT) and Cosmos (ATOM) have seen large gains against both Bitcoin and the U.S. dollar so far in January.

At the same time, decentralized finance (DeFi) tokens, such as Aave, Yearn.finance, and SushiSwap heavily outperformed both Bitcoin and Ether in the last two weeks with data confirming a continuous rise in sentiment and social media activity in recent months.

Meanwhile, the uptrend of DOT and ATOM could be driven by the frenzy around DeFi tokens, considering that the demand for alternative blockchain networks has increased.

The Ethereum blockchain network has become increasingly congested as of late, as the user activity on DeFi protocols significantly rose to push up fees in the process.

Protocols like Aave, SushiSwap, and Synthetix saw rapid growth since November, propelling Aave and Synthetix to billion-dollar market caps.

Wangarian, a capital allocator at the DeFi-focused fund Defiance Capital, told Pal:

On Jan. 7, in a tweet thread, Pal said that he believes Ether could achieve $10,000 to $20,000, if it follows the same cycle as Bitcoin.

Pal pinpointed Metcalfe’s law, which states the effect of a telecommunications network is proportional to the square of the number of connected users of the system, to support a bull case for Ether. He wrote:

Although there is no specific correlation between Ether and the rest of the altcoin market, if Ether grows to a trillion-dollar blockchain protocol, major projects developed on top of Ethereum could grow proportionally.

Most notably, DeFi tokens would likely benefit the most from Ethereum’s network effect and rapid growth if it grows at the pace of Bitcoin in 2016.

approaching the low of $38,000. On January 8 and 10, when the peak price was first attained, the crypto crashed to $31,327 low. The bulls bought the dips as the BTC price moved up to reclaim the previous high. Resistance Levels: $45,000, $46,000, $47,000 Support Levels: $35,000, $34,000, $33,000

On January 14, the Bitcoin price surged again and retested the $40,000 resistance zone. BTC price reached a high of $39,988 and was repelled. In the previous attempts, buyers pushed BTC above the psychological price level but could not sustain the upside momentum. Consequently, the crypto crashed to $31,327. The reason for the crash was as a result of Bitcoin trading in the overbought condition for several weeks. Analysts believe that vertical rallies increase the risks of a sharp decline.

Nevertheless, for the past 24 hours, the bulls are struggling to reclaim the $40,000 price level. Traders believe that a breakout at the $40,000 price level will cause the BTC price to rally above $45,000. As of the time of writing, the BTC price has fallen to $38,786 after rejection from the recent high. Programmer Has Two Password Guesses Left Before Losing $266m in Bitcoin A German-born programmer in San Francisco, Stefan Thomas may lose $266m in Bitcoin. According to the New York Times, Stefan Thomas used a hard drive called an IronKey but lost the paper on which he wrote down the password for the device. The bottom line is that if Thomas fails to remember the password after 10 failed guesses, it will result in the drive encrypting its contents forever.

He has tried eight guesses without any luck. He has two more password guesses to make before losing $266 in Bitcoin. Nonetheless, Thomas has held enough Bitcoin over the years to make a fortune. According to reports, he is wealthy and barely knows what to do with it. He also joined Ripple and acquired XRP, although the company’s legal issues may not affect him over the project’s prospects.

Bitcoin has resumed its upside momentum as it retests the $40,000 high on January 14. According to the Fibonacci tool analysis, Bitcoin is likely to move above the psychological price level. On January 8 uptrend; a retraced candle body tested the 78.6% Fibonacci retracement level. This implies that the coin will rise to level 1.272 Fibonacci extension. That is, Bitcoin will rise to a high of $48,371.10.

data.

What Happened: Polkadot surged 49.74% on a 7-day basis, while Bitcoin and Ethereum gained 0.49% and 9.29% at press time.

See Also: Is Ethereum a Good Investment?

DOT had left behind XRP in terms of market cap on Thursday to become the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market cap.  The cryptocurrency has since then settled for the number five spot.

XRP has a market cap of $13.33 billion, while DOT’s is $12.43 billion. 

At press-time XRP was trading 0.57% at $0.29, while DOT soared 21.24% at $13.95. 

Why It Matters: The buzz around scalable blockchain networks and hype surrounding Decentralized Finance (DeFi) are factors that have led to the price appreciation in DOT, reported Cointelegraph. 

The cryptocurrency co-founded by Gavin Wood — also a co-founder of ETH — rivals Ethereum as it allows smart contracts to be implemented in an ecosystem comprised of smaller blockchains.

See Also: Why This Ethereum Alternative Is Grabbing Eyes Amid Crypto Markets Carnage

Polkadot is said to have the ability to process data in a more efficient manner, allowing for decentralized applications to run without facing scalability issues, as per Cointelegraph. 

The cryptocurrency is likely to support large-scale DeFi protocols in the future along with dApps. 

Some traders in Asia are using DOT prices to forecast prices of BTC and point to a parallel with another EOS, which was used to foretell Bitcoin prices in the 2017 bull market, reported CoinDesk.

After BTC peaked out in 2017, many investors and traders moved their profits into EOS, which lead to that coin reaching its all-time high at end of April 2018. 

DOT reached its all-time high of $14.86 on Thursday.

Price Action: BTC traded 2.92% higher at $38,395.79 and ETH traded 9.29% higher at $1,205.81 at press-time. On Thursday, Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (OTC: GBTC) closed 7.88% higher at $43.53.

six weeks, and even more over the past six months. Other cryptocurrencies aside from BTC have also done well.

But what is behind the ongoing bull market? A Singapore-based trading desk suggests that the Bitcoin rally is largely a byproduct of institutional inflows entering the Bitcoin market via Grayscale. Grayscale Investments is a digital asset manager focused on institutions based in New York.

Prop trading company and liquidity provider QCP Capital commented on Friday morning that Bitcoin’s recent rally has largely been a byproduct of Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust, an institutional investment product for BTC.

Bitcoin began to show signs of weakness (spot buying pressure shifting to futures buying pressure) when Grayscale temporarily suspended inflows at the end of December.

The sell-off peaked early this week when the fund suspension came to an end, QCP explained:

“Previously we highlighted GBTC as too big to fail in our new year update, and the sell-off on Monday/Tuesday peaked at the end of their 2-week fund suspension to new investors. On Wednesday they reopened again and this stemmed the selloff, as ~5k of BTC was added to their fund in just the 2 days since.”

— QCP Capital (@QCPCapital) January 15, 2021

The firm believes that this is a sign that Grayscale’s inflows are actually a large amount of the demand for Bitcoin on the spot side:

“No doubt GBTC flows will remain the driving force for the market, at least until a US ETF is approved – something which we don’t yet foresee anytime soon.”

On the technical outlook for BTC, they seem to be certain that the overall macro trend remains bullish for the leading crypto asset.

Bitcoin held its parabolic uptrend this past week despite falling as low as $30,000, traders say.

They added that while the increased volatility has begun to be a worrying sign, it is thus far “perfectly consistent with an exponential trend at this stage.”

Earlier this past week, analysts noted that the extremely high volume seen in the Bitcoin market on Monday’s $30,000 correction was likely a sign that a reversal was near.

Volume spikes are often indicative of price reversals, as they mark an exhaustion of either a bull trend or a bear trend.

One reason that some are concerned is that there has been development in the Mt. Gox case that may result in an influx in the supply of Bitcoin to the market.

COINLAB SAYS AGREEMENT SUBJECT TO CREDITOR ACCEPTANCE

CREDITORS CAN CLAIM 90% of BITCOIN THEY ARE OWED FROM MT. GOX

— light (@lightcrypto) January 15, 2021

A prominent Singapore bank said Bitcoin and other public cryptocurrencies present a “new frontier” for contactless payments and digital money, one that’s past their days of being dismissed by bankers.

East Asian nations are forging ahead with their digital currency and blockchain plans, with most being largely lenient towards large-cap digital assets like Bitcoin.

Singapore’s financial regulatory authority announced that it is evaluating whether to allow crypto derivatives to be traded in the nation.

Commitment to Transparency: The author of this article is invested and/or has an interest in one or more assets discussed in this post. CryptoSlate does not endorse any project or asset that may be mentioned or linked to in this article. Please take that into consideration when evaluating the content within this article.

Disclaimer: Our writers' opinions are solely their own and do not reflect the opinion of CryptoSlate. None of the information you read on CryptoSlate should be taken as investment advice, nor does CryptoSlate endorse any project that may be mentioned or linked to in this article. Buying and trading cryptocurrencies should be considered a high-risk activity. Please do your own due diligence before taking any action related to content within this article. Finally, CryptoSlate takes no responsibility should you lose money trading cryptocurrencies.

Both Bitcoin and Ethereum have faced sharp declines over the past few hours despite the move to $40,000 on Thursday.

The price of Bitcoin has recovered strongly overnight, rising from around $34,000 to $38,500.

Bitcoin bounces at $30k support to allay fears of a complete capitulation.

arrested hacker.

According to a report by India Today, the hacker named Srikrishna alias Shreeki was arrested on 18 November for allegations of breaking into government websites. During the investigation, police discovered that Shreeki had hacked 3 Bitcoin exchanges and 10 poker sites to steal more than 30 Bitcoin.

The hacker used malware to target government websites, he also hacked online gaming portals and other websites to win money and crypto assets online. According to a report by ANI, Srikrishna has apparently confessed to hacking the e-procurement website of the Karnataka government in 2019.

The crypto hacks around the world are on the rise, several attacks were reported in recent months. A significant rise in hacking activities is mainly due to a jump in cryptocurrency prices. The cryptocurrency market cap jumped above $1 trillion earlier this month as the value of the world’s largest cryptocurrency Bitcoin now stands at around $38,000.

Stocks to Watch This Week – Expedia Group, IncGo to article >>

India has encountered several hacks in the past related to Bitcoin and other crypto-assets. Microsoft released a report earlier in 2020 and mentioned that Indian users have a relatively higher chance of facing a crypto attack.

“India recorded a cryptocurrency mining encounter rate that was 4.6 times higher and drive-by download attack volume that was three times higher than the regional and global average. India registered the seventh-highest malware encounter rate across the region, at 5.89 percent in the past year. This was 1.1 times higher than the regional average. The report also found that India recorded the third-highest ransomware encounter rate across the region, which was two times higher than the regional average,” the report from Microsoft stated.

In the recent case, Bengaluru police are investigating the matter to check if there are other hackers associated with such incidents.

forward.

According to CryptoQuant data, the amount of ETH held on the exchanges decreased by 10 percent in a period of 24 hours. Cryptocurrency analysts began to talk about a liquidity crisis when a similar picture occurred for Bitcoin.

Nugget News founder Alex Saunders thinks this shift in Ethereum reserves could have a positive impact on the price. 

window.coinzilla_display = window.coinzilla_display || []; var c_display_preferences = {}; c_display_preferences.zone = "325fe079eb73cc7840"; c_display_preferences.width = "300"; c_display_preferences.height = "250"; coinzilla_display.push(c_display_preferences);

remember what happened when the supply of bitcoin on the exchanges was unable to meet BTC demand. The BTC price quadrupled in 90 days.

he shared his views on Twitter.

— Alex Saunders 🇦🇺👨‍🔬 (@AlexSaundersAU) January 14, 2021

Based on a market value of $140 billion, ETH has a circulation supply of 114 million, and more than 2.4 million of the circulating supply are held in the deposit contracts filed for Eth 2.0. There are chances that ETH bull rally is coming soon.

Read: SEC Investigator Behind $ 1.3 Billion XRP Lawsuit Resigns

However, it quickly gained momentum and reached the 24-hour high of $156. The cryptocurrency remained unstable, fluctuating greatly. At the time of writing, Litecoin was priced at $147. 

The overall market sentiment for the cryptocurrency is bullish. 14 of the total 28 technical indicators are standing at buy, nine are neutral, and five are sell indications. Eight of the oscillators are neutral, whereas two are at buy with only one indication of sell. 12 of the moving averages are giving out a buy signal with one neutral indication and four sell indications. 

Analyst Mountain Trader FX had identified the cryptocurrency in an ascending channel formation in their Litecoin price prediction. However, during the corrective move, Litecoin fell out of the channel as bearish pressures dominated. The analyst then pointed out the formation of a bear pennant by the price action of the cryptocurrency. The formation is indicative of the strong bearish pressures that currently have a hold on Litecoin; hence, the analyst believes that Litecoin will be falling soon.

At the time of writing, a break-out from the bear pennant had been identified, although it is not confirmed yet. If the LTC break-out from the bear pennant is confirmed, the analyst believes that the cryptocurrency’s first target price will be $122. And if Litecoin continues the downward trajectory, Litecoin is likely to reach the second target price at $98. The analyst also believes that the cryptocurrency can pick up its growth from the identified target price levels.

Analysts are not all bearish on the future outlook of Litecoin as some analysts have predicted very optimistic price targets for the cryptocurrency. Analyst Bitcoin Guru has identified a mega-bull in their Litecoin price prediction. The analyst has based their analysis on the historic mega-bull fractals that formed parabolas. The cryptocurrency is currently developing a bullish fractal.

Per the analyst, Litecoin has completed a long-term double bottom bull reversal of the bear trend during 2019 by establishing a rounding bottom, indicating an optimistic future for the cryptocurrency. The analyst has set high price targets for the cryptocurrency, which would hold if the mega-bull is confirmed. The first target price is at $2,300, followed by $3,700 and finally $4,900.

Another analyst, Chris Ptaco, is also very hopeful for Litecoin’s future. The analyst hopes for a price level of $3,000 by 2022 for the cryptocurrency in his Litecoin price prediction. He further establishes the cryptocurrency is in a sharp ascending channel formation. He believes that Litecoin needs to stay above the resistance-turned-support level of $145 to cross the $350 price level. Per the analyst, once the cryptocurrency crosses the $350 price level and stabilizes, it is very likely for Litecoin to continue upwards on a straight trajectory to the $3,000 price level.