Bitcoin Today: exchanges under gov pressure
Price
Yesterday we saw one more fall iteration, which brought BTCUSD pair to the April minimum at the 6425.0, exactly from this level the April – May growth started. The next support would be February low at 6000.0 level. Turnaround scenario at this point require strong support in the 6000.0 – 6400.0 zone. Otherwise, the price could go lower than 6000.0 minimum, causing more panic and aiming for the next psychological support at the 5500.0. We recommend considering buying these lows only if BTCUSD market will show high volumes and growth above the Bearish Trend Line. Another more probable scenario – lateral stagnation in the 6000.0 – 7000.0 interval, sounds more probable than other scenarios.
Today forecast
Trading in the 6000.0 – 7000.0 zone. High risk of further fall-down.
Latest news
Yesterday we saw one more fall iteration, which brought BTCUSD pair to the April minimum at the 6425.0, exactly from this level the April – May growth started. The next support would be February low at 6000.0 level. Turnaround scenario at this point require strong support in the 6000.0 – 6400.0 zone. Otherwise, the price could go lower than 6000.0 minimum, causing more panic and aiming for the next psychological support at the 5500.0. We recommend considering buying these lows only if BTCUSD market will show high volumes and growth above the Bearish Trend Line. Another more probable scenario – lateral stagnation in the 6000.0 – 7000.0 interval, sounds more probable than other scenarios.
Today forecast
Trading in the 6000.0 – 7000.0 zone. High risk of further fall-down.
Latest news
- CFTC Subpoenas Cryptocurrency Exchanges In Bitcoin Futures Investigation
Due to suspicions of market manipulation that may impact the final settlement price of CME's bitcoin futures, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has reportedly subpoenaed four cryptocurrency exchanges. According to the Wall Street Journal, the regulator demanded that the exchanges – Bitstamp, Coinbase, itBit, and Kraken – provide "comprehensive trading data to assist a probe into whether manipulation is distorting prices" in the bitcoin-linked futures market.
This is a complicated matter because the CFTC has claimed oversight and enforcement authority over cryptocurrency-based financial derivatives like bitcoin futures, but seems to possess only enforcement authority over the cryptocurrency spot markets. The inquiry revealed by the Journal on Friday is distinct from the CFTC-DOJ investigation into bitcoin price manipulation, which ETHNews covered last month.
The reported concerns about potential manipulation lend credence to the suggestion that bitcoin futures products were rushed to market. No word yet about the CBOE's bitcoin futures product. - Bitfinex Tether Trading Identified as Source of Crypto Markets Price Manipulation
A document released today by Professor John M. Griffin of the University of Texas’ Finance Department has identified what it claims are suspicious clusters of Tether-Bitcoin bulk trades on the Bitfinex trading exchange towards the end of 2017 which may have, in part, contributed to the price rallies of the cryptocurrency markets of the same period.
“Less than 1% of hours with such heavy Tether transactions are associated with 50% of the meteoric rise in Bitcoin and 64% of other top crypto-currencies,” the report claims.
“These patterns cannot be explained by investor demand proxies but are most consistent with the supply-based hypothesis where Tether is used to provide price support and manipulate cryptocurrency prices,” the reports further state.
Professor Griffin’s report also states that whilst “the promise of a decentralized ledger with independently verifiable transactions has enormous appeal,” the vast majority of crypto-currency trades continue “as transactions [which] occur on centralized exchanges. These exchanges largely operate outside the purview of financial regulators and offer varying levels of limited transparency.”
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