Early on October 22, major cryptocurrencies were trading slightly positive, with the global crypto market cap at $918 billion, up less than 1% from the previous day. The entire cryptocurrency market volume in the last 24 hours was $53 billion, a 21% increase.
Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency, is consolidating near $19,145, up less than 1% during the Asian session. BTC has formed a tweezers’ top pattern, followed by an uptrend; typically, it indicates the chances of a bearish trend.
Similarly, Ethereum has remained stable under a strong resistance level of $1,300, rising by less than 1%. In contrast, market risk sentiment remains risk-off amid expectations of a Fed rate hike.
Top Altcoin Gainers and Losers
The top performers in the Asian session were Klaytn (KLAY), Chiliz (CHZ), and Casper (CSPR). The Klaytn (KLAY) gained 8% to $0.14, while the price of CHZ has risen by over 6% to $0.18. Moreover, the CSPR price rose over 5% to $0.045.
Cryptocurrency Market Heatmap | Source: Coin360
The Chain (XCN) price has fallen by more than 7% in the last 24 hours to $0.06. The price of Elrond has dropped more than 5% to around $54.
Fear & Greed Index Signals Extreme Fear
The market remains risk-averse, with investors choosing safe-haven assets such as gold and the US dollar.
The fear and greed index in the market indicates “Extreme Fear,” which could be one of the reasons for the overall cryptocurrency market slowdown.
Fear & Greed Index – Source: alternative.me
Investors think “Extreme Fear” is a good moment to get into the market because many cryptocurrencies are currently oversold, making it a potentially profitable opportunity to go long on an oversold coin.
Bitcoin Price Prediction & Technical Outlook
The current Bitcoin price is $19,154, and the 24-hour trading volume is $31 billion. Bitcoin has increased by less than 0.50% in the last 24 hours. CoinMarketCap currently ranks first, with a live market cap of $367billion.
Bitcoin is the most popular cryptocurrency, and its price has been predicted to reach $270,000 by 2030, according to a group of 55 cryptocurrency specialists. This year’s estimates still anticipate the price of Bitcoin increasing.
The panel of experts polled by Finder, a price comparison website, estimated that Bitcoin would trade for roughly $21,000 by the end of the year, down from their earlier prediction of $25,400.
Bitcoin price predictions: Source: Finder
This portal’s expert panel predicted in April 2022 that the flagship crypto would finish the year at around $65,000 per coin. Even though the panel predicted that BTC would be trading at $420,000 by 2030 in April of this year, its new projection of $270,000 is significantly lower.
In spite of a substantial sell-off in the cryptocurrency market so far this year, the panel’s predictions have remained upbeat.
Bitcoin Technical Outlook
On the technical front, Bitcoin is expected to encounter immediate resistance near the $19,300 level, which is accompanied by a symmetrical triangle pattern.
Alongside this, the 50-day moving average (MA) keeps the BTC bearish under $19,250.
On the upside, a bullish breakout of the $19,300 level could expose BTC to the next resistance area of $19,650 or $19,950.
Bitcoin Price Chart – Source: Tradingview
On the other hand, a break below $18,920 support may push BTC towards $18,600 or $18,400 levels.
Ethereum Prediction & Technical Outlook
The current price of Ethereum is $1,298, with a 24-hour trading volume of $9.9 billion. In the previous 24 hours, Ethereum has gained over 0.50%. CoinMarketCap now ranks #2, with a live market cap of $158 billion.
On the technical front, the ETH/USD pair has formed an ascending triangle pattern, which provides immediate support near $1,292. However, the psychological level of $1,300 is acting as immediate resistance.
Furthermore, ETH’s bullish bias is supported by the 50-day moving average. On the plus side, the major resistance levels for Ethereum remain at $1,325 and $1,341.
Ethereum Price Chart – Source: Tradingview
Leading technical indicators such as the RSI and MACD are now diverging, with the RSI indicating a selling trend and the MACD indicating a buying trend.
The 50-day moving average, on the other hand, indicates a selling trend in Ethereum. On the other hand, a bearish breakdown of the $1,292 level could bring ETH down to $1,270 or $1,240.
Casper Price Storms 27%
Despite a slowdown in the crypto market, Casper has increased by more than 27% in the last seven days to trade at $0.046. As a result of its scalability, Casper (CSPR) can process a large volume of transactions with ease. Energy efficiency and scalability make Casper an exciting cryptocurrency to watch.
Casper Price Chart – Source: Tradingview
Casper (CSPR) is an innovative cryptocurrency that employs the proof-of-stake consensus algorithm. Casper (CSPR) uses less power than Bitcoin and similar proof-of-work currencies because of this.
The majority of the optimism stems from the anticipation of the upcoming Casper 2.0 update.
There is currently work being done on Casper 2.0, and it will be available to the public soon. An improved user experience is a priority for the Casper team, so they’re updating the software with new features.
Future improvements include:
A more robust consensus mechanism.
Unified ledgers and contracts.
A distributed network of validators.
The new update is scheduled for the first quarter of 2023.
Cardano’s Hoskinson on CSPR
The famous blockchain developer and founder of Cardano, Charles Hoskinson, recently tweeted about the positive aspect of the current bear market.
According to Charles, this is the pinnacle of Charles’s Derangement Syndrome. Hoskinson uses the “not liking something or someone for no reason” syndrome to appeal to his detractors; this is a particularly perverse strategy.
Because of this, investors are bullish on Casper for the foreseeable future.
New Altcoin News
Dash 2 Trade is an Ethereum-based platform that will provide real-time market data, insights, and analysis to cryptocurrency traders. The Dash 2 Trade presale started two days ago and quickly reached significant milestones, surpassing $800,000.
It’s now over $859,633 and on track to reach a few more significant milestones in the coming hours. While forecasting the future is difficult, given its strong fundamentals, D2T appears to have a very bright future.
The market is currently in a news-driven environment where the prices of cryptocurrencies have been determined by news agenda rather than fundamentals.
Bitfinex analysts have warned crypto investors to be cautious as bitcoin’s (BTC) recovery over the weekend is not a sign that its correction is over; the asset could witness more bloodshed in the near term.
In the latest Bitfinex Alpha report, experts deemed the market’s reaction this week critical, especially as supply alleviated over the weekend could return when traditional markets open.
“No Man’s Land”
Since Saturday, bitcoin has risen almost 10% from $57,600 to $63,000, closing last week in the green. The asset has surged above the 125-day range low of $60,200, which it broke through earlier this month after news of the German government’s massive BTC selling hit the market.
Market sentiment began to improve after reports that wallets linked to the German government were almost empty. However, the positive sentiment may not be sustained for long as the BTC the German authorities moved to trading desks and exchanges are yet to be sold.
While the supply from Germany appears to have been factored into bitcoin’s market price, Bitfinex analysts believe the end of selling pressure depends on how the involved trading desks execute their trades in the coming days.
Although the shift in sentiment underscores the market’s capacity to integrate new information and adjust expectations quickly, analysts think the market’s reaction over the first two trading days of the week cannot be overlooked for two reasons.
First, the low support level in the $60,200 range has now become a potential resistance line. Second, trading patterns over the past three months suggest that weekends are usually favorable for markets, especially on Saturdays when supply pressure seems to subside.
“We are now in no man’s land until we get clear resolution above or below this level,” the analysts said.
A News-Driven Environment
Besides the potential resistance level and three-month weekend trading pattern, the market is currently in a news-driven environment, where the prices of cryptocurrencies have been determined by news agendas rather than fundamentals.
Since selling pressure concerns are not yet completely obsolete due to upcoming Mt Gox creditor distributions, Bitfinex analysts expect such headlines to continue to have some impact on price movements. As such, the analysts urged investors to exercise caution in their trading strategies.
BlackRock’s IBIT led with $117.25 million in inflows on July 15, also being the most traded Bitcoin ETF.
The US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded a daily net inflow of $301 million on July 15th. This extended their winning streak to seven consecutive days amidst a broader market recovery.
None of the ETFs recorded outflows for the day.
Bitcoin ETFs Rake in $16.11B in Net Inflows Since Jan
According to the data compiled by SoSoValue, BlackRock’s IBIT, the top spot Bitcoin ETF by net asset value, recorded the largest net inflows of the day at $117.25 million. IBIT was also the most actively traded Bitcoin ETF on Monday, with a volume of $1.24 billion. Ark Invest and 21Shares’ ARKB came in close behind with net inflows of $117.19 million.
Fidelity’s FBTC experienced net inflows of $36.15 million on Monday, while Bitwise’s BITB saw $15.24 million in inflows. VanEck’s HODL, Invesco and Galaxy Digital’s BTCO, and Franklin Templeton’s EZBC funds also recorded net inflows. Meanwhile, Grayscale’s GBTC and other ETFs, such as Valkyrie’s BRRR, WisdomTree’s BTCW, and Hashdex’s DEFI, registered no flows for the day.
A total of $2.26 billion was traded on Monday. The trading volume for these ETFs was less than in March when it exceeded $8 billion on some days. Meanwhile, these funds have collectively attracted $16.11 billion in net inflow since their January launch.
What’s Next For Bitcoin?
Earlier this month, bitcoin’s price decline was mainly due to fears of massive selling pressure from Mt. Gox and the German government’s BTC sales.
But the assassination attempt on pro-crypto former US President and presumptive Republican candidate Donald Trump at Saturday’s rally seemed to spark a recovery in the world’s largest digital asset, and experts are bullish on the asset’s price trajectory going forward. Bitcoin surged more than 9% over the past week and was currently trading slightly below $64,000.
Veteran trader Peter Brandt discussed bitcoin’s price outlook, suggesting a potential major rally. He referred to a pattern he terms “Hump->Slump->Bump->Dump->Pump” and highlighted that the July 5 double top attempt was a bear trap, confirmed by the July 13 close. He sees a likely continued upward trend but warned that a close below $56,000 would negate this bullish view.
“Bitcoin $BTC could be unfolding its often-repeated Hump…Slump…Bump…Dump…Pump chart construction. Jul 5 attempt at the double top was a bear trap, confirmed by Jul 13 close. Most likely scenario now is that bears are trapped. Close below $56k negates this interpretation”
PeckShield alert reveals LI.FI’s protocol vulnerability is similar to a March 2022 attack, with the same bug recurring.
The decentralized finance (DeFi) platform LI.FI protocol has suffered an exploit amounting to over $8 million.
Cyvers Alerts reported detecting suspicious transactions within the LI.FI cross-chain transaction aggregator.
LI.FI Issues Warning After $8 Million Exploit
LI.FI confirmed the breach in a statement on July 16 via X: “Please do not interact with any http://LI.FI powered applications for now! We’re investigating a potential exploit.” The team clarified that users who did not set infinite approval are not at risk, emphasizing that only those who manually set infinite approvals seem to be affected.
According to Cyvers Alerts, more than $8 million in user funds have been stolen, with the majority being stablecoins. According to on-chain data, the hacker’s wallet holds 1,715 Ether (ETH) valued at $5.8 million and USDC, USDT, and DAI stablecoins.
Cyvers Alerts advised users to revoke relevant authorizations immediately, noting that the attacker is actively converting USDC and USDT into ETH.
Crypto security firm Decurity provided insights into the exploit, stating that it involves the LI.FI bridge. “The root cause is a possibility of an arbitrary call with user-controlled data via depositToGasZipERC20() in GasZipFacet, which was deployed 5 days ago,” Decurity explained on X.
“In general, the risks behind routers, cross-chain swaps, etc. are about token approvals. Raw native assets like (unwrapped) ETH are safe from these kinds of hacks b/c they don’t have approvals as an option. Most users & wallets also no longer do “infinite approvals” which gives a smart contract total control on removing any amount of their tokens. It’s important to understand which tokens you’re approving to which contracts.
This dashboard looks for all transactions of a user that intersects Lifi. Not all of these transactions indicate risk- but you can see how, broadly, integrations & layers of tech (like how Metamask bridge uses Lifi on BSC) can complicate how users do or don’t put their assets at risk. Revoke Cash is the most well known approval manager app.
But it’s also good security practice to simply rotate your address. New addresses start with 0 approvals, so starting fresh by moving your tokens to a fresh address is another good security practice.” – commented Carlos Mercado, Data Scientist at Flipside Crypto.
Recent Exploit Mirrors March 2022 Attack
Further analysis by PeckShield alert revealed that the vulnerability is similar to a previous attack on LI.FI’s protocol that occurred on March 20, 2022. That incident saw a bad actor exploit LI.FI’s smart contract, specifically the swapping feature, before bridging.
The attacker manipulated the system to call token contracts directly within their contract’s context, making users who had given infinite approval vulnerable. This exploit resulted in the theft of approximately 205 ETH from 29 wallets, affecting tokens such as USDC, MATIC, RPL, GNO, USDT, MVI, AUDIO, AAVE, JRT, and DAI.
“The bug is basically the same. Are we learning anything from the past lesson(s)?” PeckShield Alert said in a July 16 X post.
Following the 2022 incident, LI.FI disabled all swap methods in its smart contract and worked on developing a fix to prevent future vulnerabilities. However, the recurrence of a similar exploit raises concerns about the platform’s security measures and whether adequate steps were taken to address the vulnerabilities identified in the previous breach.
LI.FI is a liquidity aggregation protocol that allows users to trade across various blockchains, venues, and bridges.
