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XRP Whale's $18M bet
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A new 12-month ‘high’ for Bitcoin as $70K looms large
Key points:
Bitcoin recorded its highest levels of spot trading volume in over a year on 5th March.
This may be a sign of sustained retail interest in BTC.
News - On the back of the world’s largest cryptocurrency hitting a new all-time high on the price charts, Bitcoin registered a new high after spot trading volume on centralized exchanges touched a 12-month peak of $46.26 billion.
Records and more records? Spot trading volumes for Bitcoin remained high even after BTC retraced on the charts. On 6th March, for instance, figures for the same were down to “just” $31.32 billion. Even so, industry analysts remain optimistic, with one Bitwise exec observing that these volumes have risen by over 680% in 2024.
The aforementioned hike coincided with a similar record registered by daily inflows into spot Bitcoin ETFs. On 5th March, the 10 spot BTC ETFs noted a daily trading volume of over $10 billion. In doing so, these funds beat their previous record of just over $7 billion.
These records were accompanied by other bullish indicators too. For example, the no. of retail addresses with at least $10 worth of Bitcoin in them climbed to a new ATH this week too. This, on the back of social media mentions for Bitcoin peaking.
Where’s the price heading next? With Bitcoin’s halving scheduled to be completed in less than 50 days, the market landscape is very prone to significant changes. At this point in time, BTC has the potential to both climb and depreciate on the charts.
Long positions worth over $2 billion are expected to be liquidated if Bitcoin drops to $63,200. This could spur selling pressure within the market.
On the contrary, if BTC hits $70,000, shorts worth over $2.4 billion will be liquidated. Such a liquidation will likely trigger a sharper hike upwards of $70K for Bitcoin.
XRP whale’s latest transfer highlights traders’ confidence
Key points:
A prominent XRP whale’s latest transfer coincided with the asset’s price recovery.
Trading volumes peaked between the 5th and 6th of March too.
News - According to Whale Alert, a whale transferred over 18.7 million XRP tokens from Binance to an unknown wallet. At press time, this transfer had an approximate value of over $11 million. This could be a sign of traders being more open towards the idea of accumulation.
What does this mean? Since the said transfer coincided with XRP recovering by 5% over a 24-hour period, it can be assumed that it is a sign of traders having more confidence in the long-term price performance of the asset. Ordinarily, when that is the case, traders seek to accumulate more.
This was evidenced by the fact that between 5th and 6th March, trading volumes for XRP were close to the $5 billion mark. Additionally, the period also saw a notable hike in Open Interest, with the same hiking to $922 million.
Here, it’s worth pointing out that XRP was unable to maintain these levels in the days after as the OI soon fell below $800 million within just two days.
A look at the charts - While XRP’s price charts haven’t been as bullish as those of other cryptos in the markets, its indicators have been so. A look at the 24-hour chart revealed its Chaikin Money Flow being close to the 0.20 level - A sign of capital inflows into the market.
The MACD line flashed something similar with its presence above the Signal line on the charts.
Solana might beat Ethereum on this front as WIF leads recovery
Key points:
Solana’s DEX volume has risen sharply over the last few months.
This hike can be attributed to memecoin frenzy on the network.
News - Back in 2023, Solana’s market share of DEX volume was just 1.1% while Ethereum had a dominance of between 50% to 70%. In March 2024, however, Solana holds 29% of the DEX market, compared to Ethereum’s 36% share.
Within the Solana network, the likes of Orca, Raydium, and Meteora have recorded a significant spike in their DEX volumes over the past year.
Here, it’s worth noting that despite Solana’s TVL appreciating by 89%, there has been a general decline in user activity across the network.
An explanation - Solana’s booming DEX volume can be attributed to the memecoin frenzy within the network. Airdrops led by Jupiter and the Pyth Network gave way to dogwifhat [WIF] and BONK. As token creation on the network grew, these Solana-based memecoins surged to record highs on the price charts.
With most centralized exchanges still apprehensive about listing every memecoin there is, most people resort to using DEXs so that they don’t miss out on taking advantage of memecoins’ volatile movement.
Other factors in play? - With Pantera Capital now set to buy $250M worth of SOL tokens from FTX’s estate, it’s anyone’s guess where Solana and the memecoins on its network go from here.
Solana, for its part, was closing in on $150 on the charts, at the time of writing. On the contrary, memecoins like WIF saw their Open Interest decline over the last 24 hours - A sign that sellers are growing increasingly aggressive.
United States is ‘nowhere near’ a Digital Dollar: Fed Chair
Key points:
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell appeared before a Senate Committee hearing on 7th March.
United States “a long way away from even thinking about it,” he said
News - During a hearing before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, Fed Chair Jerome Powell categorically sought to reassure the American public about the Fed’s plans for the Digital Dollar.
According to the exec, the CBDC experiment is far from complete, with the U.S. a long way away from completing, let alone implementing the Digital Dollar experiment across the American market.
Reassurances and more reassurances - The Digital Dollar experiment has faced a lot of criticism over the last few years, with lawmakers across the political divide having something to say about the same. On 7th March, Powell attempted to quell these concerns by stating that the USA is far from even recommending the use of a CBDC.
Additionally, he sought to calm down anxieties associated with the use of a CBDC as a surveillance tool. According to Powell, if launched, it will be through the banking system and will not be used to spy on American citizens.
In doing so, he cited the example of China’s digital yuan - A CBDC that is actively being used to monitor its population.
Some political background - Back in 2022, President Joe Biden signed an executive order that asked the Federal Reserve to explore the viability and feasibility of a CBDC in the American context.
On the contrary, former President Donald Trump has been very skeptical about the Digital Dollar experiment. In fact, he even called CBDCs “very dangerous.” This viewpoint has been supported by other Republicans like Florida’s Ron DeSantis too.
More stories from the crypto ecosystem
Crypto scams uncovered
Developers associated with Compounder Finance allegedly orchestrated a rug pull worth over $11 million in December 2020. A clone of Harvest and Yield Finance, its smart contracts were drained of WBTC worth over $750K at the time plus $4.5 million ETH and other altcoins. In this case, the developers reportedly had included a call function in the code which allowed them to withdraw all the funds in the project.
In 2018, South African authorities clamped down on a company called BTC Global after defrauding investors of up to $80 million. The company allegedly promised huge returns - 2% in a week, 14% in a week, and 50% in a month - to clients who invested in Bitcoin.
Wholesale changes to X (Formerly known as Twitter) following the change in ownership have reportedly made it easier for criminals to carry out crypto-themed scams on social media. For example, despite Elon Musk categorically stating that X will never release a token of its own, 2023 saw crypto-scammers run ads for ‘X token’ giveaways and earn over $15 million along the way.
Top 3 coins of the day
FLOKI
Key points:
Despite some retracement, FLOKI has sustained an uptrend on the charts.
Indicators highlighted some latent uncertainty in the market.
What you should know - It has been a good few weeks for FLOKI, with the memecoin hiking by over 54% in the last 3 days alone. The latest bout of appreciation followed a brief retracement, with the latter preceded by another sharp surge on the charts. Despite the same, however, at the time of writing, FLOKI was still a good 40% away from its ATH on the charts. Given the market’s volatility, it’s difficult to predict where FLOKI will head next. This uncertainty was evidenced by its technical indicators too as while the Parabolic SAR’s dotted markers were only recently bullish, the RSI was converging with the Signal line on the charts.
EOS
Key points:
Like FLOKI, EOS appreciated on the charts after a bout of retracement.
The altcoin hiked by 41% over the past week.
What you should know - On the back of Bitcoin climbing steadily towards $69K, the rest of the market followed suit. EOS was one of the altcoins to do the same, with the crypto appreciating by over 40%. This surge was accompanied by a similar hike in volume, with EOS recording a level unseen in over a year. The bullishness of the crypto’s movement was backed by the findings of the MACD, with the same positioned well above the Signal line on the charts.
Binance Coin (BNB)
Key points:
Binance’s BNB hiked by >18% over the last few days.
BNB looks set to continue the uptrend it has been on since 2023.
What you should know - Unlike many other cryptos, BNB’s price appreciation isn’t recent. Instead, the crypto has been on an uptrend since October 2023 when it was valued at just over $200. Trading at over $468 at press time, BNB is expected to climb even higher in the short term. Especially on the back of the larger market’s bullishness. That’s not all either, with BNB Chain’s record volume contributing to the positivity around BNB. The crypto’s indicators underlined the same, with the Chaikin Money Flow pointing to capital inflows into the market. Additionally, the Bollinger Bands highlighted incoming volatility. That being said, MEV bots and sandwich attacks could soon have a say too.
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