Ethereum breaks $1,400 for first time since January 2018

Crypto at a Glance 

It was a landmark day for Ethereum yesterday, with a number of outlets calling a new all-time high as the price broke $1,400 for the first time since January 2018. There were still many that didn’t call it, however. This is because different outlets calculate the all-time high differently, including, notably, CoinMarketCap, which puts the all-time high at $1,448. Do Ethereum bulls have the energy to take another run at breaking it more definitively? There’s enough to quibble over in the crypto space without nitpicking over all-time highs, so breaking $5000 this morning would really help settle some debates.

Elsewhere, Bitcoin continues to circle in the flight pattern it’s established this week between $35,000 and $37,000. There’s also been a cooling-off for the majority of alts, which is probably to be expected after the tremendous rises we’ve seen over the past couple of weeks. Since the market is relatively flat today and it’s Joe Biden’s inauguration, it feels like a good time to look at how far cryptocurrency has come over the last 4 years since Donald Trump took office. On the day of Trump’s inauguration – 20 January, 2017 – bitcoin hit a daily high of $899.40 and Ethereum hit $10.76. That means $1000 spent on bitcoin back then would net you a cool $40,000 if you sold today, while $1000 worth of ether would get you a whopping $127,302 now. Chainlink, Polkadot, and Bitcoin Cash had not yet even launched – 30% of the top 10 coins by market cap were just in twinkle in someone’s eye. Today, they have a combined market cap of over $33 billion. Not bad going under a president who allegedly said he wanted to ‘go after bitcoin’. What will the price of bitcoin be when the 47th president is inaugurated? Answers on a postcard. No prizes for the winner. Sorry. 

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What bitcoin did yesterday

We closed yesterday, 19 January, 2020, at a price of $36,069.81 – down from $36,630.08 the day before. It’s now 18 days since the price of bitcoin was last below $30,000 and 34 since it was below $20,000.

The daily high yesterday was $37,755.89 and the daily low was $36,069.81. 

This time last year, the price of bitcoin closed the day at $8,706.25. In 2019, it was $3,728.57. 

As of today, buying bitcoin has been profitable for… 

99.9% of all days since 2013-04-28.

Bitcoin market capitalisation

Bitcoin’s market capitalisation is currently $665,061,660,451, down from $695,369,116,592 yesterday. 

Bitcoin volume

The volume traded over the last 24 hours was $59,093,095,987, up from $56,296,149,855 yesterday. High volumes can indicate that a significant price movement has stronger support and is more likely to be sustained. 

Volatility

The price volatility of bitcoin over the last 30 days is 90.67%.

Fear and Greed Index

There was a time long ago when the Fear and Greed Index showing 78 would have had many skipping down the street, but at the moment occupying such a lowly spot in Extreme Greed seems almost positively bearish. It’s important to remember, though, that while this may indeed be the lowest level since November of last year, it still suggests the market is very bullish and optimistic. So cool your jets.

Bitcoin’s market dominance

Despite Ethereum’s pump, Bitcoin’s market dominance still stands tall at 65.81. Its lowest ever recorded dominance was 37.09 on 8 January, 2018.

Relative Strength Index (RSI)

The daily RSI is currently 58.17. Values of 70 or above indicate that an asset is becoming overbought and may be primed for a trend reversal or experience a correction in price – an RSI reading of 30 or below indicates an oversold or undervalued condition. 

Google trends

The trend in Google searches over the last 90 days. Google shows this chart on a relative basis with a max score of 100 on the day that had the most Google searches for that keyword. The latest score is 50 – taken from 16 January.

Convince your Nan: Soundbite of the day

“Bitcoin is resilient. Bitcoin is principled. Bitcoin is native to internet ideals. And it’s a great brand.”

  • Jack Dorsey, co-founder and CEO of Twitter

What they said yesterday…

Exciting times for Ethereum fans

Gives you an idea of scale

Wise words. Unless it’s a logistical issue – a fund manager should really know how to buy bitcoin

An explainer would be nice

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Cautionary Notes

It’s definitely tempting to get swept up in the excitement, but please heed these words of caution: Do your own research, only invest what you can afford, and make good decisions. The indicators contained in this article will hopefully help in this. Remember though, the content of this article is for information purposes only and is not investment advice or any form of recommendation or invitation. City AM, Crypto AM and Luno always advise you to obtain your own independent financial advice before investing or trading in cryptocurrency.

All information is correct as of 08:30am GMT.

Crypto AM Daily in association with Luno