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First Mover Americas: A 'Head-and-Shoulders' Case for Altcoins
The latest price moves in crypto markets in context for August 11, 2023.
Updated Aug 11, 2023, 2:39 p.m. Published Aug 11, 2023, 12:26 p.m.
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This article originally appeared in First Mover, CoinDesk’s daily newsletter putting the latest moves in crypto markets in context. Subscribe to get it in your inbox every day.
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A bullish inverse head-and-shoulders price pattern is building in the combined market capitalization of altcoins. The term “altcoin” is short for “alternative coin” and, in this case, refers to cryptocurrencies other than bitcoin, ether and top stablecoins. A potential completion of the pattern would signal "alt season," or outperformance of alternative cryptocurrencies relative to bitcoin and ether, according to technical analysis by Josh Olszewicz, a crypto trader and former researcher at Valkyrie Investments. Olszewicz analyzed the charts of altcoins, excluding ether and prominent stablecoins. The inverse head-and-shoulders, one of the most trusted bullish technical analysis patterns in the market, forms when an asset chalks out three price troughs, with the middle one being the lowest. A breakout or a bearish-to-bullish trend change is confirmed once prices rise above the trendline (neckline), connecting the peaks between the lows.
Crypto exchange Bittrex settled charges of offering U.S. investors access to unregistered securities on Thursday, agreeing to pay a $24 million fine within two months of filing a liquidation plan for the exchange. The SEC sued Bittrex, which filed for bankruptcy in May, earlier this year, saying it simultaneously operated a securities exchange, broker and clearinghouse without registering itself as such. The SEC has brought similar charges against fellow crypto exchanges Coinbase (COIN) and Binance.US. The SEC further alleged that Bittrex directed crypto issuers to delete public statements that could suggest their tokens might violate securities law.
Inflows to Coinbase’s new Base blockchain were muted on the first day after its official launch, failing to meet the expectations of some crypto traders that massive amounts of capital would flow in. Just over $10 million was transferred to the new blockchain in the past 24 hours, according to data in a Dune Analytics dashboard, with just over 15,000 new users and 40% fewer transactions than Wednesday. Of that amount, $5.6 million was in the form of ether, $2.3 million in USD coin (USDC) and the rest in alternative cryptocurrencies. Wallet analysis shows most Base users transferred between $500 to $1,000 worth of ether on average.
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KuCoin captured a record share of centralised exchange volume in 2025, with more than $1.25tn traded as its volumes grew faster than the wider crypto market.
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