● Bitcoin Roars to $33,000 to Kick off New Year
● Forex Rallies as Market Stays Risk-on with Dollar lowest since 2018
● Privacy Cryptos are Under the Spotlight
Welcome to 2021’s first edition of Overbit Insights. We are very excited to start off the new year with our readers and continue to deliver high-quality, financial news and information.
As it did for much of 2020, it looks like Bitcoin has taken the new year by storm. Just one day into 2021 and BTCUSD blasted through the $30,000 level - a whole 50% above its previous all-time highs. Bitcoin didn’t stop there, either, as it added another 10% on top of the rally to hit the $33,000 mark. This is undoubtedly a continuation of a trend that has been evolving since March when Bitcoin rebounded off the $4,000 lows and continued to rally for the rest of the year.
The rest of the market has undoubtedly seen gains as well. The #2 cryptocurrency, Ethereum blasted through $1,000 mark, Litecoin saw similar gains on the day as well, shooting up about 20%; a top 10 altcoin that has expressed paramount resilience against Bitcoin as of late.
The economic markets are continually evolving in today’s globalized landscape, making it an always-changing environment in which it’s tough to evaluate and determine trends. That being said, this cryptocurrency rally for nearly the last year has been an undeniable bright spot in an otherwise economically-bleak year. As we continue to 2021, this may be one of the most important themes to keep an eye on.
Our next topic of the day takes into traditional markets, namely the forex sector. Despite a new year, the US dollar continues its same-old ways, making a descent to lows not seen since 2018. Though the recent quantitative easing is certainly a factor, it seems to be driven more by the fact that the market appears to be in a ‘risk-on’ period, prompted by the optimistic vaccine developments and ongoing rollout. The traditionally risky forex currencies exemplify this like the Aussie (AUD), and the Kiwi (NZD) gained against the dollar to start off the new year.
Some of the major rivals for USD showed some great strength to start off the first week of the year as well. The British Pound rallied off AstraZeneca vaccine approval, as well as the UK Parliament approving the ‘Brexit’ resolution. It currently sits at 1.36561, just a few pips below its May 2018 high. Things looked bright for the Euro as well, as EURUSD cleared the significant resistance of 1.2, where it currently sits at 1.22157. While it’s much too early in the year to call, these first few days of 2021 appear very promising for a year marked by recovery.
Closing out our last story of the week, is the added scrutiny privacy coins are under right now. Three of the most popular privacy coins, Monero (XMR), Zcash (ZEC), and Dash (DASH), are all in the spotlight right now by regulators leading to action by exchanges to delist them by January 15th, 2021.
Bittrex announced this past Friday it would be delisting these three coins, and gave no reason. However, many in the industry are speculating; it is because of increased pressure by know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) laws and enforcements happening behind the scenes.
One example of this is the US Secret Service, the enforcement arm against money laundering in the United States has urged congress to create laws to limit privacy-focused cryptos. As a result of these delistings, XMR and ZEC have trailed down over 10%, while the rest of the market trends up.
Continuous new developments in crypto are happening rapidly, and rest assured that Overbit.com, is staying up to date with our products to remain a happy trading experience. Thanks again for reading, and we’d like to wish you a very happy New Year.