Cryptocurrency News (31 Aug 2018)

1. India Eyes State Digital Currency to Cut $90 Million Banknote Bill: India’s central bank is researching how to introduce a rupee-backed central bank digital currency (CBDC) into its monetary policy in a bid to reduce its hefty annual bill for minting physical cash. An inter-departmental unit has already been formed within the organization to study the desirability and feasibility to introduce a central bank digital currency. The effort apparently comes in response to a rapidly changing landscape of digital payments and the rising costs of managing fiat paper/metallic money. While the RBI did not reveal whether the potential CBDC may be blockchain-powered, it claimed the utilization of distributed ledger technology (DLT) in payment and settlement solutions holds the promise of significant economic benefits in future.

2. Yahoo Finance Integrates Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin Trading: Yahoo Finance has integrated trading with Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Litecoin (LTC) on its platform. While statistics are available on the platform for other digital currencies like Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ethereum Classic (ETC) or EOS, they currently do not have buy and sell options. The development has led some in the crypto community to say that it is an important step forward for crypto adoption.

3. Standard Chartered, Siemens Partner on Blockchain Pilot to ‘Fully Digitize’ Bank Guarantees: UK multinational banking and financial services company Standard Chartered (SC) disclosed it is working on a blockchain pilot for bank guarantees using R3 Corda blockchain technology. In partnership with Siemens’ financing arm Siemens Financial Services (SFS) and trade finance platform TradeIX, the pilot began operating in March and aims to be complete by the end of 2018. If successful, the project will “digitize trade and leverage real-time data to deliver efficiency gains and transform the way trade finance is conducted,” SC’s global head of trade products Samuel Mathew commented.

4. EU to Discuss Further Crypto Regulation Amid Concerns About Lack of Transparency: Economic and financial affairs ministers from European Union’s 28 states will hold an informal meeting on the challenges posed by digital assets and the possibility of tightening regulations. The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has previously warned customers about ICO-s, but despite that warnings, ICO’s have established an effective and efficient way to raise capital. The new rules set by The E.U. Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive, bring more stringent transparency requirements aimed at the use of “anonymous payments through prepaid cards” and “virtual exchange platforms” for the purpose of money laundering or terrorist financing.

Charts of the Week (27 Aug 2018)

AUD/NZD Daily Candlesticks & Ichimoku Chart
The weakness of the AUD caused mainly by the political uncertainty surrounding the leadership tussle is now over. Expect AUD to regain ground vs the NZD as RBNZ remains a lot more dovish than RBA. The daily reversal candle on Friday also presents an opportunity with good risk reward.

 

DXY Weekly Candlesticks & Ichimoku Chart
Critical support level for the dollar index (DXY) on the weekly chart. Hold the line!

 

Vee, our Founder/CIO highlights patterns/formations on selected chart(s) every week which may have the potential to turn into trading opportunities. These charts are extracts of our weekly subscription product – “CIO’s Week Ahead Update” which provides analysis for the week ahead, first sent out on Monday of the week.

Let us know what you think in the comments below!

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this material do not constitute a recommendation by TrackRecord Pte. Ltd. that any particular investment, security, transaction or investment strategy is suitable for any specific person. No part of this material may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of TrackRecord Pte. Ltd.

Charts of the Week (20 Aug 2018)

Apple (AAPL) Stock Weekly Candlesticks & Ichimoku Chart
AAPL relentlessly marches higher. Warren Buffett continues to add to Berkshire Hathaway’s holdings. Is there any reason to think the trend will not continue?

 

USD/CNH Weekly Candlesticks & Ichimoku Chart
A strong reversal candle on the weekly chart. Is this the beginning of a fierce retracement?

 

 

Vee, our Founder/CIO highlights patterns/formations on selected chart(s) every week which may have the potential to turn into trading opportunities. These charts are extracts of our weekly subscription product – “CIO’s Week Ahead Update” which provides analysis for the week ahead, first sent out on Monday of the week.

Let us know what you think in the comments below!

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this material do not constitute a recommendation by TrackRecord Pte. Ltd. that any particular investment, security, transaction or investment strategy is suitable for any specific person. No part of this material may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of TrackRecord Pte. Ltd.

Charts of the Week (13 Aug 2018)

EUR/USD Weekly Candlesticks & Ichimoku Chart
With the close of the EURUSD below the weekly cloud, the bear market has well and truly started…

 

EUR/JPY Weekly Candlesticks & Ichimoku Chart
EUR/JPY is also trading below the weekly Ichimoku cloud. A close below this week would be very bearish indeed.

 

Vee, our Founder/CIO highlights patterns/formations on selected chart(s) every week which may have the potential to turn into trading opportunities. These charts are extracts of our weekly subscription product – “CIO’s Week Ahead Update” which provides analysis for the week ahead, first sent out on Monday of the week.

Let us know what you think in the comments below!

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this material do not constitute a recommendation by TrackRecord Pte. Ltd. that any particular investment, security, transaction or investment strategy is suitable for any specific person. No part of this material may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of TrackRecord Pte. Ltd.

Cryptocurrency News (14 Aug 2018)

Bitcoin trading is illegal in Saudi Arabia: A governmental committee comprised of Saudi Arabian regulators has issued a statement, according to which the standing committee warned against trading in cryptocurrencies due to negative consequences and high risks on traders as they are out of government supervision, but there is no indication of possible consequences for parties found to be trading in cryptocurrencies.

Americans are the main targets for crypto hackers, new study reveals: A Russian based computer forensics and information security firm, revealed that in 2017, the number of “compromised login data” increased by 369 percent in comparison to 2016, while in January 2018 alone, there were 212 leaks of login data, which represented an increase of 689 percent to the monthly average experienced in 2017. According to the study, the three major countries that are targeted the most by hackers are the United States, Russia, and China and one in every three victims were Americans.

Communist Party of China Releases Primer on Blockchain Technology: The book by China’s Communist Party provides a scientific description of key blockchain features, its origin, future application scenarios, as well as major challenges associated with the adoption of the new technology. The Chinese political party aims to assist government authorities in understanding the concept of distributed ledger technology (DLT) and consider the benefits and challenges of adopting blockchain on a national scale. Earlier yesterday, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) listed a blockchain laboratory as one of the key labs for the year of 2018. The MIIT’s blockchain lab aims to improve data security and IT systems with the new DLT developments, and will operate under the oversight of the National Industrial Information Security Development Research Center.

FinCEN says it receives 1500 crypto complaints in a month: The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) receives more than 1,500 reports every month from financial institutions regarding cryptocurrencies. FinCEN director Kenneth Blanco discussed the role his agency takes in regulating cryptocurrencies. He emphasized the importance of Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) filings – a type of document that financial institutions must file following a suspected incident of money laundering or a fraud.

Cryptocurrency News Update (10 Aug 2018)

Blockchain Startup Enables Litecoin Transactions via Telegram Messenger: Lite.im will allow users to send commands to check their current LTC balance and send LTC to a wallet or an email address.

Bank of China CIO Says Bank to Increase Investments in Blockchain, Fintech: Bank of China has revealed plans to increase the company’s investments in research and development technologies such as blockchain, the Internet of Things (IoT), and fintech. Bank of China has been applying blockchain technology in 12 different projects.

Binance Offers First Look At Planned Decentralized Crypto Exchange: Binance, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges by trading volume, announced back in March that it plans to launch a new public blockchain for the purposes of developing the Binance Chain, a platform to transfer and trade different crypto assets without a centralized operator. This week, CEO Changpeng Zhao provided the first demonstration of the Binance Decentralized Exchange and the Binance Chain.

Google Search Can Predict Bitcoin Price Increases, Study Finds: This study incorporates data from consumer activity on search forums such as Google and social media sites such as Twitter. It found that a standard deviation increase in searches for keywords such as “bitcoin” forecasted a small increase in the token’s price in the following weeks.

Charts of the Week (6 Aug 2018)

CAD/JPY Daily Candlesticks & Ichimoku Chart
CAD/JPY looks poised to retrace back to 84 handle on the daily chart. With JPY trading strong given the uncertainty on the trade war front, it is a good countertrade to have in a portfolio that is risk-seeking.

 

CAD/JPY Weekly Candlesticks & Ichimoku Chart
On the weekly CAD/JPY chart, it looks like good risk/reward to sell against the bottom of the Ichimoku cloud. With both the daily (above) and weekly charts pointing in the same direction, it is worth a shot!

 

Vee, our Founder/CIO highlights patterns/formations on selected chart(s) every week which may have the potential to turn into trading opportunities. These charts are extracts of our weekly subscription product – “CIO’s Week Ahead Update” which provides analysis for the week ahead, first sent out on Monday of the week.

Let us know what you think in the comments below!

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this material do not constitute a recommendation by TrackRecord Pte. Ltd. that any particular investment, security, transaction or investment strategy is suitable for any specific person. No part of this material may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of TrackRecord Pte. Ltd.

Cryptocurrency News Update (6 Aug 2018)

Bank of Thailand Allows Banks to Open Subsidiaries for Crypto Dealings: Thai banks can now issue digital tokens, provide crypto brokerage services, run crypto-related businesses, and invest in cryptocurrencies through subsidiaries.

Goldman Sachs Investment Strategy Group: ‘Crypto Mania’ a Risk to Stable 2018 Outlook: GS highlights “cryptocurrency mania” as one of several factors that could affect their initial market outlook for this year. The investment bank expects cryptocurrency markets to “further [decline] in the future given our view that these cryptocurrencies do not fulfill any of the three traditional roles of currency.

Bitcoin Whale’s Bad Trade Leaves Counterparties Holding the Bag: A long position in Bitcoin futures listed on OKEx was forced to liquidate on Tuesday, but the exchange was unable to cover the trader’s shortfall as Bitcoin’s price slumped.