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Wormhole ($W) is the native token of the Wormhole platform, a multi-chain protocol that enables the transfer of assets and data between blockchains. Wormhole ($W)'s price increased by 19.9% last week due to high demand for cross-chain assets.Ether.fi ($ETHFI) saw strong demand on Saturday, coinciding with the ETH strong rebound. ETHFI's price increased by more than 45% in 36 hours over the weekend. However, the majority of the gains were reversed after the Asian market opened on Monday.Arweave ($AR) is a decentralised storage network that focuses on storing data indefinitely. It functions as a collectively owned hard drive that hosts the "permaweb" - a permanent, decentralised web. It also ensures data integrity and accessibility for future generations, ushering in a paradigm shift in digital preservation. The AR price fell over 18% when BTC broke below $60k on Wednesday, and it has returned -16.7% in the last seven days.Optimism ($OP), a layer-2 Ethereum scaling solution, has recently seen strong demand, rising by more than 9% in the last 24 hours. According to a report published on Tuesday by Unchained crypto, A16z, one of the largest cryptocurrency venture capital funds, purchased $90 million in OP tokens. The VC firm's investment has a two-year vesting period, according to sources.

Overall Market

The above chart shows the BTC price movement in the last two months.As we discussed in previous posts, the $60k - $61k range was a strong demand zone that was tested several times after the BTC price traded above it. However, following recent sell-offs due to geopolitical conflicts, buying power in that range dwindled, and BTC fell below this level.As stated in our April 17 report, if BTC falls below the $60k/61k support range, the next strong support range will be $56k/57k. It is also the 350-day moving average. This moving average served as a solid support level during the Silicon Valley Bank collapse. BTC price has formed a bear flag since April, and the upper level has been tested several times and rejected. The $56k/57k support level is also around the lower trendline. If BTC recovers from here, this does not mean that the price will reverse and return to an all-time high. Unless the BTC price breaks above the downward channel, we believe the BTC momentum will continue to trade within the downward channel.If the BTC price falls below the downward channel, the next strong support level will be the $51k/52k range, as shown in the chart. 

Options Market

The above table shows the 25-delta skew of BTC and ETH options.As shown in the table above, both BTC and ETH options have extremely negative skews for short and intermediate tenors. The negative skew indicates that options traders are more likely to buy puts rather than calls. The most recent one with such negative skews occurred on April 16, when the Middle East's geopolitical conflicts escalated. BTC recovered the majority of its losses over the next few days, but then continued to decline.This time, our desk noticed a more significant skew shift to the negative side than on April 16. One of the reasons could be the FOMC meeting held this Wednesday. Although the market expected the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates unchanged, it is more important to know whether the Fed will raise interest rates again given the sticky inflation backdrop. Following the FOMC meeting today, Fed Chairman Powell indicated that no interest rate hike is being considered, but he did not provide any indication of when the interest rate cut will occur. The slowdown in the pace of balance-sheet reduction benefited the market, but the postponed rate-cut action cast a cloud over investors' heads.Our desk believes that the negatively skewed BTC and ETH options will move back towards the zero line in the next few days, but they may remain negative for an extended period if the downward momentum on the BTC price continues.

Macro at a glance 
Last Thursday (24-04-25)The US GDP growth rate was 1.6% in the first quarter of 2024, lower than the expected 2.5%. The lower-than-expected GDP growth rate raised market concerns about the potential failure of the Federal Reserve's proposed soft landing.US initial jobless claims fell further last week, from 212k to 207k, indicating that the US labour market remains tight.US Treasury Secretary Yellen stated that US economic growth was likely stronger than the weaker-than-expected market data, and inflation continued to rise despite the Q1 flare-up.The Bank of Japan maintained its interest rate at 0.1%, unchanged, and continued its bond purchase. BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda stated that if data confirms the BOJ's price view, it will raise interest rates, but he did not give clues on when the rate hike will start.Last Friday (24-04-26)The US PCE price index rose 2.7% year on year in March, exceeding the estimated 2.6% and February's 2.5%. The core PCE price index rose 2.8% on an annual basis in March, exceeding the expected 2.6% and remaining consistent with February's 2.8%. The higher-than-expected PCE price index demonstrated that inflation is stickier than the market expected, potentially postponing the Federal Reserve's rate-cut decision timeline.On Tuesday (24-04-30)In April, the Eurozone's CPI growth rate was 2.4% year on year, which was consistent with economist forecasts. The core CPI growth rate was 2.7%, slightly higher than the expected 2.6% but lower than March's 2.9%. Unlike the data in the United States, the Eurozone's CPI continued to fall, drawing closer to the ECB's 2% inflation target. According to the data, the ECB is more likely to cut interest rates for the first time this cycle at its June meeting. In April, US CB consumer confidence was 97.0, significantly lower than the estimated 104.0 and March's 103.1. Worse-than-expected consumer confidence suggests that consumer spending may slow in April, easing upward inflation pressure.On Wednesday (24-05-01)The Federal Reserve maintained its interest rate at 5.50%, unchanged. The FOMC statement cited a lack of progress toward the Committee's 2% inflation target. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve will reduce its balance-sheet reduction from $65 billion to $25 billion, beginning in June. According to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, raising interest rates is unlikely to be the central bank's next step. The dovish comment boosted all three indices by more than 1%, with the BTC rising from $57.4k to $59.3k. However, all gains were reversed before the US session ended. When the US market closed, Bitcoin was trading at $57,000.

Convert Portal Volume Change
The above table shows the volume change on our Convert Portal by zone. This week, the Monitoring zone saw a 3.4% increase in trading volume, while the Fan token zone experienced an 8.2% decrease on Convert.Over the last seven days, Loom Network ($LOOM) and aelf ($ELF) have contributed the most to the Monitoring zone's volume increase.The BNB Chain zone saw a 5.8% decrease in trading volume on Convert. Nonetheless, several tokens were highly demanded in this zone. Polkastarter ($POLS) and COMBO ($COMBO) saw the highest increase in trading demand among tokens in the BNB Chain zone.During the same period, volume in the Fan Token zone fell by 8.2%. FC Barcelona Fan Token ($BAR) and FC Porto ($PORTO) are the two most popular tokens in this zone. The demand for Manchester City Fan Token ($CITY) fell the most dramatically.

Why trade OTC?  

Binance offers our clients various ways to access OTC trading, including chat communication channels and the Binance OTC platform (https://www.binance.com/en/otc) for manual price quotations, Algo Orders, or automated price quotations via Binance Convert and Block Trade platform (https://www.binance.com/en/convert) and the Binance Convert OTC API. 

Email: trading@binance.com for more information.

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Ever wonder what those squiggly lines and colorful bars on a crypto chart mean? Understanding how to analyze crypto charts is valuable for anyone interested in navigating the exciting world of cryptocurrency. You can make more informed trading and investment decisions by interpreting the information these charts provide.
If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by such charts, fret not. This guide will give you a brief overview of how to analyze crypto charts. Let’s get started.
Understanding the Basics
Types of Charts
There are primarily three types of charts that show how the price of an asset has moved over time:
Line Charts: Show the closing prices over a set period. Simple and straightforward, they are good for spotting overall trends.Bar Charts: Provide opening, closing, high, and low prices. More detailed than line charts, they offer insights into price movements within a specific timeframe.Candlestick Charts are similar to bar charts but include color coding to indicate price direction. They’re widely used to highlight trends and reversals.
The Basics of Candlestick Charts
Candles, the foundation of most crypto charts, tell the story of a coin’s price movement over a specific period, usually called the timeframe.
Each candlestick has a body and wicks (also called shadows) on either side. The body shows the asset’s opening and closing prices within that period. If the closing price is higher than the opening price, then the candle is colored green, indicating a price increase (bullish). Conversely, if the asset’s price closed lower than it opened at, then the candle is colored red, signifying a price decrease (bearish). The wicks represent the highest and lowest prices reached during that timeframe.

A note on timeframes:
Analysis can vary dramatically with different timeframes. Higher timeframes (like one day, one week, one month, etc.) can give us a broad overview of the asset’s price movement and are better for long-term investment strategies. Shorter timeframes (a few minutes to an hour, for example) offer a more granular view of price action and are typically used for day trading. Each timeframe can tell a different story.
Technical Analysis
Technical analysis is a method for predicting the future prices of stocks, currencies, and other financial assets by studying their past market data, such as price movements and volume. Think of it as trying to forecast the weather by looking at past weather patterns but for financial markets.
When we’re studying crypto charts, we’re essentially doing technical analysis. Of the three main types of charts, candlestick charts are the most popular because they convey the most information. Line and bar charts don’t really give us anything useful when we’re trading.
Support and Resistance
In trading, there is a constant tug-of-war between buyers and sellers. Buyers help drive up the price by increasing demand, while sellers lower the price by reducing demand. Support levels represent price areas where there’s a strong buying force, meaning many buyers place buy orders there and thereby halt the price from dropping further.
On the other hand, resistance levels indicate areas where selling interest is high, meaning many sellers are there to prevent the price from rising further. Identifying these levels on a chart can help you anticipate potential price movements.

Here are some tips on finding support and resistance (S/R) levels:
Consider S/R levels as price areas rather than individual lines.S/R levels on higher timeframes like 4 hours, 6 hours, 1 day, etc. tend to be more reliable than those in shorter timeframes. This is because higher timeframes reflect the sentiment of a larger group of traders.
Try to find key support and resistance levels in every chart you look at. They lay the foundation for technical analysis. But they’re not the only tools you have in your arsenal. Technical indicators are mathematical formulas that take past prices and other bits of information to provide insights into potential future price movements.
While there are many indicators available for us to use, we’ll take a look at some of the more popular ones below.
Volume
Volume indicates the quantity of an asset that was traded during a specific period. A high volume indicates strong interest in the asset, while a low volume may suggest the opposite.
When high volume accompanies a trend reversal, chart pattern, or support and resistance breakout, it confirms that the event is genuine. This is because traders are showing they believe in and support the new price direction.
Moving Averages
The moving average (MA) indicator shows the rolling average price of an asset over time. Its calculation is dependent on the timeframe and duration. 
For example, if you’re working with the 1-day chart, the 20-day moving average for today is calculated by taking the prices over the last 20 days and then averaging them (dividing by 20). This average is then represented as a data point on the chart.
When you move on to the next day, the price for the day furthest to today is removed and replaced by yesterday’s price for the calculation.
Moving averages smooth out price data to filter out noise, helping to identify and confirm trends. For example, if the price is trending below a long-term MA (say, a 200-period MA), it means the downtrend is strong. Similarly, if the price is above its long-term MA, it indicates a strong uptrend.
Moving averages can also act as support and resistance levels, allowing for trading opportunities when the price bounces from either level.
RSI (Relative Strength Index)
RSI measures the speed and change of price movements. It ranges from 0 to 100 and indicates whether an asset is overvalued or undervalued. If the RSI is greater than 70, the asset might be overbought, meaning a sell-off is on the way. If RSI<30, the asset might be oversold, meaning you can expect a lot of buyers to come and drive the price up.
MACD (Moving Average Convergence Divergence)
MACD is a trend-following momentum indicator that shows the relationship between two moving averages of a cryptocurrency’s price.
Chart Patterns
Specific candlestick arrangements, called patterns, can hint at future price movements. The technical indicators discussed above can confirm the strength of these patterns and help you make better trades.
Let’s look at some of the most common chart patterns below.
1. Double Top
The double top chart pattern appears when the price of an asset rises to a peak (a high point), drops slightly, and then rises to that peak again before falling more substantially. You can visualize it as a mountain range with two distinct peaks of nearly the same height, with a valley between them. Other ways of visualizing it include the letter “M” and the Bactrian camel.
The double top occurs during an uptrend and signals that the buying momentum is weakening. The asset’s price tried to break through the peak twice but failed, meaning there’s a lot of selling pressure at that resistance level. It suggests a potential reversal from an uptrend to a downtrend.

2. Double Bottom
The double bottom is the mirror image of the double top if the mirror was placed at the neckline. It’s a bullish chart pattern that occurs during a downtrend, suggesting a price reversal.

3. Head and Shoulders
The head and shoulders chart pattern consists of three close peaks with two smaller peaks on either side (the shoulders) and a higher peak in the middle (the head). It resembles a person’s silhouette from the front, hence the name. Running beneath the two shoulders and the head is a line drawn across the lows, called the neckline.
The head and shoulders pattern occurs in an uptrend and signals a shift from a bullish to a bearish market sentiment. The principle behind it is that buyers are losing momentum. They drive the price up thrice (represented by the peaks in the pattern) but are met with sellers who drive it back down again.
The price breaking below the neckline confirms the pattern. This means that the sellers are now in control and that it might be time to consider selling or shorting the asset as prices could be headed lower.
Beyond the Chart: A Well-Rounded Approach
While technical analysis is a valuable skill, it’s not the only factor to consider. News events, new government regulations, and the overall health of a cryptocurrency project can all significantly impact its price. A well-rounded investment approach considers technical, sentimental, and fundamental analysis.
You also need to study the macroeconomics of the market. Let’s take a very rudimentary example. Let’s say the Federal Reserve is going to have a meeting soon to decide whether to cut interest rates or not. On the day of the meeting, you find out that the Fed has cut interest rates. This will encourage spending, stimulate the economy, and drive asset prices up. You look at the charts and confirm that there is a lot of buying activity. You can now go long at much less risk than before the meeting.
The market is a prediction mechanism that you can use to predict where the price is going to be in the future. One massive thing in trading is to second-guess the market, and technical analysis can’t do that. It’s just one part of the equation.
Analysis Strategy
1. Choose a chart and set a time frame.
2. Identify the trend using trend lines and moving averages.
3. Look for patterns that signal future movements.
4. Confirm your analysis with volume and technical indicators.
5. Make informed decisions based on your analysis.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Here are some common mistakes that you should avoid when using technical analysis for trading:
Overreliance on indicators without considering market news.Ignoring volume can validate or question the reliability of a trend.Failing to adjust strategies in response to market changes.
Conclusion
Analyzing crypto charts is both an art and a science. It’s a skill that takes time and practice to master. Don’t get discouraged if the charts seem complex at first. By starting with the basics outlined here and diligently honing your skills, you’ll be well on your way to navigating the ever-changing world of cryptocurrency with greater confidence.
#ScamRiskWarning #BullorBear #TradingTips

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin reminded us that crypto is not about trading digital assets, it is about liberty and decentralization. His statement raises crucial questions about the role of cryptocurrencies in fostering freedom and privacy in the face of global surveillance concerns.

Buterin's assertion underlines a disconcerting trend where individual rights can potentially be compromised by expansive surveillance measures. The fear that governmental powers could misuse such capabilities to monitor adversaries or the public is not unfounded. The ethos of crypto was birthed as a countermeasure to such centralizations of power, aiming to distribute control back to individuals.

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However, the cryptocurrency landscape, including Ethereum, faces its paradoxes. Despite the decentralized ideals, a significant portion of Ethereum's transactions have encountered censorship, most notably with compliance to the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). This contradiction raised a lot of noise in the cryptocurrency community and even became a topic of existential discussion within the Ethereum community.

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Moreover, Ethereum's shift from proof of work (PoW) to proof of stake (PoS) in its consensus mechanism has been touted as a step toward greater efficiency and environmental sustainability. Nonetheless, PoS does not necessarily lead to more decentralization. In PoS, those with larger stakes — or more tokens — have more influence, potentially leading to concentration of power, which is at odds with the fundamental crypto principle of equalizing power distribution, despite the same issue existing in the PoW environment.

Ethereum's value has seen considerable volatility after the most recent market-wide correction. Recent trends show resilience after the return above $3,000, but the second-biggest cryptocurrency is yet to show its true potential as the post-halving rally is expected to push the value of ETH at least toward its previous ATH at approximately $5,000.