Trading in July was heavily influenced by the events in Greece, trading in the Shanghai composite and speculative bets in the Litecoin market. Unlike July, August should offer greater stability through inactivity. The global financial markets typically generate less news and lower volumes in August and the bitcoin market should follow suit.
Source: tradeblock.com
Bitcoin by the Numbers
Best Bits from Last Week
- ZDNET: How Blockchain is Likely to Transform IT and Business
- WSJ: BitBeat: Bitcoiners Decamp to Bretton Woods, Assess the Future of Bitcoin
- Techcrunch: UK Is Leading The Way To Becoming A Global Bitcoin Hub
- Coindesk: US Government Funds $3 Million Cryptocurrency Research Initiative
Bitcoin Price Recap
The bitcoin market closed out July on a quiet note with the majority of price movements occurring during Asia market hours. The price trended down slightly on low volumes as traders continue to search for new economic indicators to provide them with market conviction.
Resistance was met early in the week as prices peaked at $297. This resistance level should serve as an important boundary with some traders still underwater (approx. 5%) from long positions taken at last week’s high.
Bitcoin Trading Week Ahead
One thing to watch this week is if the bitcoin price can continue to hold at current levels. Last week marked the fifth time this year that the market climbed past $295. Unfortunately, each of these climbs have been followed by declines of greater than 5% the following week so traders should remain alert.
Overall, the bitcoin price has been on an incredible run this summer, with the market up roughly 25% since early-June. We’ll see if this momentum continues in August.
This Week in Bitcoin’s (Limited) History
2013: Forbes: Federal Judge Rules Bitcoin Is Real Money
2014: WSJ: U.K. to Examine Virtual Currency Regulation
Released every Monday, Lifting the Offer provides market and price analysis to prepare bitcoin traders for the week ahead. Check out the full LTO archive.
Bobby Cho is the Director of the Institutional Client Group and leads itBit’s Global OTC Agency Trading Desk. Previously, Bobby was Vice President of Trading at SecondMarket specializing in trading bitcoin and illiquid asset-backed securities.
Comments? Feedback? Shoot Bobby an email.
*All data and references are current as of 9:00AM EST on 8/3/2015.
