--- title: "Lifting the Offer: Week of May 4th, 2015" description: Released every Monday, Lifting the Offer provides key market data, macro analysis and price outlooks to prepare bitcoin traders for the week ahead. image: https://insights.paxos.com/hubfs/_itBit_LTO/Lifting-the-Offer-Week-of-05.04.2015.png --- [![itBit](https://insights.paxos.com/hubfs/itBit-Careers-Square.svg)](https://www.itbit.com/) [![itBit](https://insights.paxos.com/hubfs/itBit-Careers-Long.svg)](https://www.itbit.com/) [OPEN TRADING ACCOUNT](https://exchange.itbit.com/signup) [SUPPORT](https://www.itbit.com/contactus) [LOGIN](https://exchange.itbit.com/login) - [Exchange](https://www.itbit.com/exchange) - [OTC Trading](https://www.itbit.com/otc) - [Market Data](https://exchange.itbit.com/markets) - [Blog](https://www.itbit.com/blog) - [Exchange](https://www.itbit.com/exchange) - [OTC Trading](https://www.itbit.com/otc) - [Market Data](https://exchange.itbit.com/markets) - [Blog](https://www.itbit.com/blog) # [ITBIT TRADING BLOG](https://www.itbit.com/blog) ## Lifting the Offer: Week of May 4th, 2015 May 4, 2015 at 4:12 PM | [Bobby Cho](https://insights.paxos.com/blog/author/bobby-cho) ![Lifting-the-Offer-Week-of-05.04.2015](https://insights.paxos.com/hubfs/_itBit_LTO/Lifting-the-Offer-Week-of-05.04.2015.png)   Released every Monday, Lifting the Offer provides key market data, macro analysis and price outlooks to prepare bitcoin traders for the week ahead. Check out the full archive [here](https://www.itbit.com/blog/topic/lifting-the-offer).   ### ![Tradeblock-05.04.2015](https://insights.paxos.com/hs-fs/hubfs/_itBit_LTO/Tradeblock-05.04.2015.png?width=876&name=Tradeblock-05.04.2015.png) [*Source: tradeblock.com*](https://tradeblock.com/)   ### Bitcoin by the Numbers  ![Bitcoin-Price-and-Market-Cap-05.04.2015](https://insights.paxos.com/hs-fs/hubfs/_itBit_LTO/Bitcoin-Price-and-Market-Cap-05.04.2015.png?width=862&name=Bitcoin-Price-and-Market-Cap-05.04.2015.png) ### Best Bits from Last Week - [Wired: Overstock Files to Offer Stock That Works Like Bitcoin](http://www.wired.com/2015/04/overstock-files-offer-stock-works-like-bitcoin/) - [Wired: This Digital Wallet Could Finally Get You Into Bitcoin](http://www.wired.com/2015/04/circle-bitcoin-digital-wallet/) - [NewsBTC: UBS Begins Its Bitcoin Experiment with Experimental Job Ad](http://www.newsbtc.com/2015/04/30/ubs-begins-its-bitcoin-experiment-with-experimental-job-ad/)   ### The Macro View ### **Impact of Bitcoin Microtransactions Limited by the Network** Bitcoin’s disruptive impact on remittances and payments has been well-documented. The role the Bitcoin network has played in reshaping microtransactions has received less attention but could ultimately be just as impactful. Before Bitcoin, small cash transfers were not possible without long processing times and hefty fees. Bitcoin technology has allowed businesses to eliminate fraud, avoid high merchant fees associated with smaller transactions and create a new way of accepting micropayments. [ChangeTip](https://www.changetip.com/) and [Bitwall](http://www.bitwall.io/) offer good examples of the new innovative ways bitcoin microtransactions are being brought into the mainstream. ChangeTip taps into social media to allow users to casually “tip” others with micropayments through social platforms including Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Reddit. Bitwall allows subscription-based publications to offer non-subscribers a simple way to pay for an article using bitcoin. Traditional organizations, particularly charities and nonprofits, are also taking advantage of bitcoin microtransactions in their fundraising efforts. Noteworthy organizations accepting bitcoin donations include the American Red Cross, World Aid and Wikipedia. #### ***Network Limitations*** Although Bitcoin addresses many traditional pain points associated with microtransactions, key limitations remain with regards to the network’s scalability. Critics argue that as microtransaction volume grows, it could put additional stress on the already taxed Bitcoin network. As such, it would be best if these transactions are conducted “off-chain”. This scalability issue stems from the fact that the Bitcoin network can currently only handle seven transaction per second (tps). By comparison, Visa is able to handle 24,000 tps and PayPal’s average tps is 133. The Bitcoin network’s limited tps is acceptable at this early stage. However, if Bitcoin is to become the de-facto P2P payment rail for microtransactions, serious enhancements will need to be made to the network infrastructure.   ### Bitcoin Price Outlook: Bullish #### ***Price Recap*** As expected, a few Bitcoin companies used the Inside Bitcoins conference in NYC as a platform for announcements. The biggest news came from from Circle Internet Financial who announced [$50 million in fresh funding from Goldman Sachs and other notable investors](http://techcrunch.com/2015/04/30/circle-goldman-sachs/). The bitcoin market has always reacted sharply to major news headlines, especially those that include Bitcoin interest from traditional financial institutions. The announcement from Circle caused a 3% price jump and may have helped break up the market’s ongoing sideways activity. One thing to note here: volume figures over the past week were similar to previous weeks. Total XBT/USD traded volume last week was 312,787 XBT which is in-line with the weekly average of 292,600 XBT traded over the prior four weeks. This indicates that the price increase was lead by existing traders trading on the news and not new traders entering the market.  #### ***The Week Ahead*** For last week's price movement to be sustained or improved upon, the market will need to see another catalyst. It would be shortsighted to believe that the gains from last week's price spike have built a stable support level. If anything, this week is shaping up nicely for sellers (miners) as the price has held steadily above a new short-term support level of $233. This is a roughly 6% increase from previous short-term support levels.  Even with the jump in support levels, the key metric to watch this week is volume. Despite being in-line for much of April, Weekly XBT volume traded has been down since the start of March. Comparing last week’s total volume traded to the average weekly volume traded over the past two months shows a decline of over 8% (see graph below). This metric should serve as a caution flag to traders that support levels are still weak and prices could easily dive down to last week’s levels.   ![XBT-Volume](https://insights.paxos.com/hs-fs/hubfs/_itBit_LTO/XBT-Volume.png?width=842&name=XBT-Volume.png) [*Source: tradeblock.com*](https://tradeblock.com/)  ### This Week in Bitcoin’s (Limited) History **2013:** [Business Insider: Fred Wilson - Here's Why I'm Investing In Bitcoin](http://www.businessinsider.com/fred-wilson-heres-why-im-investing-in-bitcoin-2013-5) **2014:** [CNET: Bitcoin is ripe for fraud and Ponzi schemes, warns SEC](http://www.cnet.com/news/bitcoin-is-ripe-for-fraud-and-ponzi-schemes-warns-sec/)   Comments? Feedback? We’d love to hear it! [Click here](mailto:bcho@itbit.com) to email the author.   *Bobby Cho is the Director of the Institutional Client Group at [itBit](https://www.itbit.com). Previously, Bobby was Vice President of Trading at SecondMarket specializing in trading bitcoin and illiquid asset-backed securities.*   [Lifting the Offer Legal Disclaimer](https://insights.paxos.com/hubfs/_itBit_LTO/Lifting_the_Offer_-_Legal.pdf?t=1428961216609&t=1429305046006&t=1429914456000&t=1430514280949)  ### Bitcoin Trading Research Delivered to your Inbox ### Categories ### Subscribe to itBit Blog **Products** [itBit Exchange](https://www.itbit.com/exchange) [OTC Trading](https://www.itbit.com/otc) [Custody Services](https://www.itbit.com/custody) [Escrow Services](https://www.itbit.com/escrow) **Resources** [Market Data](https://exchange.itbit.com/markets) [Support Center](https://help.paxos.com) [API](https://www.itbit.com/api) [itBit Blog](https://www.itbit.com/blog) [Fees](https://www.itbit.com/fees) **Company** [About itBit](https://www.itbit.com/about-itbit) [Press](https://www.itbit.com/h/press) [Careers](https://www.itbit.com/h/careers) [Customer Support](https://www.itbit.com/contactus) [Legal](https://www.itbit.com/legal) **Crypto Assets** [Bitcoin](https://www.itbit.com/bitcoin) [Ethereum](https://www.itbit.com/ethereum) [Bitcoin Cash](https://www.itbit.com/bitcoincash) [Litecoin](https://www.itbit.com/litecoin) [Stellar Lumens](https://www.itbit.com/stellar-lumens) - [![](https://insights.paxos.com/hs-fs/hubfs/_00_PAXOS/Medium%20Updated.png?width=28&height=28&name=Medium%20Updated.png)](https://medium.com/paxos/itbit/home) - [![](https://insights.paxos.com/hs-fs/file-2672941852-svg/_itBit_Social_Icons/twitter-02.svg)](https://twitter.com/itBit) - [![](https://insights.paxos.com/hs-fs/file-2654911471-svg/_itBit_Social_Icons/linkedin-04.svg)](https://www.linkedin.com/company/itbit-pte-ltd) Copyright © 2020 Paxos Trust Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved. NMLS #1766787 Crypto asset trading involves a high degree of risk. The crypto asset market is new and unproven and may not grow. Currently, there is relatively small use of crypto assets in the retail and commercial marketplace in comparison to relatively large use by speculators, thus contributing to price volatility that could adversely affect an investment in crypto assets. In order to participate in the trading of crypto assets, you should be capable of evaluating the merits and risks of the investment and be able to bear the economic risk of losing your entire investment. No material at this site should be considered as an offer by itBit to sell or solicitation by itBit of any offer to buy bitcoin or other crypto assets.