Crypto Today: Market calms down; BTC consolidates losses below $8,000

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Markets:

BTC/USD has been moving within a tight range above $7,900 during early Asian hours. BTC has stayed mostly unchanged both on a day-to-day basis and since the beginning of the day after losing over 20% during previous days. 

ETH/USD tested critical support of $200.00 during early Asian hours but managed to recover to $203.50 by press time. ETH/USD is currently trading with marginal day-to-day gains amid shrinking short-term volatility.  

XRP/USD attempted a recovery to $0.2100, but the upside momentum faded away on approach to the psychological resistance. At the time of writing, XRP/USD is changing hands at $0.2070, mostly unchanged both on a day-to-day basis and since the beginning of Tuesday. 

Among the 100 most important cryptocurrencies, the best of the day are Loopring (LRC) $0.0476 (+20.4%), Steem (STEEM) $0.2055 (+16.8%) and Augur (REP) $12.58 (+15.5%). The day's losers are Swipe (SXP) $0.8334 (-8.6%), Ren (REN) $0.0664 (-8.10%), Hedera Hashgraph (HBAR) $0.0463 (-6.2%).

Chart of the day:

BTC/USD, 4-hour chart

Market

A major price collapse on the cryptocurrency markets triggered massive liquidations on the crypto derivatives trading platform BitMEX. According to the data, provided by the analytical company TokenAnalyst.io, over $190 million was liquidated on BitMEX in recent 24 hours. The actual losses of BitMEX traders are likely reached  $22 million due to high leverage - up to 100x - used on the exchange on futures contracts as estimated by Nic Carter from Coin Metrics.

Bitcoin and other major digital assets have been moving in tandem with global equities, vulnerable to sell-offs during turmoils and periods of uncertainty. This momentum questions Bitcoin's safe-have argument, promoted by cryptocurrency supporters. However, according to Denis Vinokourov, head of research at a London-based digital asset firm Bequant, in times of great stress " cash is king and even safe-haven assets can fall in price."

Industry

A popular investment app Robinhood experienced another downtime amid major collapse on the financial markets. The company announced on Twitter:

Trading is currently down on Robinhood and we’re investigating the issue. We’re focused on getting back up and running as soon as possible and we’ll update the status page with the latest status.

While the operation has been restored by the time of writing, the users are furious and even suggest placing bets on whether the app crashes tomorrow. Notably, the company offered traders $15 of compensation for the previous failure that happened less than one week ago.

The cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex Global added new features, including credit card support, conditional orders on mobile devices and launched a referral program within a major update program. Stephen Stonberg, COO of Bittrex Global, commented.

Enhanced mobile trading experience is one of our top priorities and creating this new credit card gateway is an important way of lowering the barriers to digital asset trading for new and existing customers alike. These features are the first of many we have planned that will underline Bittrex Global's ambition to provide the best and most secure platform for digital trading.

Regulation

A US-based cryptocurrency exchange Kraken plans to expand its Indian business after the lifting of the banking ban. The company has not provided further details as of yet, however, according to the official announcement, the exchange is going to recommit the resources to the regional development.

Armed with the ability to expand our offering, Kraken is excited to recommit resources to grow its service in the region through new features and offering.

Industry experts expect a revival of Indian cryptocurrency sector after the Supreme Court backed the petition filed by local exchanges, and lifted the ban that prevented Indian banks from providing services to the crypto-related companies.

Quote of the day

Surprised we're seeing the Bitcoin price fall in this environment, would have expected the opposite.

Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase