Cryptocurrency News Update: Bitcoin pushes above $9,400, altcoins calm down

Here's what you need to know on Thursday

Markets:

BTC/USD has barely changed since the start of the day and gained nearly 1.2% on a day-to-day basis. The first digital asset is changing hands at $9,400 after a move to $9,445 during early Asian hours. The coin is moving within the short-term bullish trend amid shrinking volatility; Bitcoin's market dominance dropped to 62.7%.

At the time of writing, ETH/USD is changing hands at $246.20, off the intraday high of $247.17. ETH/USD has grown by over 2.3% in the recent 24 hours and stayed unchanged since the start of the day. ETH is moving within a short-term bullish trend amid expanding volatility.

XRP/USD is trading at $0.2020 after a short-lived move below $0.2000 during early Asian hours. The third-largest digital asset has gained over 3% in the recent 24 hours and stayed unchanged since the beginning of the day. Now the short-term trend is bearish while the volatility is high.

Among the 100 most important cryptocurrencies Holo (HOT) $0.00078 (+38.4%), Stellar (XLM) $0.0942 (+21.5%), iExec RLC (RLC) $0.9489 (+16.4%) are the most successful. The day's losers are Quant (QNT) $8.15 (-10.5%), SwissBorg (CHSB) $0.0862 (-6.9%), Cardano (ADA) $0.1238 (-5.4%).

Chart of the day:
BTC/USD, 30-min chart

Markets

In June, Bitcoin's volatility dropped to the lowest level since February as the cryptocurrency market entered a summer lull. Despite some trading activity at the beginning of the previous month, the first digital asset sat in a range limited by $9,000 and $10,000. As a result, Bitcoin's annualized 30-day volatility decreased to 45.60% on June 30, which is the lowest level since February 18, according to the data, provided by Blockforce Capital.

Michael Conn, CEO of Singapore-based fund Zilliqa Capital, believes that cryptocurrency traders took a wait and see approach with BTC during June as people were focused on social issues and COVID-19 related news.

Ripple is at risk to reverse its stellar gains as the coin is hovering close to $0.2000. A sustainable move below this barrier will discourage bulls and bring back bears to the market.  According to Ripple's CTO David Schwartz, the cryptocurrency prices reflect ‘a fair assessment of the expected future.’

I honestly believe (crazy as it sounds) that cryptocurrency prices generally do reflect the wisdom of crowds and a fair assessment of the expected future. I am way in the minority on this view and of course, I could well be wrong. But that's what I truly believe, he tweeted.

Industry

Kraken, One of the largest bitcoin exchanges in the U.S,  added new deposit funding options for the US residents. Now the customers from the US can use  MVB bank as a payment gateway for making fiat deposits to their accounts opened with the cryptocurrency exchange. According to the exchange representatives, the new partnership with  MVB bank is with Kraken's strategy to increase deposit options. Now users can fund the accounts via SWIFT and FedWire payment systems via Signature Bank and Etana Custody, as well as via FedWire via Evolve Bank. 

A major Japanese online trading company, Monex Securities, launched cryptocurrency-based CFDs (contracts for difference). This type of investment instrument allows traders to profit from price fluctuations without actually buying or selling the underlying asset. Basically, a buyer of the contract pays the seller the difference between the current asset price and its price at the contract's expiry date.

CFD trading si available for Monex users since July 8. They have access to Bitcoin (BTC)/yen, Ether (ETH)/yen, XRP/yen,  and Bitcoin Cash (BCH)/yen trading pairs with a leverage 2x