Bitcoin Bear Market Has Seen No Abatement
Michael Moro, CEO of Genesis Trading, sat down with CNBC’s Squawk Box on Black Friday (November 23) to convey his opinions on the current status of the Bitcoin (BTC) and crypto asset market.
Providing investors with his insider expertise as the CEO of a Digital Currency Group subsidiary, Moro explained that Bitcoin’s most recent drawdown, which had its origins in late-December, has had no abatement, or in other words, has been relentless. He then drew attention to the $5,800-$5,900 level of support, which BTC previously held three times in the past year but broke last week. He added that while institutional investors have bought in on the OTC side, retail crypto investors put a substantial amount of selling pressure on this non-liquid market.
A CNBC Squawk Box panelist then posed a tough question to Moro, “how much of [crypto’s decline] been people getting out [of their posistions] by force or by will in stuff that’s not working [for them]?”
Lending his knowledge as the showrunner at one of this market’s foremost OTC platforms, the Genesis Trading chief explained that a majority of early-mid 2018’s sell-off was catalyzed by traders nascent to this space, many of which bought their first BTC during 2017’s jaw-dropping bull run. He added that this specific group of players has sought to liquidate their holdings, solely in a bid to lock in their profits or minimize their losses.
But, turning the question on its head, Moro then added that at his firm, which facilitates block purchase and sale orders from bigwig clients, traders, even those who purchased BTC in 2016, have held a majority of their holdings. This, of course, indicates that there are still a diehard group of believers, including himself, that have mounds of faith situated this innovation. He explained:
And so if you have that [long-term] lens, I don’t believe institutional investors really ultimately care where the price of bitcoin ends in 2018 simply because they’re looking at things three to five years out.
$3k-Flat Per BTC Is The Floor
Although Moro seems to be a diehard believer in blockchain technologies and crypto assets, he wasn’t 100% sold on the short-term prospects of BTC. More specifically, he told viewers of CNBC that the crypto market has yet to find its true floor, adding that traders are unlikely to a bottom until the “3k-flat level.”
Speaking on why this is, Moro drew attention to small prices nuances, adding that although $4,000 has held strong, there isn’t much resistance in the mid-3s.
Moro’s most recent comments echoed ones he made on Cheddar. Just days ago, the industry insider touched on technical signals, such as BTC’s moving averages and momentum indicators, to explain that they’ve moved without rhyme nor reason, even while trading volumes have gone through the roof. So, in closing, Moro, alluding to the belief that short-term pain is inbound, but crypto will succeed over the long haul, elaborated:
“Once we’ve broken through the $5,900 level, shorts have come out [en-masse]. So this continues to be a momentum play, and we have seen guys initiate brand new short positions in the mid-fives and all the way down into the low fours.”
Title Image Courtesy of Hektor Ehring Jeppesen via Flickr and Bitcongress
