Bitcoin towards its third monthly loss in 2019
Bitcoin is headed to its third monthly loss in 2019, after another price drop in August.
The most famous cryptocurrency in the world is currently (Aug. 31) trading at $8,472, representing a -8.82% drop on the opening price of $9,395 observed on Aug. 1, according to Coinbase.com. Bitcoin has already fallen by -7.59% and -6.27% in January and July, respectively.
Bitcoin’s five-month increase – the biggest since August 2017 – ended last month. January’s -7.59% drop was the sixth consecutive monthly drop – the longest losing streak on record.
In the past, Bitcoin has marked sharp upward movements by $1,000 or more in just a few minutes. For instance, prices rose from $9,300 to $10,400 in 30 minutes during on July 18. Nevertheless, this month this has not happened.
Top 10 Cryptocurrencies Are Trading Below their 200-day MA
Bitcoin is currently an exception among the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization at CoinMarketCap, as the other coins have fallen below a key long-term moving average, according to an analysis made by Coindesk. The top 10 cryptocurrencies by market value, Ethereum, Ripple, Bitcoin cash, Litecoin, Binance, EOS, Bitcoin SV and stellar, have all closed the trading week below their 200-period moving average on the daily chart. ‘The event marks a period of greater selling momentum, confirming the majority of the bearish mood currently prevailing among investors. Most traders now have their funds locked up in bitcoin, as seen by its high dominance rating standing at 69.1%’, Coindesk writes. The majority of the top 10 altcoins had already been trending bearish below the 200-period MA in July and Bitcoin cash was the last to fall below the average on August 28. ‘The onus is now heavily on the bulls to recoup losses above the 200-period MA’s or risk reverting back to 2018’s market trend of significant long-term lower lows and lower highs’, Coindesk concludes.
Some cryptos gained this month
Notwithstanding the biggest tokens have lost ground over the last days, there are four cryptos among the top 100 by market capitalization which have risen in the last trading week, recording a double- and even a triple-digit increase: ThoreNext, Oasis City, Egretia, and HedgeTrade. Three of them are among the top 50 by the total market capitalization, while Egretia on the 58th spot.
A new crypto investment by EAM
Elwood Asset Management (EAM), owned by billionaire Alan Howard, is building a new crypto investment platform for institutional investors, according to Financial Times, quoting EAM’s CEO Bin Ren. As reported by the London-based financial newspaper, Ren sees this as a ‘very big growth opportunity’ and hopes that the platform could eventually manage over $1 billion of assets. Details of the new fund have not been disclosed yet. ‘It is already known that the system would design portfolios for each investor, based on their risk preferences, expected returns and the liquidity terms they want. It will also measure the potential correlation with other assets they own’, Cryptonews.com reports. According to Ren, the company has already identified up to 50 crypto hedge funds that ‘probably satisfy our due diligence’.
Dimension of the crypto hedge fund market
As of May 2019, the market of cryptocurrencies hedge fund was made by 150 active hedge funds, collectively managing $1 billion in assets, excluding crypto index funds and crypto venture capital funds.
Over 60% of these hedge funds managed less than $10 million in assets under management with fewer than 10% managing over $50 million. The average AuM as of the first quarter of 2019 was $21.9 million and the medium $4.3 million, three times bigger than the median AuM calculated at fund launch ($1.2 milion in January 2018). This indicates that funds have been relatively successful at fundraising, despite difficult conditions in the cryptobusiness. The median fund returned was -46.0% in 2018 compared to a Bitcoin benchmark of -72.0%.