Altcoin Watch

Traders debate whether Solana (SOL) is a buy now that it’s down 87% from its all-time high

SOL price is 87% down from its all-time high, but do improving fundamentals strengthen its investment thesis?

The crypto sector is caught in a deep correction and recent reporting shows that a majority of altcoins are more than 70% down from their 2021 highs. Solana is on that list and investors are on the fence about whether the token has strong enough fundamentals to warrant buying Solana (SOL) at its current value.

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows SOL is down 87.5% from its all-time high and given the current state of the market, most price breakouts fail to notch a daily higher high.

*SOL/USDT 1-day chart. Source: TradingView*

Despite, the dismal outlook, there are a few potential positives that could make Solana a project to watch once the wider market enters a consolidation phase.

Solana Mobile

SOL price received a quick boost late last week after a June 23 announcement that the project would release a Solana mobile stack, which enables native Android Web3 apps on Solana.

To go along with the new operating interface for smartphones, Solana also revealed that it will be releasing its own “Saga” Android phone through Solana Mobile in an effort to lead the way on Web3-enabled devices.

Web3 and the Metaverse are two of the topics that arose out of the 2021 bull market and point to the future of where blockchain technology is headed. This move by Solana shows that despite the short-term struggles, it continues to develop for the future and looks to play a part in the wider adoption of blockchain and cryptocurrency.

The low fee nature of the Solana blockchain makes it an ideal candidate for nonfungible token (NFT) projects and gaming DApps, and the release of a tech stack for mobile phones is the next step in creating wider access to these technologies.

If the developers can manage to solve the issues that continue to cause Solana network outages, the token has a chance of being a top contender once the wider market turns bullish again.

It feels to me like $SOL is going thru a similar trough of disillusionment as $ETH did back in 2018. In bear markets prices aren’t just reflexive—sentiment is too. @solana has a vibrant developer ecosystem and its downtime issues are solvable. This will be obvious in retrospect.

— spencernoon.eth (@spencernoon) June 27, 2022

Short-term pain is expected, but fundamentals improve

While it’s nice to look ahead at what the distant future may hold, the reality is that the short-term outlook for Solana and the wider crypto ecosystem is rather unappealing.

Insight into the lower price points to keep an eye on was offered by crypto trader and pseudonymous Twitter user Crypto Tony, who posted the following chart warning traders to not fall for the first retest of a major support level.

*SOL/USDT 1-week chart. Source: Twitter*

Crypto Tony said,

“First demand zone tested hence this reaction, but you really want to call a bottom already after the first test…”

Based on the chart provided, the notable lower levels of support for Solana are located at $13.50 and $3.50.

Market analyst and pseudonymous Twitter user Crypto Patel also predicts further downside in the near term for SOL due to a strong amount of resistance found at the 200-day exponential moving average (EMA).

Crypto Patel said,

“After breakout and retest of $40 zone, Supports converts into Resistance […] Facing resistance at 200EMA. Anytime can give downside movement. Sell: $38.5, SL: $43.2, TP: $27.”

Is SOL in the early stages of a recovery?

A more optimistic outlook for Solana was offered by pseudonymous Twitter user Trader McGavin, who posted the following chart highlighting the important levels of resistance at $60, $74 and $95.

The analyst said,

“Double bottomed after breaking down from the wedge and rebounding higher. One of the first to bounce off the bottom and may be headed to $48.”

The importance of maintaining the current price levels was also touched on by crypto trader and pseudonymous Twitter user Altcoin Sherpa, who posted the following chart noting the bullish signal provided by the medium-term EMAs.

*SOL/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: Twitter*

Altcoin Sherpa said,

“$SOL: Still a do or die area in low time frames; this is the first time we’ve seen some of the medium EMAs flip bullish since March. Longing mid $30s is my current plan as a scalp since I missed the short higher.”

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

Stratis (STRAX) gains 200%+ after Sky Dream Mall metaverse and stablecoin announcement

STRAX price bucked the market-wide bearish downtrend by rallying 200% after the team unveiled plans for a British pound stablecoin and a new metaverse.

Bear markets can be incredibly harsh for projects that have little adoption or lack an applicable use case, but projects that dedicate to building regardless of market sentiment tend to succeed in the next market cycle.

One project that has seen a noticeable boost in volume, despite the wider-market downtrend is Stratis (STRAX), a blockchain development platform designed to help enterprise businesses establish their own blockchain in a simplified manner.

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that after hitting a low of $0.365 on June 15, the price of STRAX has rallied 220% to hit a daily high of $1.20 on June 29 amid a surging 24-hour trading volume.

*STRAX/USDT 1-day chart. Source: TradingView*

Here are three reasons why the price of STRAX is rallying this week as the wider crypto market continues to struggle.

Metaverse launch entices volume

The Metaverse was one of the hottest topics during the bull market of 2021 and the concept continues to be a driving force behind mass adoption in the crypto space.

Prior to the recent STRAX price rally, the team behind the protocol teased the upcoming launch of Sky Dream Mall, a metaverse project that is powered by the Stratis blockchain.

Sky Dream Mall, a metaverse powered by Stratis Blockchain Coming soon! #metaverse #metaverseland #nftcommunity #nftartwork #vaperwave #stratis #Cryptocurency
.@StratisphereNFT .@stratisplatform .@Stratis_Faction pic.twitter.com/TpmhGDpKvz

— Polycarbon Games (@Polycarbongame) June 25, 2022

The protocol has been experiencing growth within its nonfungible token (NFT) and GameFi communities, thanks to projects like he Astroverse Club and Trivia Legends.

Stablecoins and NFTs

Along with the growth on the Metaverse front, Stratis could also be getting a boost from its plan to launch a Great British ound Token (GBPT) stablecoin.

The GBPT stablecoin is being developed in conjunction with Price Waterhouse Coopers (PwC), which is helping Stratis complete the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) registration process. PwC will also provide future auditing services when the GBPT stablecoin is eventually released.

The team is also working on a ticketing management system that will allow NFTs to be used to validate entry, and store benefits and perks for designated events and venues.

Outreach in Uganda

A third factor helping to bolster the price of STRAX is the ongoing development of a blockchain innovation center in Uganda, which aims to increase blockchain knowledge and awareness.

The project began after Stratis entered a long-term partnership with the Foundation of King Oyo, the current monarch of the Tooro Kingdom in Uganda.

The foundations have been laid for the Stratis blockchain innovation center in Uganda as part of the Stratis global expansion.#blockchain #dotnet #Stratis $STRAX pic.twitter.com/nIBl0IEsBk

— Stratisplatform (@stratisplatform) May 24, 2022

Construction of the center began on May 24 and the most recent update on the project was posted on June 27 showing that the foundation for the center is nearing completion.

Celsius (CEL) price gains 600%+, but analysts cite exchange error and a massive short squeeze

CEL price abruptly rallied 600%+ on June 14, but analysts say it’s likely due to an exchange glitch or a liquidation of short traders.

On June 14, discussions of Celsius continued to populate media headlines and June 14’s news involved the platform’s CEL token accruing massive gains after what appears to have been either an exchange glitch or a short-squeeze. CEL price spiked from $0.18 to $1.55 in one abrupt candle before sinking back to $0.60 within the same one-hour candle.

*CEL/USDT 1-day chart. Source: TradingView*

Currently, analysts are on the fence about the reason for the explosive price breakout. Some cite Celsius repaying a portion of its debts as a reason, while others pinpoint a possible error on the FTX exchange as the reason for what appears to be a short squeeze.

Are debt repayments boosting investor confidence?

Celsius has been scrambling to cover a number of its debts and it is possible that some investors view this as a sign that the platform will be able to survive the current mayhem.

DAI arriving.

Celsius finally going to start paying back the debt after buying enough time by reupping collateral to lower liq? pic.twitter.com/z6y165fzlL

— Hsaka (@HsakaTrades) June 14, 2022

Twitter analyst Hsaka said that on-chain data shows that the $28 million in Dai (DAI) that was recently deposited into a wallet controlled by Celsius and has since been sent to a separate address, which he identified as a debt repayment address.

*Celsius wallet transactions. Source: Twitter*

Analysts believe that the Celsius’s strategy is to lower its liquidation price in the MakerDAO vaults where it holds funds and ultimately avoid insolvency.

User interface problems on FTX

While the beginning of debt repayment might have helped inspire more confidence in Celsius, several crypto traders reported issues when trying to buy and sell the token on FTX exchange.

Several replies to the tweet above confirmed user difficulties when trying to sell CEL on FTX, and Twitter user Karl Larsen said that they “could only fill my shorts at 0.87–0.95.”

The possibility that the difficulties with the user interface on FTX played a part in CEL’s rapid spike was also noted by analytics provider TheKingFisher, who posted the following chart highlighting when the user interface went down in relation to when CEL price pumped.

According to TheKingfisher, when the UX went down, “most traders [were] unable to hedge, close [or] reduce their positions.”

The firm said,

“Spot market went above $2 to break index and trigger liquidations on purpose. That’s a spot manipulation to liquidate traders. Index being calculated on FTX itself. This is not outside of their boundary against fraud [to] keep the market organized.”

It’s just another short squeeze

Some analysts say the price breakout was nothing more than an old-fashioned short squeeze, as noted by Saleem Lala.

Bigger play was to liquidate $CEL shorts on perps.
Funding was super high, over 2500% annualized, meaning lot of people were short.

Prices didn’t move much on the perps, meaning there weren’t natural buys, but liquidations mostly as the mark price went up pic.twitter.com/GCeJNma6IF

— Saleem Lala (@saleemlala) June 14, 2022

It remains to be seen what happens with the price of CEL moving forward, and it seems the most likely culprit was a cascading liquidation because these types of events are relatively frequent during strong market volatility. For example, Chain (XCN) token underwent a similar event on June 14 as its price dropped 95% due to cascading liquidations.

Ocean Protocol, Helium and Chainlink post monthly gains while Bitcoin price consolidates

Roadmap and protocol upgrades are a few of the factors behind the month-long rally in LINK, OCEAN and HNT.

Positive price movements during bear markets are noteworthy primarily because they can help identify projects that have a good chance of surviving until the next bull cycle .

Generally, price action in June has been stagnant for a majority of the crypto market because traders are nervous about Bitcoin’s (BTC) oscillation around the $30,000 support level, but there have been a few strong performers.

*LINK/USDT vs. HNT/USDT vs. OCEAN/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView*

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that three of the biggest gainers in the month of June have been Chainlink (LINK), Ocean Protocol (OCEAN) and Helium (HNT).

Chainlink introduces staking

The Chainlink protocol is the most widely adopted oracle network in the cryptocurrency ecosystem which allows blockchains to securely interact with external data feeds for the proper functioning of smart contracts.

Earlier this week, the project revealed a roadmap for the first time and indicated that LINK staking would launch soon. The NewsQuakes™ alert system from Cointelegraph Markets Pro managed to capture the staking announcement for LINK on June 7, prior to the recent price rise.

*VORTECS™ Score (green) vs. LINK price. Source:* *Cointelegraph Markets Pro*

As seen in the chart above, following the NewsQuakes™ alert for LINK which was registered at noon on June 7, the price of LINK proceeded to increase by 29.55% over the next two days.

Ocean Protocol introduces data NFTs

Ocean Protocol’s native OCEAN token also was a strong performer this week. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that since hitting a low of $0.1965 on June 3, the price of OCEAN has rallied 64.53% to hit a daily high at $0.3233 on June 9.

*OCEAN/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView*

The climbing price of OCEAN comes after the release of the Ocean ONDA v4 data marketplace, which debuted the release of data nonfungible tokens (NFTs) that can be used to model the copyright or exclusive license for a data asset.

Along with the introduction of data NFTS, the protocol has also introduced Ocean data framing which enables token holders to stake their OCEAN tokens and earn up to 125% annual percentage yield (APY).

Helium holders vote to support new networks

Helium protocol is a 5G Internet-of-Things-focused project supporting low-powered wireless devices to communicate with each other and send data across its network of nodes.

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that since hitting a low of $6.35 on May 29, the price of HNT has surged 79.14% to hit a daily high of $12.28 on June 9 as its 24-hour trading volume spiked 249% to $126.7 million.

*HNT/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView*

HNT’s breakout occurred as the Helium community voted on HIP-51, a proposal that covered the economic and technical constructions needed to scale the Helium Network to support new users, devices and different types of networks including cellular, VPN, WiFi and LPWAN.

Voters ultimately approved the proposal on June 8, with 96.94% of voters approving the transition to making Helium a “network of networks.”

Traders target $1,400 Ethereum price after ETH drops closer to a critical support level

Ethereum’s Ropsten testnet successfully integrated the merge to become proof-of-stake, but this hasn’t stopped traders from adjusting their downside price targets.

On June 8, the Ethereum network successfully underwent the merge to become proof-of-stake on its Ropsten testnet, but the news had little impact on ETH price.

With the Ropsten upgrade now looking more like a “buy the rumor, sell the news” type of event, most analysts have kept a short-term bearish outlook for Ether price. Let’s take a look.

*ETH/USDT 1-day chart. Source: TradingView*

Can Ether escape the head-and-shoulders pattern?

Pseudonymous Twitter analyst “Cactus” pointed out a bearish head-and-shoulders pattern and questioned whether Ether price would be able to follow the sharp downside that typically follows the completion of the pattern.

Cactus said,

“This is what we are getting excited about? Hard to be bullish any timeframe until we S/R [support/resistance] flip 2K.”

The areas of support to keep an eye on below $1,800 were highlighted in the following chart posted by crypto analyst and pseudonymous Twitter user “il Capo of Crypto,” who ominously noted, “Lower highs all the time and that support has been touched a lot of times already.”

The analyst said,

“Clean break of $1,700 and last leg down would be confirmed, with main target = $1,000.”

The descending triangle pattern also forecasts further downside

A separate, but equally bearish descending triangle chart pattern was highlighted by pseudonymous analyst “Crypto Tony,” who pondered if this is “something too obvious” to ignore.

Based on the lower area of support highlighted on the chart provided by Crypto Tony, a breakdown below the current price could see Ether pullback to the $1,450-to-$1,600 range.

Price momentum turns negative

A more macro view of the general weakness being displayed by Ether was offered by pseudonymous cryptocurrency trader “Cantering Clark,” who said, “If I didn’t think that this time was slightly different, I would look at this $ETH chart and think ‘Big ships turn slowly, and they don’t stop easily.’”

Cantering Clark said,

“By high timeframe measures, this could be the beginning of actual momentum down.”

Reserve Rights (RSR) builds momentum ahead of its long-awaited mainnet launch

Steady growth in its active users, the stability of the RSV stablecoin and investors’ anticipation over the upcoming mainnet launch could boost RSR price in the short-term.

Bitcoin was created to give the average person a peer-to-peer economic system and a store of wealth asset that could provide financial autonomy and access to banking, especially for people living in places where financial services are sparse or non-existent.

In the last five years, there have been a number of blockchain projects that aim to mirror Bitcoin’s original mission and the growing popularity of stablecoins further highlights the need for alternative financial models. One project that is beginning to see a bit of momentum is Reserve Rights (RSR), a dual-token stablecoin platform comprised of the asset-backed Reserve Stablecoin (RSV) and the RSR token which helps to keep the price of RSV stable through a system of arbitrage opportunities.

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that while the price of RSR has been beaten down along with the wider market over the past few months, the token has recently seen an uptick in trading volume which suggests a possible revival could be underway.

*RSR/USDT 1-day chart. Source: TradingView*

Three reasons for the increase in demand for the RSR token include the upcoming launch of the Reserve Rights mainnet, anticipation for token staking and the ability of RSV to maintain its peg during the recent market-wide volatility.

RSR mainnet launch

The biggest upcoming development for Reserve Rights that has its community excited is its August launch its mainnet.

Following the launch of Reserve Rights on the Ethereum (ETH) mainnet, the full capabilities of the protocol will be enabled including the ability for anyone to create stablecoins backed by baskets of ERC-20 tokens.

Along with being fully collateralized, stablecoins on the protocol (RTokens )can be insured as a way to help protect against collateral devaluation. RTokens are also able to generate revenue for their holders, which is the incentive for RSR holders to stake their RSR on a specific RToken.

Revenue for token holders comes from transaction fees, revenue shares with collateral token issuers and the yields from lending collateral tokens on-chain.

RSR staking

RSR’s mainnet launch will also activate token staking. For most staking protocols that exist today, the main function is to lock tokens in a smart contract which prevents a holder from selling, but it doesn’t really have any additional function for the ecosystem.

Once the full Reserve Protocol has launched on Ethereum mainnet, Reserve Rights (RSR) holders will be able to stake their tokens, thereby insuring & governing the network ⚖️

Let us take you through all the details of RSR staking in our latest article https://t.co/hS8rojPo3z

— Reserve (@reserveprotocol) May 2, 2022

Staking on the Reserve Protocol, in contrast, has a practical use for the protocol because pledging RSR tokens to a specific RToken helps to insure that token against collateral defaults. This means that should any of the collateral tokens default, staked RSR can be seized in order for the RToken to maintain its peg.

In exchange for taking this risk, RToken revenue is shared with RSR stakers in order to guarantee sufficient insurance. The yield offered by each RToken will depend on a variety of factors, including the market cap of the RToken, the revenue the token makes, the percentage of the revenue that is shared with RSR stakers and the total amount of RSR staked.

A growing community and successful stablecoin

A third factor bringing a boost to RSR is the continued growth of its community and the ability for its RSV stabelcoin to maintain its peg amid the recent market volatility.

During the height of the volatility in May when TerraUSD Classic (USTC) was collapsing, the lowest price RSV hit was $0.9923. That means that RSV held up better than a majority of stablecoins in the market.

Along with RSV maintaining its peg, the Reserve Rights community also recently surpassed 600,000 users on the Reserve app, which now provides access to more than 18,000 merchants across Latin America who accept RSV and process a monthly volume in excess of $100 million.

The team behind the protocol is also currently working on adding support for users in Mexico, which has the potential to initiate the onboarding of a new cohort of RSV users.

3 key indicators traders use to determine when altcoin season begins

Clever traders frequently use these three indicators to pinpoint when an altcoin season could begin.

It’s widely accepted that the fate of the cryptocurrency market depends largely on the performance of Bitcoin (BTC), which makes times like these for crypto traders who prefer to invest in altcoins.

When BTC price is down, altcoins tend to follow, but as a bottoming process begins, altcoins tend to perk up during Bitcoin’s consolidation phases and this typically leads to a call for an altcoin season. While Bitcoin’s current dip below $30,000 shows that it’s a bit premature to call for an altseason, analysts are still charting a variety of different outcomes that point to an altcoin season. Let’s have a look.

ETH/BTC price action could be an early indicator

Insight into the possibility of an altcoin season using the ETH/BTC chart as an indicator was discussed by analyst and pseudonymous Twitter user PlanDeFi, who posted the following chart comparing the 2016 to 2017 performance of ETH/BTC against the pair’s performance in 2021–2022.

*ETH/BTC in 2016/2017 vs. ETH/BTC in 2021/2022. Source: Twitter*

PlanDeFi said,

“Looks damn similar, right? Accumulation>Breakout>Ascending Channel>Breakout. The market is bigger now — it just takes longer.”

Based on the projection provided, the next altseason could kick off sometime after the start of July and it has the potential to extend through the end of 2022.

A 2017 fractal suggests an altseason is imminent

Further evidence that the market may be approaching an inflection point was provided by El_Crypto_Prof, who posted the following chart looking at the history of the altcoin market capitalization.

El_Crypto_Prof said,

“When it comes to altcoins, I can see the following scenario playing out. There are just too many similarities with the previous cycle. RSI also looks incredible. The next wave up will leave many behind.”

The market is firmly in “Bitcoin Season”

While fractals are pleasing to the eye and give hope to disillusioned traders, most fail to materialize and they are not accurate analysis methods to rely on when trading.

The Altseason Indicator provides a more metrics-based method for predicting when the market is in “Bitcoin season” and “altcoin season.”

*Altseason indicator. Source: Blockchain Center*

According to the chart above, it does not appear as though an altseason is likely to happen anytime soon because the metric is currently providing a readout of 24, while the level needed to signify an altseason is 75.

Based on the past performance of the index, it has taken a minimum of two to three months for it to climb from the area indicating that it is Bitcoin season to the altcoin season level. Current projections, according the the indicator, suggest that an altcoin season might not start until August or September 2022.