Miner balances rise along with price
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February 3, 2020



Miners’ ether holdings are back near its all-time high of 1.69 million ETH set in October, according to crypto market data platform Santiment.

The steady rise from the low of 1.64 million observed in November high confidence levels in the project among the majority block creators, at the very least relative to the current market conditions, according to Santiment's founder Maksim Balashevich.

The uptick in the miner balance is not surprising, given the cryptocurrency's price bottomed out below $120 in December and rose by 40 percent in January. After all, miners want to maximize their earnings at all times.

With prices in a strong uptrend, Balashevich thinks the last all-time high of ether hoarding could be broken soon. 

Balances had declined from 1.69 million to 1.64 million in November last year, as sustained drop in prices forced some of the miners to liquidate their holdings, according Balashevich.
 
Ether's price topped out above $366 in June 2019 and fell to $150 in October. A price slide of that magnitude hurts revenue, forcing small and inefficient miners to scale back operations. 

While moving off blockchain, these miners often sell their coins to make up for mining-related losses, adding to bearish pressures around prices. 

For instance, bitcoin, the top cryptocurrency by market value, fell by over 17 percent in November and 5 percent in December, and the major portion of the drop was fueled by miner selling, according to the analyst Willy Woo. 

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Hits Three-Month High

BTC: Price: $9,300 | Market cap: $169 billion | 24-Hr Volume: $33 billion



Trend: Bull Cross

Bitcoin jumped to three-month highs above $9,600 on major exchanges during Monday's Asian trading hours. The spike happened as China's stock markets took a beating likely due to the coronavirus outbreak and its potential impact on the nation's economy. The Chinese equity markets were closed last week on account of the local New Year holiday. 

Futures on the S&P 500, however, remained bid and rose 0.65 percent despite the risk-off mood in the Chinese markets. Traditional safe havens like gold are also facing selling pressure at press time – a sign the broader markets may be done pricing the negative impact of coronavirus on the global economy.  

Interestingly, bitcoin's move to $9,600 was also short-lived. The cryptocurrency quickly fell back to $9,250 and was last seen trading around $9,330. The short duration charts are now reporting bull fatigue and scope for a downside break of the recent trading range of $9,200 to $9,600.

A range breakdown would open the doors to a re-test of the 200-day average, currently located below $8,900. However, dips, if any, could be short-lived as the overall trend is looking bullish with the list of technical indicators calling an upside move growing with each passing week. Soon to join that bandwagon is a bull cross of the 50- and 100-day moving averages (MAs). 

MA crossovers are widely followed and tend to attract stronger buying pressure when the broader market conditions are looking bullish. The latest bull cross is accompanied by a bullish higher lows and higher highs setup. Further, key indicators like the weekly MACD histogram and the relative strength index are reporting bullish conditions. Hence, BTC could see increased chart-driven buying on the back of the bull cross. 

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Disclaimer: The information presented in this message is intended as a news item that provides a brief summary of various events and developments that affect, or that might in the future affect, the value of one or more of the cryptocurrencies described above. The information contained in this message, and any information liked through the items contained herein, is not intended to provide sufficient information to form the basis for an investment decision. The information presented herein is accurate only as of its date, and it was not prepared by a research analyst or other investment professional. You should seek additional information regarding the merits and risks of investing in any cryptocurrency before deciding to purchase or sell any such instruments.

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