Bitcoin dropped back below $40,000 amid volatile price swings across financial markets, while day-trader favorite Shiba Inu jumped about 10 per cent.
Shiba Inu and three other tokens - Solana’s SOL, Polygon’s Matic and Compound’s COMP - were all listed for the first time on Robinhood’s platform. Shiba, which trades at a fraction of one US cent, was the biggest gainer of the four.
Bitcoin had dropped Monday to below $40,000 for the first time in more than three weeks. It was about 1.1 per cent lower at $39,411 as of 3.30pm in New York. Ether also turned lower again after briefly rising above $3,000.
Bitcoin and the broader crypto market have struggled in recent weeks as the Federal Reserve began hiking rates to combat stubbornly high inflation and geopolitical turmoil hurt risk appetite. A report on Tuesday showed core inflation increased less than what was forecast in March.
Bitcoin “is still consolidating in a triangle pattern stretching back to mid-January”, said Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at Oanda. “The lower and upper boundaries today are $36,500 and $47,500,” he said, implying Bitcoin was well within its range.
Crypto’s correlation with US tech stocks has risen sharply in the past few weeks, suggesting investors increasingly view digital assets as vulnerable to tightening monetary conditions. By contrast, the massive stimulus the Fed flooded markets with during the Covid-19 outbreak drove Bitcoin to a record of almost $69,000 in November.
A break above or below those support or resistance levels could lead to an $18,000 move either way, Mr Halley said.
Strategists at Bespoke Investment Group point out that Bitcoin’s drubbing on Monday led to the coin collapsing through its 50-day moving average.
“From a strictly technical perspective, Bitcoin isn’t trading well right now as the benchmark crypto asset has followed a similar playbook to stocks since late 2021: a major downtrend, a failure to make new highs on the rebound (and, indeed, an outright rejection of its 200-DMA in BTC’s case), and now another trip below the 50-day,” they said.
Noelle Acheson, head of market insights at Genesis Global Trading, said there are two big narratives at play for Bitcoin: one is that the coin is a risk asset and it’s going to move in tandem with other riskier assets. She points to its correlation with a basket of non-profitable tech companies - a 90-day reading shows the highest correlation on record.
Another narrative is that long-term investors are accumulating Bitcoin because they don’t see it as a high-volatility play. Instead, they view it as a store of value or an inflation hedge.
Common OCD symptoms and how they manifest
Checking: the obsession or thoughts focus on some harm coming from things not being as they should, which usually centre around the theme of safety. For example, the obsession is “the building will burn down”, therefore the compulsion is checking that the oven is switched off.
Contamination: the obsession is focused on the presence of germs, dirt or harmful bacteria and how this will impact the person and/or their loved ones. For example, the obsession is “the floor is dirty; me and my family will get sick and die”, the compulsion is repetitive cleaning.
Orderliness: the obsession is a fear of sitting with uncomfortable feelings, or to prevent harm coming to oneself or others. Objectively there appears to be no logical link between the obsession and compulsion. For example,” I won’t feel right if the jars aren’t lined up” or “harm will come to my family if I don’t line up all the jars”, so the compulsion is therefore lining up the jars.
Intrusive thoughts: the intrusive thought is usually highly distressing and repetitive. Common examples may include thoughts of perpetrating violence towards others, harming others, or questions over one’s character or deeds, usually in conflict with the person’s true values. An example would be: “I think I might hurt my family”, which in turn leads to the compulsion of avoiding social gatherings.
Hoarding: the intrusive thought is the overvaluing of objects or possessions, while the compulsion is stashing or hoarding these items and refusing to let them go. For example, “this newspaper may come in useful one day”, therefore, the compulsion is hoarding newspapers instead of discarding them the next day.
Source: Dr Robert Chandler, clinical psychologist at Lighthouse Arabia
Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
ONCE UPON A TIME IN GAZA
Starring: Nader Abd Alhay, Majd Eid, Ramzi Maqdisi
Directors: Tarzan and Arab Nasser
Rating: 4.5/5
