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Keep a Watchful Eye on Crypto Currencies This Week

Top 5 Cryptocurrencies to Watch This Week: BTC, ETH, BCH, XLM, LINK

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This article was originally published by the Coin Telegraph.

Altcoins corrected as Bitcoin price dropped below $9,000, but traders buying the BTC dip could provide room for altcoins to recover.

Coronavirus cases across the globe topped 10 million today and the number of new cases in the U.S. has risen to new records in the past few days. This has put the economic revival in jeopardy as equities markets could face selling pressure. Meanwhile, safe haven assets like gold continue to perform well.

Crypto market data daily view

Crypto market data daily view. Source: Coin360

Earlier this week Bloomberg analyst Mike McGlone said that the drop in Bitcoin’s (BTC) volatility has resulted in tightening of the Bollinger Bands, a popular technical analysis indicator used by many traders. McGlone expects that the top-ranked cryptocurrency on CoinMarketCap to eventually rally to $13,000 if it stays above the $6,500 support. Most major cryptocurrencies have entered a consolidation phase and trading in a range-bound market can be difficult as the price action is volatile. Traders might consider reducing their risk by cutting their usual position size. Normal position size can be restored when crypto markets start trending again.

BTC/USD

After failing to scale above the $10,000–$10,500 zone for the past few days, Bitcoin is witnessing profit booking by the short-term bulls. On June 27, the price slipped below the trendline and also the critical support at $8,910.04. BTC/USD daily chart

BTC/USD daily chart. Source: Tradingview

The 10-day exponential moving average ($9,277) has started to turn down and the RSI is in the negative zone, which suggests that bears have the advantage in the short-term. However, the medium-term points to a consolidation as the 50-day simple moving average ($9,399) is flat. The failure of the bears to capitalize on the fall below $8,910.04 on June 27 suggests a lack of sellers at lower levels. Currently, the bulls are attempting a recovery. If the bulls can push the price back above the trendline and sustain it, a move to the downtrend line of the descending channel is possible. On the other hand, if the BTC/USD pair turns down from the moving averages and breaks below $8,910.04, a deeper fall to the support line of the channel is possible. The bulls are likely to defend the zone between $8,130.58 and the support line of the channel aggressively. BTC/USD 4-hour chart

BTC/USD 4-hour chart. Source: Tradingview

The relief rally currently underway can face resistance at the previous support turned resistance at the trendline.

If the bulls can push the price above this resistance, the possibility of a rally to the downtrend line of the channel increases. A breakout of the channel will be the first sign of strength that will indicate a possible move to $10,000. Conversely, if the price turns down from the overhead resistance level, the bears will once again try to resume the down move. A break below $8,825 will signal weakness. Below this support, the decline can extend to $8,628 and then to $8,400. There is no clear trend, hence, the price action is likely to remain volatile, which can benefit the short-term trader who enters and exits trades quickly, without waiting for a large move.

ETH/USD

Ether (ETH) is consolidating in an uptrend. Although the price dipped below the critical $217.67 support on June 27, the bears could not sustain the lower levels. This suggests that the bulls continue to buy the dips. ETH/USD daily chart

ETH/USD daily chart. Source: Tradingview

Currently, the bulls are attempting to sustain the price above the 50-day SMA ($223), which is flattening out. If successful, the second-ranked cryptocurrency on CoinMarketCap can rise to the 10-day EMA ($230). Conversely, if the price turns down from the current levels, the bears will once again attempt to sink the price below the $217.67–$216.006 support zone. If that happens, a drop to $200 is likely. ETH/USD 4-hour chart

ETH/USD 4-hour chart. Source: Tradingview

The ETH/USD pair has broken out of the 10-EMA, which is the first sign that bulls are aggressively buying at lower levels. If the price sustains above the 10-EMA, a rally to the 50-SMA–$236 resistance zone is likely. Conversely, if the pair fails to sustain above the 10-EMA, the bears will make one more attempt to sink the price below $216. If successful, a new downtrend is likely. Therefore, traders should watch $216 closely and if this support level cracks long positions should be avoided as a deeper correction is possible.

BCH/USD

Bitcoin Cash (BCH) has been stuck in a large range of $200–$280 for more than two months. Usually, when the price spends such a long time in the range, it needs a strong momentum to breakout or breakdown of the range. BCH/USD daily chart

BCH/USD daily chart. Source: Tradingview

Although the 10-day EMA ($230) is sloping down and the RSI is in the negative territory, the bears could not sink the price below $200 on June 27. This suggests buying by the bulls near the support of the range. If the bulls can sustain the rebound and push the fifth-ranked cryptocurrency on CoinMarketCap above the 10-day EMA, a move to $240 and then to $260 is possible. Conversely, if the price turns down from the 10-day EMA, the bears will make another attempt to break below the $200 support. If the bears succeed, a new downtrend is likely.

BCH/USD 4-hour chart

BCH/USD 4-hour chart. Source: Tradingview

The bulls have pushed the price above the previous support turned resistance of $220, which is a positive sign. This suggests aggressive buying at lower levels. If the BCH/USD pair breaks out of the downtrend line, the momentum is likely to pick up. The next level to watch on the upside is $235 and then $244. However, if the pair turns down from the downtrend line, the bears will once again attempt to sink the price to the critical support of $200. If this support cracks convincingly, a new downtrend is likely to start. Conversely, if the pair rebounds off $200 once again, it is likely to attract further buying as it will cement the level as a strong support.

XLM/USD

Stellar Lumens (XLM) is trading inside a descending channel. On June 27, the bulls aggressively bought the dip close to the support line of the channel as seen from the long wick on the candlestick. XLM/USD daily chart

XLM/USD daily chart. Source: Tradingview

The current rebound is likely to face resistance at the 10-day EMA ($0.067) and above it at the downtrend line of the channel. A breakout of the channel will be the first sign that the downtrend might be over. However, if the 14th-ranked cryptocurrency on CoinMarketCap turns down from the 10-day EMA, it will increase the possibility of a break below $0.060 support. Below this level, the decline can extend to $0.055. The 10-day EMA is sloping down and the RSI is in the negative zone, which suggests that bears have the upper hands. In a downtrend, usually, selling on rallies offers a greater profit potential rather than buying the dips. XLM/USD 4-hour chart

XLM/USD 4-hour chart. Source: Tradingview

The current pullback attempt is likely to face resistance in the zone between the 10-EMA and the downtrend line. If the price turns down from this resistance zone, the bears will once again try to sink the XLM/USD pair below $0.060. If successful, the downtrend is likely to continue. Conversely, if the bulls propel the price above the downtrend line, the relief rally can extend to the resistance line of the channel. If the price turns down from this resistance, the bears will try to resume the downtrend. This bearish view will be invalidated if the bulls can carry the price above the resistance line of the channel. Such a move will indicate a likely change in trend.

LINK/USD

Chainlink (LINK) had reached close to the highs of $4.9762 on June 23 and 24 but the bulls could not break above this resistance. This led to profit booking by the short-term traders, resulting in a correction.

LINK/USD daily chart

LINK/USD daily chart. Source: Tradingview

Although the price dipped below the immediate support of $4.50 on June 27, the bears have not been able to sustain the lower levels. This suggests the bulls continue to buy the dips as they anticipate the uptrend to resume. If the price sustains above $4.50, the bulls are likely to make one more attempt to drive the 13th-ranked cryptocurrency on CoinMarketCap above $4.9762. If successful, a rally to $6 is possible. This bullish view will be invalidated if the buyers fail to sustain the price above $4.50. In such a case, a drop to the 50-day SMA ($4.13) is likely. LINK/USD 4-hour chart

LINK/USD 4-hour chart. Source: Tradingview

The four-hour chart shows that the LINK/USD pair found support at $4.30, which is just above the 50% Fibonacci retracement level of the most recent leg of the rally. This is a positive sign as it suggests that bulls are buying on dips. The current rally might hit a minor resistance at the downtrend line. This level might result in a minor consolidation or pullback but it is likely to be crossed. Above this level, a retest of the highs will be on the cards. Repeated retest of a resistance weakens it and increases the possibility of a break above it. Contrary to the assumption, if the price turns down from the current levels or the overhead resistance and breaks below the $4.30, a deeper correction is likely. The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision. The market data is provided by the HitBTC exchange.

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Government

Are Voters Recoiling Against Disorder?

Are Voters Recoiling Against Disorder?

Authored by Michael Barone via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The headlines coming out of the Super…

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Are Voters Recoiling Against Disorder?

Authored by Michael Barone via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The headlines coming out of the Super Tuesday primaries have got it right. Barring cataclysmic changes, Donald Trump and Joe Biden will be the Republican and Democratic nominees for president in 2024.

(Left) President Joe Biden delivers remarks on canceling student debt at Culver City Julian Dixon Library in Culver City, Calif., on Feb. 21, 2024. (Right) Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump stands on stage during a campaign event at Big League Dreams Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nev., on Jan. 27, 2024. (Mario Tama/Getty Images; David Becker/Getty Images)

With Nikki Haley’s withdrawal, there will be no more significantly contested primaries or caucuses—the earliest both parties’ races have been over since something like the current primary-dominated system was put in place in 1972.

The primary results have spotlighted some of both nominees’ weaknesses.

Donald Trump lost high-income, high-educated constituencies, including the entire metro area—aka the Swamp. Many but by no means all Haley votes there were cast by Biden Democrats. Mr. Trump can’t afford to lose too many of the others in target states like Pennsylvania and Michigan.

Majorities and large minorities of voters in overwhelmingly Latino counties in Texas’s Rio Grande Valley and some in Houston voted against Joe Biden, and even more against Senate nominee Rep. Colin Allred (D-Texas).

Returns from Hispanic precincts in New Hampshire and Massachusetts show the same thing. Mr. Biden can’t afford to lose too many Latino votes in target states like Arizona and Georgia.

When Mr. Trump rode down that escalator in 2015, commentators assumed he’d repel Latinos. Instead, Latino voters nationally, and especially the closest eyewitnesses of Biden’s open-border policy, have been trending heavily Republican.

High-income liberal Democrats may sport lawn signs proclaiming, “In this house, we believe ... no human is illegal.” The logical consequence of that belief is an open border. But modest-income folks in border counties know that flows of illegal immigrants result in disorder, disease, and crime.

There is plenty of impatience with increased disorder in election returns below the presidential level. Consider Los Angeles County, America’s largest county, with nearly 10 million people, more people than 40 of the 50 states. It voted 71 percent for Mr. Biden in 2020.

Current returns show county District Attorney George Gascon winning only 21 percent of the vote in the nonpartisan primary. He’ll apparently face Republican Nathan Hochman, a critic of his liberal policies, in November.

Gascon, elected after the May 2020 death of counterfeit-passing suspect George Floyd in Minneapolis, is one of many county prosecutors supported by billionaire George Soros. His policies include not charging juveniles as adults, not seeking higher penalties for gang membership or use of firearms, and bringing fewer misdemeanor cases.

The predictable result has been increased car thefts, burglaries, and personal robberies. Some 120 assistant district attorneys have left the office, and there’s a backlog of 10,000 unprosecuted cases.

More than a dozen other Soros-backed and similarly liberal prosecutors have faced strong opposition or have left office.

St. Louis prosecutor Kim Gardner resigned last May amid lawsuits seeking her removal, Milwaukee’s John Chisholm retired in January, and Baltimore’s Marilyn Mosby was defeated in July 2022 and convicted of perjury in September 2023. Last November, Loudoun County, Virginia, voters (62 percent Biden) ousted liberal Buta Biberaj, who declined to prosecute a transgender student for assault, and in June 2022 voters in San Francisco (85 percent Biden) recalled famed radical Chesa Boudin.

Similarly, this Tuesday, voters in San Francisco passed ballot measures strengthening police powers and requiring treatment of drug-addicted welfare recipients.

In retrospect, it appears the Floyd video, appearing after three months of COVID-19 confinement, sparked a frenzied, even crazed reaction, especially among the highly educated and articulate. One fatal incident was seen as proof that America’s “systemic racism” was worse than ever and that police forces should be defunded and perhaps abolished.

2020 was “the year America went crazy,” I wrote in January 2021, a year in which police funding was actually cut by Democrats in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and Denver. A year in which young New York Times (NYT) staffers claimed they were endangered by the publication of Sen. Tom Cotton’s (R-Ark.) opinion article advocating calling in military forces if necessary to stop rioting, as had been done in Detroit in 1967 and Los Angeles in 1992. A craven NYT publisher even fired the editorial page editor for running the article.

Evidence of visible and tangible discontent with increasing violence and its consequences—barren and locked shelves in Manhattan chain drugstores, skyrocketing carjackings in Washington, D.C.—is as unmistakable in polls and election results as it is in daily life in large metropolitan areas. Maybe 2024 will turn out to be the year even liberal America stopped acting crazy.

Chaos and disorder work against incumbents, as they did in 1968 when Democrats saw their party’s popular vote fall from 61 percent to 43 percent.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times or ZeroHedge.

Tyler Durden Sat, 03/09/2024 - 23:20

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Government

Veterans Affairs Kept COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate In Place Without Evidence

Veterans Affairs Kept COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate In Place Without Evidence

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The…

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Veterans Affairs Kept COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate In Place Without Evidence

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) reviewed no data when deciding in 2023 to keep its COVID-19 vaccine mandate in place.

Doses of a COVID-19 vaccine in Washington in a file image. (Jacquelyn Martin/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

VA Secretary Denis McDonough said on May 1, 2023, that the end of many other federal mandates “will not impact current policies at the Department of Veterans Affairs.”

He said the mandate was remaining for VA health care personnel “to ensure the safety of veterans and our colleagues.”

Mr. McDonough did not cite any studies or other data. A VA spokesperson declined to provide any data that was reviewed when deciding not to rescind the mandate. The Epoch Times submitted a Freedom of Information Act for “all documents outlining which data was relied upon when establishing the mandate when deciding to keep the mandate in place.”

The agency searched for such data and did not find any.

The VA does not even attempt to justify its policies with science, because it can’t,” Leslie Manookian, president and founder of the Health Freedom Defense Fund, told The Epoch Times.

“The VA just trusts that the process and cost of challenging its unfounded policies is so onerous, most people are dissuaded from even trying,” she added.

The VA’s mandate remains in place to this day.

The VA’s website claims that vaccines “help protect you from getting severe illness” and “offer good protection against most COVID-19 variants,” pointing in part to observational data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that estimate the vaccines provide poor protection against symptomatic infection and transient shielding against hospitalization.

There have also been increasing concerns among outside scientists about confirmed side effects like heart inflammation—the VA hid a safety signal it detected for the inflammation—and possible side effects such as tinnitus, which shift the benefit-risk calculus.

President Joe Biden imposed a slate of COVID-19 vaccine mandates in 2021. The VA was the first federal agency to implement a mandate.

President Biden rescinded the mandates in May 2023, citing a drop in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. His administration maintains the choice to require vaccines was the right one and saved lives.

“Our administration’s vaccination requirements helped ensure the safety of workers in critical workforces including those in the healthcare and education sectors, protecting themselves and the populations they serve, and strengthening their ability to provide services without disruptions to operations,” the White House said.

Some experts said requiring vaccination meant many younger people were forced to get a vaccine despite the risks potentially outweighing the benefits, leaving fewer doses for older adults.

By mandating the vaccines to younger people and those with natural immunity from having had COVID, older people in the U.S. and other countries did not have access to them, and many people might have died because of that,” Martin Kulldorff, a professor of medicine on leave from Harvard Medical School, told The Epoch Times previously.

The VA was one of just a handful of agencies to keep its mandate in place following the removal of many federal mandates.

“At this time, the vaccine requirement will remain in effect for VA health care personnel, including VA psychologists, pharmacists, social workers, nursing assistants, physical therapists, respiratory therapists, peer specialists, medical support assistants, engineers, housekeepers, and other clinical, administrative, and infrastructure support employees,” Mr. McDonough wrote to VA employees at the time.

This also includes VA volunteers and contractors. Effectively, this means that any Veterans Health Administration (VHA) employee, volunteer, or contractor who works in VHA facilities, visits VHA facilities, or provides direct care to those we serve will still be subject to the vaccine requirement at this time,” he said. “We continue to monitor and discuss this requirement, and we will provide more information about the vaccination requirements for VA health care employees soon. As always, we will process requests for vaccination exceptions in accordance with applicable laws, regulations, and policies.”

The version of the shots cleared in the fall of 2022, and available through the fall of 2023, did not have any clinical trial data supporting them.

A new version was approved in the fall of 2023 because there were indications that the shots not only offered temporary protection but also that the level of protection was lower than what was observed during earlier stages of the pandemic.

Ms. Manookian, whose group has challenged several of the federal mandates, said that the mandate “illustrates the dangers of the administrative state and how these federal agencies have become a law unto themselves.”

Tyler Durden Sat, 03/09/2024 - 22:10

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Spread & Containment

The Coming Of The Police State In America

The Coming Of The Police State In America

Authored by Jeffrey Tucker via The Epoch Times,

The National Guard and the State Police are now…

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The Coming Of The Police State In America

Authored by Jeffrey Tucker via The Epoch Times,

The National Guard and the State Police are now patrolling the New York City subway system in an attempt to do something about the explosion of crime. As part of this, there are bag checks and new surveillance of all passengers. No legislation, no debate, just an edict from the mayor.

Many citizens who rely on this system for transportation might welcome this. It’s a city of strict gun control, and no one knows for sure if they have the right to defend themselves. Merchants have been harassed and even arrested for trying to stop looting and pillaging in their own shops.

The message has been sent: Only the police can do this job. Whether they do it or not is another matter.

Things on the subway system have gotten crazy. If you know it well, you can manage to travel safely, but visitors to the city who take the wrong train at the wrong time are taking grave risks.

In actual fact, it’s guaranteed that this will only end in confiscating knives and other things that people carry in order to protect themselves while leaving the actual criminals even more free to prey on citizens.

The law-abiding will suffer and the criminals will grow more numerous. It will not end well.

When you step back from the details, what we have is the dawning of a genuine police state in the United States. It only starts in New York City. Where is the Guard going to be deployed next? Anywhere is possible.

If the crime is bad enough, citizens will welcome it. It must have been this way in most times and places that when the police state arrives, the people cheer.

We will all have our own stories of how this came to be. Some might begin with the passage of the Patriot Act and the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security in 2001. Some will focus on gun control and the taking away of citizens’ rights to defend themselves.

My own version of events is closer in time. It began four years ago this month with lockdowns. That’s what shattered the capacity of civil society to function in the United States. Everything that has happened since follows like one domino tumbling after another.

It goes like this:

1) lockdown,

2) loss of moral compass and spreading of loneliness and nihilism,

3) rioting resulting from citizen frustration, 4) police absent because of ideological hectoring,

5) a rise in uncontrolled immigration/refugees,

6) an epidemic of ill health from substance abuse and otherwise,

7) businesses flee the city

8) cities fall into decay, and that results in

9) more surveillance and police state.

The 10th stage is the sacking of liberty and civilization itself.

It doesn’t fall out this way at every point in history, but this seems like a solid outline of what happened in this case. Four years is a very short period of time to see all of this unfold. But it is a fact that New York City was more-or-less civilized only four years ago. No one could have predicted that it would come to this so quickly.

But once the lockdowns happened, all bets were off. Here we had a policy that most directly trampled on all freedoms that we had taken for granted. Schools, businesses, and churches were slammed shut, with various levels of enforcement. The entire workforce was divided between essential and nonessential, and there was widespread confusion about who precisely was in charge of designating and enforcing this.

It felt like martial law at the time, as if all normal civilian law had been displaced by something else. That something had to do with public health, but there was clearly more going on, because suddenly our social media posts were censored and we were being asked to do things that made no sense, such as mask up for a virus that evaded mask protection and walk in only one direction in grocery aisles.

Vast amounts of the white-collar workforce stayed home—and their kids, too—until it became too much to bear. The city became a ghost town. Most U.S. cities were the same.

As the months of disaster rolled on, the captives were let out of their houses for the summer in order to protest racism but no other reason. As a way of excusing this, the same public health authorities said that racism was a virus as bad as COVID-19, so therefore it was permitted.

The protests had turned to riots in many cities, and the police were being defunded and discouraged to do anything about the problem. Citizens watched in horror as downtowns burned and drug-crazed freaks took over whole sections of cities. It was like every standard of decency had been zapped out of an entire swath of the population.

Meanwhile, large checks were arriving in people’s bank accounts, defying every normal economic expectation. How could people not be working and get their bank accounts more flush with cash than ever? There was a new law that didn’t even require that people pay rent. How weird was that? Even student loans didn’t need to be paid.

By the fall, recess from lockdown was over and everyone was told to go home again. But this time they had a job to do: They were supposed to vote. Not at the polling places, because going there would only spread germs, or so the media said. When the voting results finally came in, it was the absentee ballots that swung the election in favor of the opposition party that actually wanted more lockdowns and eventually pushed vaccine mandates on the whole population.

The new party in control took note of the large population movements out of cities and states that they controlled. This would have a large effect on voting patterns in the future. But they had a plan. They would open the borders to millions of people in the guise of caring for refugees. These new warm bodies would become voters in time and certainly count on the census when it came time to reapportion political power.

Meanwhile, the native population had begun to swim in ill health from substance abuse, widespread depression, and demoralization, plus vaccine injury. This increased dependency on the very institutions that had caused the problem in the first place: the medical/scientific establishment.

The rise of crime drove the small businesses out of the city. They had barely survived the lockdowns, but they certainly could not survive the crime epidemic. This undermined the tax base of the city and allowed the criminals to take further control.

The same cities became sanctuaries for the waves of migrants sacking the country, and partisan mayors actually used tax dollars to house these invaders in high-end hotels in the name of having compassion for the stranger. Citizens were pushed out to make way for rampaging migrant hordes, as incredible as this seems.

But with that, of course, crime rose ever further, inciting citizen anger and providing a pretext to bring in the police state in the form of the National Guard, now tasked with cracking down on crime in the transportation system.

What’s the next step? It’s probably already here: mass surveillance and censorship, plus ever-expanding police power. This will be accompanied by further population movements, as those with the means to do so flee the city and even the country and leave it for everyone else to suffer.

As I tell the story, all of this seems inevitable. It is not. It could have been stopped at any point. A wise and prudent political leadership could have admitted the error from the beginning and called on the country to rediscover freedom, decency, and the difference between right and wrong. But ego and pride stopped that from happening, and we are left with the consequences.

The government grows ever bigger and civil society ever less capable of managing itself in large urban centers. Disaster is unfolding in real time, mitigated only by a rising stock market and a financial system that has yet to fall apart completely.

Are we at the middle stages of total collapse, or at the point where the population and people in leadership positions wise up and decide to put an end to the downward slide? It’s hard to know. But this much we do know: There is a growing pocket of resistance out there that is fed up and refuses to sit by and watch this great country be sacked and taken over by everything it was set up to prevent.

Tyler Durden Sat, 03/09/2024 - 16:20

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