In another rollercoaster of a week in the crypto world, let's take a look back at the news that dominated the forex, fintech and crypto spheres in our best of the week segment.
XRP Price Jumps 25% within 30 Minutes
The trading week kicked off with the news that XRP price gained significant value, posting a 25% jump within just 30 minutes during the Asia session on Monday.
XRP jumped from $0.52 to $0.65 early on Monday after massive demand from retail investors. This meant that XRP has now erased all the losses it occurred after the SEC’s lawsuit against Ripple in December 2020.
Read more on the XRP price jump here.
Bitcoin Facing Liquidity Crisis, Says JPMorgan Strategist
While Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency jumped above $58,200 on Monday with the total market cap of BTC touching $1.1 trillion, JPMorgan warned about its liquidity.
According to a note by JPMorgan’s Strategist, Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou, the market liquidity in Bitcoin is significantly lower than S&P 500 and gold. He added that even a small change in Bitcoin flows can have a large impact on the price of BTC.
Read more on the JPMorgan Bitcoin liquidity warning here.
UK Broker Trading 212 Suspends Trading in Penny Stocks
Finance Magnates reported on Monday that Trading 212 suspended trading in microcap penny stocks, which attracted the attention of both regulators and amateur investors over the past two months amid social media interest.
The FCA-regulated broker said it temporarily halted purchasing of penny stocks that are highly illiquid and have a market cap in the tens of millions. “If we don’t do so, we risk being suspended by both the relevant exchanges and market makers,” Trading 212 said in statements published on its website.
These tiny-cap stocks, commonly referred to as penny stocks, have for decades been a tool for fraudulent schemes, including the pump-and-dump where manipulators hype a stock before exiting positions.
Read more on the Trading 212 Penny Stock suspension here.
IG Group Suspends Margin Trading in 900 Small Cap-Stocks
On a very busy Monday, IG Group, Europe’s largest online Trading Platform , restricted the leveraged trading of several stocks on the back of the trading frenzy led by retail investors on social media. Retail platforms are under pressure to keep up with huge growth in retail investing, which is causing severe operational difficulties.
In addition to heavily shorted stocks, the new restrictions affected 900 shares, including insurer, Hiscox, malls operator, Hammerson and clothing brand, Superdry. The figure represents less than 8% of the 12,000 leveraged equity products the listed broker offers to clients.
Read more on the IG Group Small Cap Stocks Suspension here.
Cryptocurrency Market Loses $200 Billion in 24 Hours
The Bitcoin Rollercoaster took a downward turn on Tuesday. The cryptocurrency market lost more than $200 billion in just 24 hours after the panic among retail traders caused a crash in Bitcoin and Ethereum. The world’s largest crypto asset, Bitcoin dropped below $49,000 on Tuesday as the total market cap of BTC reached $920 billion.
Ethereum, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency reached its lowest level in 3 weeks after ETH dropped below $1,600.
Read more on Tuesday's crypto crash here.
eToro down Then Back Online, Raises Minimum Deposits after Service Issue
For the second time in a month, technical difficulties shut eToro’s trading platform. Whilst the crypto markets were experiencing their worst day of 2021, eToro's traders were left high and dry, unable to log in to their account or even use the offline mode.
After around 15 hours down, eToro finally restored service citing a Microsoft database software failure as the cause for the elongated outage.
At 9.25 am GMT, eToro issued a statement explaining the outage and its decision to raise minimum deposits. "We will be raising the minimum first time deposit amount to $1,000 effective immediately. We will also be increasing the minimum copy value to $500."
Read more on the eToro outage and drama here.
Indian Banks Sending Notices to Customers for Crypto Investments
As Finance Magnates covered this week, India is slowly moving towards a crypto dark age again as several top private banks have started to send notices to their customers who invested in digital currencies and made transfers from their accounts.
Big banks such as HDFC, HSBC and Citi are seeking clarification from their customers on crypto transactions. Most of these customers are additionally required to visit the branch in person, and they are risking suspension of their accounts if they do not oblige.
Read more on the Indian banks crypto notices here.
Dubai Crypto Fund Sells Bitcoin to Bet on Cardano, Polkadot
FD7 Ventures, a Dubai-based crypto investment fund, said on Thursday that it plans to unload $750 million worth of its Bitcoin holdings over the next 30 days to buy two altcoins, Cardano (ADA) and Polkadot (DOT).
The move will reportedly better serve the needs of FD7 investors who are looking to diversify their portfolios in the cryptocurrency space. While Bitcoin presents stronger long-term opportunities, the popular cryptocurrency has become a relatively mature asset.
Read more on the FD7 Ventures Cardano and Polkadot investment here.
Grayscale Buys Ethereum Dip as ETH Drops below $1,600
As Finance Magnates reported on Thursday, Grayscale, the world’s largest digital assets manager, purchased nearly $25 million worth of Ethereum (ETH) in a single day after the price of ETH dropped below $1,600. ETH has dipped nearly 20% in the last 5 days.
According to the latest data published by crypto analytics firm, Bybt.com, Grayscale has accumulated a total of 15,521 ETH in just 24 hours in an effort to take advantage of the recent crash in ETH.
Read more on the Grayscale Ethereum Purchase here.
Crypto Crash Intensifies as Bitcoin Drops 10%
We started the trading week with heavy gains in Bitcoin and ended with heavy losses.
Bitcoin, the world’s largest digital currency, lost around 10% of its value on Friday after the panic among retail traders triggered a $100 billion sell-off in the crypto market.
Around $900 million worth of long cryptocurrency positions got liquidated in just 24 hours as Bitcoin and Ethereum lost nearly 10% of their values in a single day. Approximately 142,000 crypto traders were liquidated in the previous 24 hours.
Read more on Friday's crypto crash here.
