The cryptocurrency market seems to be all anyone can talk about. My social media stream has gone from full on attacks of the baboons in Washington to nothing but bitcoin over the last 48 hours. It is impossible to avoid it. Of course there are the comparisons to the Dutch Tulip bubble, because hey, it is fun to talk about.
Cryptocurrencies should be a great playground for a technical trader, as there is no way to trade them other than using technicals. But there are some issues. Liquidity is a big one. Not liquidity when executing as much as certainty that you can access a platform to execute your trade. But still I am intrigued.
Some of you may know I teach a class or two at Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Business and sit on their business advisory board. Cryptocurrencies have made their way into that realm as well. At our last meeting the Finance chair could not talk about anything but Fintech. Blockchain, Roboadvisors, Crpyto and ICO’s, alternative payment systems, you name it, we talked about it. But not one of us knew anything about any of it. So at this meeting a month ago, I volunteered to lead a course in FinTech for the spring.
Over 100 students have tried to enroll. With a classroom that can seat 70 there is a huge waitlist (this is not a huge school). What do I have to tell the students? Not much. I have no recent experience in the space. FinTech for me was making a spreadsheet to track Equity Swaps business. But I have a lot of friends in the space. Many have generously offered their time and knowledge to help educate these students and along the way, me as well.
I have also started my own learning process. Reading everything I can get my hands on. And I have also opened a coinbase account and yesterday bought my first cryptocurrency, ethereum. I have been vocal in the past with new stock traders that there is much more value to having skin in the game when learning a market rather than paper trading. The emotional side is important to experience. Without experiencing it you can never learn how to overcome it and stick to a plan.
Ethereum for me over Bitcoin is just a matter of timeframe and technical read. With momentum off the charts in Bitcoin I am giving it a pass for now. Ethereum has a solid chart without the overheated crowd push. The chart above shows a six-month ascending triangle break that gives a target to 720. The current consolidation suggests there is risk of a retest to the break out level at 400 before that read changes. Good reward to risk potential. Momentum has reset out of overbought ranges. So I am in and ready to learn.
The information in this blog post represents my own opinions and does not contain a recommendation for any particular security or investment. I or my affiliates may hold positions or other interests in securities mentioned in the Blog, please see my Disclaimer page for my full disclaimer.