Market Analysis Report 19 January 2018

Market Update:

At the time of writing, the Bitcoin price is sitting at $11,748, representing a gain of 4.5% in the last 24 hours. More than $2B worth of BTC were exchanged in the BTC/USD market representing a 37.3% share of daily volume, followed by the BTC/JPY pair that represents a 30% share.

The Ethereum price has risen by 6% over the past 24 hours and is currently sitting at $1062, with over $890M worth of Ether exchanged in the past 24 hours on the ETH/USD pair which has a 33.8% market share of the daily trading volume.

See live charts https://www.cryptocompare.com/coins/btc/overview/USD and https://www.cryptocompare.com/coins/eth/overview/USD

Korean Regulator Investigating Staff Insider Trading of Cryptocurrencies:

An official from South Korea's Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) has reportedly said that an investigation is underway into claimed insider trading within his organization.

Choi Heung-sik, governor of the FSS, said he will make public any findings on the allegations of illegal trading of cryptocurrency by one of its staff members. According to the Korea Times, Choi said:

"We've acknowledged allegations that an FSS official sold crypto-assets based on insider information before the government's updated announcement to regulate the market. We are looking into this case."

NYSE Parent Company Launches Cryptocurrency Data Feed:

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), is partnering with blockchain startup Blockstream to launch a new cryptocurrency-based data feed.

ICE Data Services' feed will display real-time data from at least 15 different cryptocurrency exchanges worldwide, including prices and order book data for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, according to a press release published yesterday. ICE Data Services President and chief operating officer Lynn Martin said in a statement:

"With the broad array of cryptocurrencies and exchanges, and given the price variances between exchanges, it's critical that investors have a comprehensive source of pricing information. We're excited to work with Blockstream, which is focused on bringing institutional-quality data to the market, and we look forward to expanding the feed and our strategic relationship with Blockstream over time."

Petro Discount: Venezuela is Luring Qatar to Invest;

A delegation of officials from Venezuela’s government is reportedly pitching the country’s upcoming cryptocurrency petro in Qatar in an attempt to gain the latter as an early investor.

Citing source with knowledge of the diplomatic meetings, Bloomberg is reporting that a group of Venezuelan officials led by ‘crypto superintendent’ Carlos Vargas is currently in Qatar, hoping to land the oil-rich Middle Eastern state as an early investor. The delegation is luring Qatar by ‘currently negotiating discounts’ ahead of the oil-backed cryptocurrency’s upcoming ‘sale’ in February, the report added.

State of the Crypto:

Bitcoin is up 4.48% at $11,748.840 with a volume of Ƀ178.2k - $2059.0M on the USD pairs.

Ether is up 1.4% against Bitcoin at Ƀ0.0907 per Ether and up 6.05% against the dollar to $1062.01 with average volume Ƀ71.4k on the ETH/BTC pair.

Bitcoin Cash is down 1.39% to Ƀ0.1565 with volumes of Ƀ34.5k and up 2.76% against the dollar at $1829.1.

Ripple is up 12.03% to Ƀ0.0001415 with volumes of Ƀ56.5k and up 16.9% against the dollar at $1.66.

Zcash is up 3.26% for the day to Ƀ0.04653 per ZEC and up 6.71% against the dollar to $547.41 with an average volume of Ƀ5.5k for the 24 hour period.

Litecoin is up 6.03% against the dollar for the day at $197.28 and up 1.51% to Ƀ0.0168 on volumes of Ƀ14.2k.

Dash is up 2.53% at Ƀ0.07281 with Ƀ7.0k volume and up 6.48% against the dollar at $850.08.

Iota is up 0.12% to Ƀ0.0002513 on Ƀ2.5k volume.

Ether Classic is up 3.49% to Ƀ0.002728 with volumes of Ƀ8.9k and up 7.58% against the dollar at $31.81.

Monero is up 1.83% against the dollar at $329.93 and down 1.97% against Bitcoin at Ƀ0.02831 on volumes of Ƀ6.5k.

Neo is up 1.66% for the day to Ƀ0.01285 per NEO and up 6.13% against the dollar to $150 with an average volume of Ƀ11.6k for the 24 hour period.

Waves is up 0.16% to Ƀ0.0007345 on Ƀ2.2k volume.

Stratis is up 0.54% to Ƀ0.001297 on Ƀ1.7k volume.