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Fundamentally and Technically the Entire Crypto Space is a Huge Mess

Ethereum chart courtesy of StockCharts.Com annotations by Mish

Liquidity Driven Bubble

The same forces that drove the stock market to insane levels are precisely the same forces that propelled the entire crypto space, even more so.

ARKK Innovation Fund 

ARK Innovation Fund chart courtesy of StockCharts.Com annotations by Mish

Same Forces Driving Crypto as Stocks

  • Three rounds of free money fiscal stimulus 
  • Eviction moratorium 
  • $9 trillion in QE driving interest rates to zero in 2020 
  • The Fed continuing QE all the way through March 2022

In short, the blowoff in the crypo space and the stock market was a liquidity driven event.

Tune Out the Fud 

Here’s some friendly advice on how to tune out what I just stated. 

Self-Reinforcing Feedback Loops

Duo Nine has a nice 13-chain Tweet Thread complete with self-reinforcing feedback loops so you only hear what you already believe in. 

Following such advice is what drove LUNA to zero. But Duo Nine conveniently weeds out everything for you so you only pay attention to what he likes. And if you believe him, there are no lurking LUNAs is the gems he follows. 

Ethereum Monthly Chart

Ethereum monthly chart courtesy of StockCharts.Com annotations by Mish

Please note that a crash to 333 would only take back a year-and-a-half worth of gains. 

Worst Case 1000?!

https://twitter.com/crypto_bunker/status/1535377481179582464

Questioning 1000

https://twitter.com/Bigaintrain/status/1535396597860818944

Cannot Possibly Go to 100?!

How Markets Work

  • Markets are driven by liquidity and sentiment more so than earnings
  • We had a liquidity bubble. 
  • Just as in the DotCom bubble people believed in essentially what was tulips.
  • Everyone was convinced their thing was immune.
  • The tide of low interest rates and QE has reversed 
  • The true believers will go down with the ship

Facts of the Matter 

  • The entire crypto space, started by Bitcoin in 2009, has only known round after round of low interest rates and QE.
  • The last round of QE propelled the Fed’s balance sheet to $9 trillion
  • The last round of rate cuts drove the Fed Funds rate to Zero
  • On top of Fed driven liquidity we had three rounds of free money from Congress
  • The above items created massive bubble in stocks, housing, and the crypto space.

Bitcoin DeMark Counts 

“Lowest weekly close of past 12mths for $BTC #Bitcoin. Not to worry bc BTC is little more than a figment of someone’s imagination, so price can be whatever one would like it to be. DeMark counts/levels are horribly bearish on daily & mthly, while supportive of a bounce on weekly.”

I asked for DeMark counts but did not get a reply.

Instead here are some charts by me.

Bitcoin Daily Chart 

Bitcoin monthly chart courtesy of StockCharts.Com annotations by Mish

That’s an unusually tight range for Bitcoin. The question of the day is Distribution or Accumulation? 

I will go with the latter because the entire crypto space is acting that way and the Fed is draining liquidity rapidly.

Bitcoin Monthly Chart 

Bitcoin monthly chart courtesy of StockCharts.Com annotations by Mish

Technically speaking, there is no monthly support until the 10,000 level. And that would just take off 1.5 years of gains. 

DogeCoin Weekly Chart

Dogecoin weekly chart courtesy of StockCharts.Com annotations by Mish

Dogecoin is right on support. And if it fell back to where it was at the beginning of 2021 it would trade for about a tenth of a penny or so.

Given that the coin was started as a joke and solves nothing, why should anyone expect anything less?

Who’s Selling?

Someone cannot buy unless someone else is dumping. Who is that?

Returning to Ethereum.

Staked Ethereum (stETH) Could Cause A Crypto Crash

Please consider Staked Ethereum (stETH) Could Cause A Crypto Crash, Here’s How

The token, which is supposed to trade at a 1:1 peg to ETH, is currently trading at $1,513.14 and has fallen 10% in the past 24 hours. By comparison, ETH is trading at $1,582.

stETH has been depegging since late-Thursday, with the first wave of losses stemming from a massive $1.5 billion dump by Alameda Capital– one of the largest holders of stETH. Alameda sold all of its holdings of the token.

stETH does not have a direct link to ETH prices. It can be redeemed for ETH only after the merge becomes effective- the date of which is currently unknown.

But the token’s main role as collateral on DeFi platforms such as AAVE and Lido could have dire implications for DeFi. Sharp losses in stETH are also causing panic selling in Ethereum.

Celsius, Lido could be caught in the crossfire

But even while stETH has minimal impact on ETH prices, its key role in leveraging with ETH on DeFi could burn those with high exposure.

Currently, DeFi platform Celsius has locked a lot of customer funds into stETH, which are liable to redemptions. If customers were to be spooked by the current stETH downturn, it could cause a bank run that would overload Celsius with redemptions, potentially causing a liquidity crisis.

DeFi majors AAVE and Lido, which have large holdings of the token, could also see a liquidity crunch if stETH selling intensifies.

Allegedly Stable

Here we go again. Another crypto is pegged to a second crypto that is allegedly “stable”.

In this case, we have Celsius, stETH, AAVE, Lido, and Ethereum in the mix. 

I will let others attempt to explain how and why this is no worry, but anyone looking at any chart should be worried. 

And that worry should be with or without a liquidity drain.

I have countless other Tweets all telling me why I am wrong and why whatever the hell they believe in is different. 

Here’s a Tweet that makes sense.

BTC is the ultimate indicator of what I would call the frivolous industry. The influencers, professional gamers, bloggers and bloggers anyone making money doing basically nothing productive. It thrives when interests rates are zero and the economy has ample supply of workers.

Not to Worry 

Everyone “knows” what I just describe cannot possibly happen. I have it on great authority that it would take a nuclear war for cryptos to give back 1.5 years of gains.

It just cannot happen. Meanwhile, back in the real world, let’s discuss inflation.

Why Did Economists Blow the CPI Forecast So Badly This Month?

Assuming you have gotten this far, implying you are not a cryptohead, please consider Why Did Economists Blow the CPI Forecast So Badly This Month?

Then consider what that might mean to overall liquidity. 

This post originated at MishTalk.Com.

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35 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
JeffD
JeffD
4 years ago
Interested in Crypto? Think WeWork, or Enron, or Theranos. Same model.
prumbly
prumbly
4 years ago
The ultimate value of all cryptocurrencies is zero. Just a question of at what point enough people realize this to make it happen.
ColoradoAccountant
ColoradoAccountant
4 years ago
As a CPA I would not sign a balance sheet with cyptos as an asset. I would not be confident that the value on the balance sheet date approximates the Net Present Value of its future cash flows.
Casual_Observer2020
Casual_Observer2020
4 years ago
At some level everything is a liquidity driven event. You could easily argue the whole economy since 2001 has been liquidity driven.
SleemoG
SleemoG
4 years ago
This is true. The Great Depression was caused by a bubble followed by drained liquidity.
Robbyrob
Robbyrob
4 years ago
Bhakta
Bhakta
4 years ago
Thanks Mish. I put my little toe into BTC and ETH and lost about 50% before I bailed. It was only a small amount relatively and I am happy I did not experiment with more. At least when I own shares of good dividend paying companies, I am getting paid regularly even when the shares go down (normally). With crypto there is no income, it is only speculation. I love the concept of by-passing Federal Reserve notes, but right now I do not see anything more powerful the the central banks.
Doug78
Doug78
4 years ago
It’s a crypto bloodbath that was long overdue. Only a very small number of people actually invested in them so most people don’t care about them at all. In a couple of years the cycle will have been completed and then it becomes interesting. If there are a few, very few, cryptos that are still standing then there must be a reason why and if that reason is because they actually serve a useful function besides speculation then I will probably be a buyer. We are far from that point however.
Jackula
Jackula
4 years ago
Every asset is heading to its fundamental value. Fundamental value of crypto is zero.
Bhakta
Bhakta
4 years ago
Reply to  Jackula
What is the fundamental value of gold and silver? Oil? Right now there is a demand for USD because everyone has borrowed them at the extreme low rates, and now they have to pay back with higher rates of interest and much different exchange rates. Just think if you are the government of Thailand (where I live) and you borrowed a few hundred million Dollars when the Thai Baht was 30 to the Dollar and today it is 34! I saw the Asian crises hit here in 1998 when the Baht went from 25 to 55 within a couple of weeks.
William Janes
William Janes
4 years ago
Reply to  Bhakta
Thanks. You have an interesting perspective.
Sunriver
Sunriver
4 years ago
Yikes, Etherium is down big. Contagion going to spread to all crypto’s?
Six000mileyear
Six000mileyear
4 years ago
Reply to  Sunriver
…and all markets but cash.
Lisa_Hooker
Lisa_Hooker
4 years ago
The Coiners will never go down with the ship. Like the Flying Dutchman they are forever condemned to battle again and again to round the Horn, but never to succeed.
Felix_Mish
Felix_Mish
4 years ago
I’ve still not seen any solution to the problem highlighted by the ’07 crash: The global financial trust network failed. And, more importantly, was revealed to be inherently untrustworthy.
Crypto coins are a first attempt to build a working trust network. But, as cryptography alone does not solve the secret messaging problem, crypto coins do not a trust network make. Watch for some limited mechanism that has these characteristics:
1) Is simple and easily described. No hype. No fast talk.
2) Is successfully used in a small, needed, unnoticed way.
3) No one using it has an incentive to break it. Everyone goes down with the ship. Mutually assured destruction.
4) No one using it trusts anyone else using it.
The printers of money have a huge incentive to control their currency. The only way they’ll give up that control is if they unexpectedly find themselves having to.
Felix_Mish
Felix_Mish
4 years ago
Crypto coins are currently a stampede. We are herd animals. We stampede.
Stampedes are exciting to watch. From a safe distance. We can learn something of ourselves from our reaction to this stampede.
Mish
Mish
4 years ago
PapaDave
PapaDave
4 years ago

I don’t know much about this topic but I looked up a few historical charts.

I don’t bother with gold. Like Grantham and Dalio, I consider it a “dead asset”.

I don’t care much about bitcoin, but I decided to buy some after it dropped below 30k recently. Just as a trade. Not a long term believer. It might go to zero. Not concerned. But it does seem to be more mainstream lately. And I have no idea if that is good or bad for its future .

shamrock
shamrock
4 years ago
It’s looking like Terra and Luna were done in by fraud and embezzlement. The staff of Terraform Labs apparently embezzled the bitcoin which was supposed to support the peg. I stay away from all of it, I thought about shorting bitcoin at 10k and that would have been a disaster, so I steer clear since then.
Mish
Mish
4 years ago
Reply to  shamrock
They promised 20% APR on LUNA staking
Others are still promising 6% I believe
Tethers supposedly backed by dollars 1:1 still refuses and audit.
Hell yes, fraud everywhere
PreCambrian
PreCambrian
4 years ago
Reply to  Mish
I believe the biggest and best chance for a massive BTC drop is from a run on Tether. After the initial run they probably only have less than 33% collateral. Especially if they invested in any bonds or commercial paper.
Carl_R
Carl_R
4 years ago
Reply to  shamrock
Fraud is possible, but the design was inherently unsound. Consider that a big investor could assure a consistent profit cycling between Terra-USD and Luna. Normally, when you buy something it rises, and when you sell something, it falls, usually resulting in a loss. What if you trade in the following way?:
1. Buy Luna – causes Luna to go up
2. Buy Terra-USD while selling Luna – buying Terra causes them to buy and destroy Luna to keep Terra from going over one, keeping Luna price high while the Luna is being sold off, assuring a profit
3. Now, with no position in Luna – sell the Terra – Selling Terra causes them to issue more Luna, and buy Terra, so Luna falls
4. Rinse and repeat
The result – buying pushes Luna up, which can then be sold without making the price fall, but then the price of Luna falls after you are out, so that you can buy it again low. Since Terra can “always” be sold for the same price, there is no loss buying it and selling it, but in the process, it pushes Luna down so that it can be bought, and then supports Luna while it is being sold.
Sunriver
Sunriver
4 years ago
Sadly my credit union still sells crypto currency and advertises heavily for us customers to buy it.
Now here is the credit unions Bitcoin sentimate: “Members can now take advantage of cutting-edge Bitcoin products and solutions-including the ability to buy, hold, sell, and manage bitcoin alongside traditional accounts.”
Bitcoin apparently is a product and a solution. If the credit union says so, it must be true. What could go wrong?
JeffD
JeffD
4 years ago
Dog-E coin was literally created as a joke. How can an open prank, and not a very good one, be worth $10 billion? The joke is on the current HODLers, who are destined to be wiped out.
TexasTim65
TexasTim65
4 years ago
Reply to  JeffD
Because people want to own it.
The same way people still buy those 100 trillion dollar Zimbabwe bills or the way investors were still holding on to ‘dead’ GM stock in 09 when it went bankrupt and was split into 2 companies (one dead one to be liquidated in bankruptcy and one to survive).
Carl_R
Carl_R
4 years ago
Reply to  JeffD
Back in January 2021, an Oil & Gas geologist I know told me to put all my money into doggie coin and I’d be set for life. I had never heard of dogecoin, so I looked it up, and found that it was originally a joke. Also it had just gone from a tenth of a penny to seven cents, so I decided to pass on buying any at all. It then went all the way to over $.80, I think, but now it’s back under $.07. I hope my friend got out at the top. I’ll ask, next time I see him.
TheCaptain
TheCaptain
4 years ago
It’s a great example of the malinvestment that happens when liquidity is government driven instead of market driven. I think the next big winners will be holders of physical silver. It is not in a bubble. It is less than half its all time high. Brandon is using war production act powers to bolster pv solar production now, and new, more efficient designs of solar panels break the trend of silver reduction per panel. Instead of using less silver, the next gen designs are using double. And the designs after that are using 4x.
You know, many of the things that were said about cryptos can be said of silver as well. It can become an echo chamber of self reinforcing positive sentiment. Its true for all things. Welcome to herd living when the herd has grown quite large. But there is a huge difference between silver and cryptos: silver has inherent value because of its physical properties and cryptos are only worth what a greater fool will pay. This is simply the truth. Cryptos have no economic value except for the illicit transfer of wealth across borders which of course will eventually be used to vilify crypto holders.
Buy physical silver now before everyone figures out that one of the best technology metals is on fire sale. Silver has the best electrical and thermal conductivity of any element in the periodic table, bar none. Better than copper, better than gold. It’s also the most reflective element. These characteristics will be used in technology which is why silver is a technology metal. Silver has also been treated as money for many countries around the world. When confidence is finally lost in the con game of fake paper currency, expect the herd to come storming back over to silver, which is real money.
Scooot
Scooot
4 years ago
Reply to  TheCaptain

Don’t know if you’ve seen it but there’s lots of info on this site.

Lisa_Hooker
Lisa_Hooker
4 years ago
Reply to  TheCaptain
Captain, you and PapaDave should get together. You could make the greatest pump & dump team ever. Better even than the gold shills.
William Janes
William Janes
4 years ago
Reply to  TheCaptain
I am confused. Are you touting silver as a commodity or as a substitute currency?
Carl_R
Carl_R
4 years ago
Reply to  William Janes
Silver is both, which is why it is a different animal. In times of crisis, gold outperorms silver. When the economy is strong, silver outperforms gold.
Dr_Novaxx
Dr_Novaxx
4 years ago
The entire brief history of crypto can be summarized as follows: “There once was a breakout. Nevermore, thus quoth the raven. The end.”
Bam_Man
Bam_Man
4 years ago
IMHO, there will eventually be mass suicides among the current crop of crypto “true believers”.
That is how I see them “going down with the ship.”
SAKMAN1
SAKMAN1
4 years ago
Reply to  Bam_Man
I hope it is televised

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