Bitcoin Mania Is Back! Are You Ready to Rumble?

Bitcoin is on the move again, a venomous snake in the grass. You might expect to find a reasonable explanation for cryptocurrency’s sudden, spectacular rise from the dead. Instead, you get only dim-witted speculation that institutional players are starting to warm to it again. Fidelity, for one, reportedly will be buying and selling bitcoin for institutional customers starting in a few weeks. While that may be good news for cryptomaniacs, it hardly justifies the doubling of bitcoin’s price since early April.

Recall that blockchain “money” was reviled and repudiated after it fell to $4,000 in less than a year from a $20,000 peak at the end of 2017. Since then, cryptocurrencies have remained under a dark cloud, not only because of the disastrous outcome of the 2017 bubble, but because of security breaches and scandals that ordinarily would doom a less addictive speculative vehicle. Now, apparently, all is forgiven or forgotten — not because Fidelity and their ilk want to better serve their customers, but because they sense that speculators, having learned nothing from the first bubble, are hot to trot again.

Mourning Is for Sissies

It is predictable that bitcoin’s rise from the pyre will end badly. But it does give the speculative mania that has been driving the stock market a new lease on life, since bitcoin nuttiness will have to run its course a second time before it comes to a fitting end. The chart (inset) is remarkable because, in most instances where an investable has gutted and disemboweled so many fools, it has taken a while to forget and rebuild. Base-building is what saucer-shaped bottoms are all about. In bitcoin’s case, however, there has been no such seemly interval for contrition, mourning and reflection. Bid anew by fools, block-chain money has lurched back to life and there is no stopping it.

Despite my cynical contempt for cryptocurrencies (although not for blockchain technology), I will continue to forecast price action based solely on charts rather than feelings. During the 2017 bubble, Rick’s Picks subscribers saw ample proof that the Hidden Pivot Method is well suited to the demands of bitcoin traders who require accurate price forecasts and risk-averse entry strategies. The ‘mechanical’ trade set-up in particular is geared toward initiating trades in so violent a vehicle as bitcoin. Getting bitcoin’s wild swings right is a piece of cake. But don’t take my word for it. Start a free two-week trial subscription by clicking here. Make the Coffee House your first stop. There you will meet some of the best-informed crypto fanatics in the trading world.

  • Pan May 18, 2019, 7:13 am

    Somewhat off topic, but anyone who thinks the US can easily win the China trade war might want to read this first:

    http://news.goldseek.com/EuroCapital/1558098722.php

  • none May 17, 2019, 2:34 pm

    Wells Fargo Banker Pleads Guilty To Helping Launder Millions For Sinaloa Cartel
    A 30-year-old Wells Fargo personal banker pleaded guilty on Thursday to knowingly opening bank accounts for people working with the Sinaloa cartel for money laundering purposes.
    Luis Figueroa of Tijuana admitted to the scheme which spanned the United States, according to Business Insider.

    Between 2014 and 2016, money laundering organizations recruited people who would open bank accounts for the cartel’s drug money, according to the US Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of California. The operation laundered over $19 million dollars in narcotics proceeds.

    The drug money would be deposited into the bank accounts, also known as “funnel accounts,” in amounts below the threshold for regulatory reporting. -Business Insider

    Drug money would be picked up by cash couriers – often stuffed into “shopping bags, duffel bags or shoeboxes,” after which it would be deposited at Wells Fargo and other banks, according to a DOJ press release. Couriers traveled to Los Angeles, Chicago, Charlotte, Boston, New Jersey, and New York City to pick up drug money into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, picking up the money in private residences or public places such as parking lots or retail stores.

    The couriers would deposit the bulk cash in $22,000 – $45,000 increments at various banks used for laundering, including Wells Fargo, after which funds were transferred into Mexico-based shell corporations operated by the launderers – which would then be transferred to the Sinaloa Cartel.

    Figueroa, who was arrested in November in the joint FBI-IRS investigation, personally made several wire transfers from funnel accounts knowing that he was dealing with drug money. He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.

    Eight other people were arrested and charged in the scheme.

    “We can’t allow our banks to be Laundromat’s for cartel cash,” said US Attorney Robert Brewer. “Bank employees who launder drug money for traffickers will face prosecution and prison.”

    The Sinaloa cartel is one of the largest drug trafficking groups in the world. Based in the West Coast of Mexico, the first lab believed to have produced fentanyl was found at a home in Sinaloa’s state capital.

    —————–The start of a ‘Banking Crisis’.

    If its in play towards the top 10 banks as Well Fargo being one of them, then it is in play towards ‘every industry’ in the nation or nations.

    Have a great weekend Rick.