Posts

Showing posts with the label XLABs

Weekly Overview: Crypto And Blockchain News

Image
PwC Switzerland Partners With Chain Security Smart contract auditing team ChainSecurity partnered with the Swiss branch of Big Four auditing firm PwC to enhance the services the global auditor provides. In an email sent to Cointelegraph, a PwC spokesperson explained that no acquisition took place and multiple ChainSecurity teams joined the firm. According to a press release published by the firm on Jan. 5, PwC hopes that, with ChainSecurity’s team, the firm will become “the world’s leader in smart contract auditing.” FTX Launched Bitcoin Option Trading Cryptocurrency derivatives exchange FTX has launched Bitcoin (BTC) options trading on Jan. 11. FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried announced in a tweet on 11th January, that options were listed on the trading platform. Furthermore, later the same day he also claimed that options trading volume on the exchange reached $1 million in about 2 hours. Student Wins Satoshi Nakamoto Scholarship Bitcoin SV (BSV)-promoting Bitc...

Web 3.0: Challenges, Advantages and Disadvantages

Image
As we’ve already explored in the last blog , Web 3.0 is slated to be the new paradigm in web interaction and will mark a fundamental change in how developers create websites. To recap, on Web 3.0 Every time you buy something on Amazon, the website’s algorithm will look at the other items that people who have purchased your product went on buy and then recommends that to you. So, think about what is going on here. The website is learning from other users what your preferred choices can be and then use it to recommend to you what you may like. In essence, the website itself is learning and becoming more intelligent. That, in a nutshell, is the very philosophy behind web 3.0. Web 1.0 was primarily driven by content that came from the business or the institution for its customers. Web 2.0 took things a little bit further by allowing users to upload and share their content on the website itself. Web 3.0 allows online applications and websites to receive information that’s on the W...

Introduction to Web 3.0

Image
Web 3.0 is slated to be the new paradigm in web interaction and will mark a fundamental change in how developers create websites, You have probably heard the term “web 3.0” floating around the internet. Simply put, web 3.0 is the new phase of the internet’s evolution. The changes that web 3.0 is bringing to the internet is going to take it to a whole new level. Computer scientists and Internet experts believe that these changes are going to make the internet smarter and our lives easier. So, to understand these paradigm-shifting changes, let’s first look at the evolution of the internet as we know it. Web 1.0 Believe it or not, there used to be a version of the internet that existed before social media and video streaming! This was a time before Google in the mid-to-late ’90s. The internet used to be dominated by AltaVista and Netscape. Back then the internet existed to only advertise their brick-and-mortar companies. These websites were “read-only web,” meaning you were...

Will Blockchain Security Issues Be Dealt With, In 2020?

Image
The past few years have been a crisis for security in crypto . As the asset class has increased popularity, more and more security breaks have been highlighted and more institutions targeted. The burgeoning industry is ripe with opportunity, but also with risk. Two incidents that highlight this lapse in security spring to mind. Back in January 2018, Coincheck Japan was targeted, with attackers succeeding in stealing $530 million worth of NEM tokens from the crypto exchange . It is one of the biggest crypto exchange heists in the relatively short history of the industry and stands alongside the infamous attack on Mt. Gox, when around 800,000 BTC was stolen — a sum worth over $6 billion today. Further back in February 2016 , the Bangladesh Bank was targeted. Thieves tried to steal a total of $850 million via properly authenticated transactions in ordering the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to transfer the money through the SWIFT network . While “only” $101 million was t...

Dark Pool Explained

Image
Dark pools are an ominous-sounding term for private exchanges or forums for securities trading . However, unlike stock exchanges, dark pools are not accessible by the investing public. Also known as “dark pools of liquidity,” these exchanges are so named for their complete lack of transparency. Dark pools came about primarily to facilitate block trading by institutional investors who did not wish to impact the markets with their large orders and obtain adverse prices for their trades. Dark pools were cast in an unfavorable light in Michael Lewis’ bestseller Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt , but the reality is that they do serve a purpose. However, their lack of transparency makes them vulnerable to potential conflicts of interest by their owners and predatory trading practices by some high-frequency traders. Why Use a Dark Pool? Contrast this with the present-day situation, where an institutional investor uses a dark pool to sell a one million share block. The lac...

Weekly Overview: Crypto News

Image
05-January- 2020 Ethereum Block Time Reduced By 25% Source : Unsplash.com The average block time on the Ethereum blockchain reduced by almost a quarter after the mining difficulty was eliminated. Data stated on Ethereum block explorer Etherscan demonstrates that from Jan. 1 to Jan. 4, the daily average block time on the blockchain reduced from 17.16 seconds to 12.96. This translates to a 24.48% shorter block time. 06-January- 2020 Bill To Study The Benefits Of Implementing Blockchain In The Election System Source : Unsplash.com The United States Virginia State’s legislature is looking into studying Blockchain to improve the election and voting systems . The bill to look into the study of blockchain was prefiled on the 27th of December, 2019 and was up for offering on the 8th of January, 2020, the House of Delegates and the Senate concurred that the Department of Elections is requested to study the use of blockchain technology to protect ...

Swing Trading Strategy

Image
This straightforward strategy simply requires vigilance . The idea is you keep a close eye out for a correction in a trend and then catch the ‘swing’ out of the correction and back into the trend. A correction is simply when candles or price bars overlap. You’ll find trending prices move quickly, but corrections, on the other hand, will not. Let’s say on your cryptocurrency chart at 250-minute candles, you see 25 candles where the price stays within a 100 point range. If the price contracted to a daily move of just 20 points, you’d be seriously interested and alert. You should see lots of overlap. This tells you there is a substantial chance the price is going to continue into the trend. You should then sell when the first candle moved below the contracting range of the previous several candles, and you could place a stop at the most recent minor swing high. It’s simple, straightforward and effective. Even with the right broker, software, capital and strategy, the...

Leading Vs Lagging Indicators

Image
Lagging indicators use past price data to provide entry and exit signals, while leading indicators provide traders with an indication of future price movements, while also using past price data. When faced with the dilemma of leading vs lagging indicators, which should traders choose? The answer to this question ultimately comes down to individual preference after understanding the advantages and limitations of each. Lagging indictors Lagging indicators are tools used by traders to analyse the market using an average of previous price action data. Lagging indicators, as the name implies, lag the market. This entails that traders can witness a move before the indicator confirms it — meaning that the trader could lose out on a number of pips at the start of the move. Many consider this as a necessary cost in order to confirm to see if the move gathers momentum. Others view this as a lost opportunity as traders forgo getting into a trade at the very start of a move. L...

Explained: The Wyckoff Method

Image
One of the most helpful tools I’ve discovered for trading is The Wyckoff Method , created by Richard Demille Wyckoff, a pioneer in the studies of technical analysis, and one of the five “titans” of TA, along-side Gann (Gann Fans/Squares), Dow (Dow Theory), Merrill, and Elliot (Elliott Wave Theory). Below is a summation of what I’ve gathered and factored into my trading. The Wyckoff avoidance method means to trade only the best assets in the leading market sectors. Crypto is an emerging asset class, but there are already ways of determining which cryptocurrency has fundamental value. Focusing on the opportunities in those markets makes your decisions process much clearer: You want to buy/hold a fundamentally valuable asset when its price is not reflecting its value yet. You want to take profits and abandon an asset that is appreciating in the short term because of things like tiny market inefficiency or news hype. FINDING THE MARKET WEAKNESS You can use any of your fa...

Cryptocurrency: A Source Of Passive Income

Image
In order to understand how crypto can become a source of passive income, we must first understand or define what passive income is. What is Passive Income? Passive income is earnings derived from a rental property , limited partnership or other enterprise in which a person is not actively involved. As with active income, passive income is usually taxable. However, it is often treated differently by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Portfolio income is considered passive income by some analysts, so dividends and interest would therefore be considered passive. Passive income is a big step for cryptocurrency : it’s about time that people use digital assets productively. There are options that vary in time-intensity to fit one’s investor capacity and crypto needs at the same time. Cryptocurrencies are complicated so you need to make the point that it could be very easy . It’s common knowledge that institutional investors, specifically from CME , are increasingly em...

Psychology of Financial Markets

Image
Market psychology refers to the prevailing sentiment of financial market participants at any one point in time. Investor sentiment can and frequently drives market performance in directions at odds with fundamentals. For instance, if investors suddenly lose confidence and decide to pull back, markets can fall. Greed, fear, expectations, and circumstances are all factors that contribute to markets’ overall investing mentality or sentiment. The ability of these states of mind to trigger periodic “risk-on” and ``risk-off,” in other words boom and bust cycles in financial markets is well documented. Often these shifts in market behaviour are referred to as “animal spirits” taking hold. The expression comes from John Maynard Keynes’ description in his 1936 book, “The Theory of Employment, Interest, And Money.” Writing after the Great Depression, he describes animal spirits as a “spontaneous urge to action rather than inaction.” While conventional financial theory, namely the effi...

Why You Should Visit Greenland in 2020

Image
There are multiple reasons why you should visit Greenland and this article is a brief yet extensive look at the culture and the environment that Greenland has to offer. Continue on to find out more: Vast bands of stunning, unfenced wilderness give adventurers exceptional autonomy to wander at will, whether on foot, by ski or by dogsled. With almost no roads, transportation is expensive, but indulging on helicopter and boat rides is worth every penny. These whisk you over actually superb mountainscapes and glaciers or through some of the planet’s most remarkable fjords. Greenland also offers world-beating but charmingly uncommercialized opportunities for sea kayaking, rock climbing and salmon fishing. The world’s biggest non-continental island has the world’s sparsest population. Nonetheless, scattered mainly along Greenland’s west coast are dozens of photogenic little villages of colourfully painted wooden cottages, plus a few small towns as well as the capital, Nuuk Town (God...

Introduction to Financial Risk and Financial Risk Management.

Image
Financial risk is a term that can apply to businesses, government units, the financial marketplace as a whole, and the individual. This risk is the risk or likelihood that shareholders, stakeholders, or other fiscal stakeholders will lose money. There are numerous specific risk factors that can be considered as a fiscal risk. Any risk is a threat that produces damaging or unwanted results. Some more shared and diverse financial risks include credit risk, liquidity risk, and operational risk. The Basics of Financial Risk Financial risk is a type of risk that can affect the loss of capital to interested parties. For governments, this can mean they are incapable to regulate economic policy and default on bonds or additional debt issues. Corporations also face the likelihood of default on debt they undertake but may also experience failure in an undertaking the causes a financial weight on the business. Individuals face financial risk when they make conclusions that m...