Hi Everybody,
It’s not every day you get to meet a legend. Last Friday we had a visitor in the office who is arguably the most influential figure in the world of blockchain, some would say in the entire world of computer development.
Vitalik Buterin is the creator of the cryptocurrency network Ethereum and his views are rarely disputed. On his way to a blockchain conference, he managed a quick stop in to visit us here at eToro’s headquarters and even answered some of our questions.
The full Q&A session is at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_ETd_5E1iI&t=18s
@MatiGreenspan
eToro, Senior Market Analyst
Today’s Highlights
- Not a very good day for USA
- Who’s in Charge?
- Cryptos in Question
Please note: All data, figures, and graphs are valid as of September 11th. All trading carries risk. Only risk capital you can afford to lose.
Market Overview
As Hurricane Irma pelts the western shores of Florida the United States mourns on the 16th anniversary of the worst terror attack in US history.
Now that entire streets in Miami and other major cities have turned into rivers and Hurricane Jose does not appear to be on its way to enter the United States, it may be possible that the worst is already behind us.
Meanwhile in Mexico, the massive 8.1 magnitude earthquake has claimed a total of 90 lives and the damage to buildings is still being assessed.
In North Korea, we have thankfully not seen any new nukes over the weekend. However, rhetoric from the communist dictator persists. Kim even threw a party for all his nuclear scientists to celebrate the success of the program.
Markets in Japan are flying this morning with the Nikkei 225 up 1.41% thanks to some minor data. The Chinese index had a great start to the day but the growth was not sustained and the markets are now down.
European indices are just opening now with a significant gap up over the weekend.
Defective Markets
Now that the financial crisis is considered to be over by most economists and financial analysts it’s time to tally the damage for this too.
However, unlike a hurricane or an earthquake, it’s much more difficult to rebuild after an event like the subprime mortgage crisis. The central bank’s main response to the crisis was to buy financial assets but left most of the structural problems alone.
Imagine if the US government comes into Texas today and starts buying property without fixing anything. Then in 5 years from now claims that the prices of housing has gone up and therefore the problem is solved.
In any case, the banks may have overplayed their hand just a bit. In a recent blog post, JP Morgan’s Andrew Norelli points out that given all of the disasters in the USA (natural and political) stocks should not be where they are right now. Instead, they are being driven by something bigger, the Fed’s Balance Sheet.
The United States is not the biggest culprit though. As we can see above, the USA has stopped their buying program around the start of 2015 and is now thinking about how to reduce it.
On the other hand, countries like Europe and Japan are still buying aggressively. At this point, the Bank of Japan actually owns about 75% of all the ETFs in the country making them the largest player in their own “free” market.
China Ban Hammer
A rumor has begun to circulate that Chinese Peer to Peer exchanges may be under question. A rumor that has sent crypto markets down quite significantly.
A quick glance at trading volumes, on the other hand, shows us that Chinese exchanges OK coin and Huobi are operating at a normal level with a combined volume of 147,233 BTC ($617 Million) over the last 24 hours.
Another conflicting report is coming from Chinese State owned television saying that the ICO ban from a week ago is indeed temporary and that the government only sought to regulate the scams out of the highly volatile ICO market.
26 of the top 30 cryptocurrencies are in the green at the moment. If this momentum is sustained throughout the day it may indeed be a good indication that the worst may be behind us.
