The bitcoin performance was another yawning event. The lack of volume, interest and volatility continues to be the headline event. The U.S. vote gives hope with pro-crypto politicians from Colorado & California elected, writes Bob Savage. He’s presenting at TradersExpo.

The bounce back in the global tech sector adds some fundamental relief as well.

If you believe owning Ethereum (ETH) or Bitcoin (BTC-USD) is a call option on future technology then you should care about the present technology share price.

The grinding bid tone to the week matters but perhaps not enough to spur action. Many look at 2018 as a lost cause for crypto – an annus horriblus – where 2019 can’t get here fast enough.

Out of the pain of the January collapse has come many positive steps towards institutionalization. The global crypto markets are growing up. The latest BitMEX research is the focus of the week for me.

There is a lot in the report but here are the things that stand out.

  • Total spot volumes make up less than three-quarters of the total market volume.
  • Visitors to an exchange and business aren’t the same thing - exchanges like Coinbase, Bittrex, and Cex.io appear to have more visitors per day than other exchanges that have similar volumes.
  • Cold wallets are used by only one-third of top exchanges, while 11% of top 100 have fallen victims to hacking attacks.
  • Less than half of top exchanges have strict KYC requirements, and over one-quarter of them have no such requirements at all. The need for more regulatory clarity seems obvious in the list of findings.

The need for better data – from coin lending rates to margins to the bid/ask spread – all seem necessary for building up the trust in the market. The dependence of the market on fiat currency makes clear the risks of USD strength as a negative to the viability of the asset class.

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