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How to Buy Bitcoin Anonymously

Buying bitcoin has become very easy nowadays. If you want to buy bitcoin, you need to buy it through an exchange. However, tables are turned when you want to buy bitcoin, but anonymously.

The core idea behind bitcoin is decentralization. Decentralized, in turn, provides privacy, security, and transparency. However, it doesn’t have the same set of privacy if you want to go through the normal route of purchasing or selling bitcoin.

In this article, we will be exploring how you can buy bitcoin anonymously. All these methods will keep your privacy intact and will ensure that authorities(read government) don’t come to know about your purchasing habits. But, before we start, let’s try to understand how bitcoin can be purchased through traditional channels such as cryptocurrency.

  Buying Bitcoin From Cryptocurrency Exchanges

If you are new to bitcoin, your best bet is to buy bitcoin from a centralized exchange. They have a straightforward buying process. At first, you need to register for their exchange which includes completing the Know-Your-Customer(KYC) process. As you might know, KYC means entering all self-information including government based documents.

Once done, you can then either buy it using a credit card or through other forms of currency. Some exchange offer buys option through banks while others don’t. As you can see the exchange stores your complete information and your anonymity or privacy don’t stand a chance. Centralized exchanges are against the core philosophy of blockchain, but that’s a topic of another day.

  Why do you need to keep your anonymity when purchasing bitcoin?

Purchasing bitcoin or matter of fact, any cryptocurrency is a personal thing, and you should not tell anyone where how, when and where you bought bitcoin. Governments are notorious when it comes to scrutinizing bitcoin or cryptocurrency related purchases. Also, if you are a massive buyer or splendor in the cryptocurrency world, you might attract unwanted attraction from companies selling you solutions or frauds trying to trick you. In any case, having anonymity can provide you complete peace of mind, giving you the necessary layer of protection when making high-value bitcoin transactions.

  What are your viable options? How to buy bitcoin anonymously?

Now, that we know how your information is stored within a centralized exchange, it is time to learn the methods through which you can buy bitcoin anonymously. Let’s get started.

  Person to Person Purchase

The best way to keep your anonymity in check is to buy bitcoin in-person. Using platforms such as Localbitcoins.com can give you the necessary information to carry out a purchase. You can use the platform to learn about local buyers and then contact them. However, as you are going through a platform, your privacy is at risk. The best approach is to purchase through an acquaintance whom you have known for long and feel safe to deal with. This way you can protect your privacy against unwanted people and also purchase bitcoin. If the person from which you are buying bitcoin is in the crypto or mining industry then you are in luck as they periodically need to liquidate their crypto for real-world funds.

But be beware of face-to-face transactions as they are not completely private. The best possible way you can keep your anonymity is to buy online.

  Buying Bitcoin Anonymously Online

Few marketplaces let you buy bitcoin without the need for KYC. One such marketplace is Bisq. However, it lacks the liquidity and spot prices that you can get from a centralized exchange. To make a purchase, you need to make payment using bank transfer or e-wallet. Once done, the seller will send the said bitcoin amount to your wallet. The platform governs the whole process. Bisq is a great alternative to Localbitcoins.com, the only difference being that you do not have to meet up locally. You can also try Hodl Hodl, a P2P marketplace where verification is made optional. Oh yes, check CoinMama, another exchange that doesn’t require I.D.

  Taking advantage of Bitcoin ATMs

Bitcoin automatic-teller machines also give you the ability to buy bitcoins without losing your anonymity. You can find Bitcoin ATMs in major cities. However, they do offer a unique way to interact with the crypto world. These Bitcoin ATMs work without debit/credit card which makes it ideal for privacy-oriented transactions. If you see a Bitcoin ATM, all you need to do is put in cash, and get your bitcoin. However, not all Bitcoin ATM works in this fashion. There are few ATMs where you need to put a form of “I.D” such as palm print.

The downside of opting for Bitcoin ATMs is that you need to carry out a huge amount of cash to buy a decent amount of bitcoin. However, if you do, you are operating in complete privacy(just make sure that you are not followed!).

  Using Prepaid cards with P2P Exchanges

The last method that we are going to discuss is to take advantage of prepaid cards. These prepaid cards can work amazingly when combined with P2P exchanges. All you need to do is fill your prepaid card with cash and then use them during peer-to-peer exchanges such as LocalBitcoins — or other exchange that doesn’t require any I.D.

  Conclusion

Bitcoin is not entirely anonymous. They offer partial anonymity, and that’s why we have privacy coins such as Zcash or Monero. Keeping the technical aspect of bitcoin privacy aside, you can buy bitcoins anonymously. We discussed a few methods that let you do so, some with complete privacy while others are providing you partial privacy. In any case, you should always be wary of steps that you take during bitcoin transaction. A single mistake can blow your anonymity and the hard work that you have done to keep it that way until now. Also, did you like the guide? If yes, comment below and let us know. We are listening.

                      The post How to Buy Bitcoin Anonymously appeared first on ICODOG.

source https://icodog.io/guide/how-to-buy-bitcoin-anonymously/

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Best Cryptocurrency Technical Analysis Software in 2019

In the past few weeks, we have discussed cryptocurrency trading using technical analysis indicators such as Ichimoku cloud, Renko charts, Bollinger bands, etc. The gist of the articles is to give the cryptocurrency investor a clear method to trade and make profits on exchanging crypto assets. This article highlights the various cryptocurrency technical analysis software available in the market in 2019.

What to look out for before using technical analysis software

There are a couple of technical analysis software available in the market today including the charting software and algorithm-based technical analysis software. In this article, we focus on the former (Charting tools) available in the market and these are some of the things to look out for before selecting a charting software to carry out cryptocurrency technical analysis.

Wide range of cryptocurrency: Most of the charting tools today do not offer a variety of pairs to make analysis on. Check that the software offers options beyond the top digital assets, Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Exchange connected: Charting technical analysis on some software allows you to directly connect to a cryptocurrency exchange and make an order while others are strictly designed for charting.

Premium accounts: Most cryptocurrency technical analysis trading software has a free version with limited resources while the premium paid version allows access to all features.

Ease of use and cleanliness of the charts: Some platforms are created for experts while others fit beginners perfectly. However, dealing with messy charts is an exasperating experience and may lead to wrong predictions hence the need to choose a clean user interface.

The top cryptocurrency technical analysis trading software in 2019

1. Trading View

Trading View charting software ranks as the most common software used in the cryptocurrency industry today. The chart offers an array of technical indicators for the users, news on the cryptocurrency pair and other tools to make the technical trading experience easier. The user experience is superb which has made the newbies in technical trading to choose the software.

Chart from Trading View

The unique thing about Trading View is the “Publish” feature that allows the technical analysts to post and publish their ideas on an advanced UI system. The platform has grown in stature where novices get praise and criticism from the community. Furthermore, the charting platform offers these novices a platform to learn from more experienced traders in the field too. Additionally, there are plenty of experienced investors who regularly publish their ideas on the platform, mostly looking to educate/start a conversation/recruit people for their paid groups.

The platform, however, is one of the few software without a direct order book to an exchange which is a massive miss to some investors. There is a free version of Trading View with an array of features but an even richer featured account can be purchased as a premium user.

Limitations

Does not offer an extensive number of cryptocurrency assets for its users.

Can’t place orders directly on the platform from different exchanges.

2. Yahoo Finance

Yahoo Finance, is a well-known financial website that allows users to carry out technical analysis on various assets including stocks, commodities, derivatives, and cryptocurrencies. The platform offers a wide range of technical indicators, facts, and figures on the asset and current news of the asset to keep you always informed. However, Yahoo Finance lacks a wide range of cryptocurrencies with only the top cryptocurrencies in market capitalization are available including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, IOTA, Cardano, and Tezos.

XRP-USD pair on Yahoo Finance charts; Bollinger Bands

Yahoo Finance is more detailed on an asset than Trading View as the platform offers more than just the chart patterns. Technical analysts on the platform have a summary page of the cryptocurrency details, chat page, profile page offering a clear view of the company and downloads of the historical data. The website draws its data from CryptoCompare, one of the top companies in collecting crypto statistics.

Limitations

The platform has a limited number of cryptocurrency assets to carry out technical analysis.

Relies on Cryptocompare.com as an oracle for its cryptocurrency price data.

3. Coinigy

Coinigy is one of the popular charting systems in the world of cryptocurrencies. The platform allows users to carry out technical analysis on a multitude of cryptocurrency pairs while drawing the price data from a number of exchanges. Unlike Trading View and Yahoo Finance, Coinigy is an exclusive digital charting platform.

Coinigy product tour showing the charting platform

The platform is further connected to a number of exchanges including Binance, Bitfinex, OKEx exchange, and Coinbase Pro. The platform further offers three main functionalities for exchanges namely; charting using technical analysis indicators, showing balances and trading services. The latter two are available only to a select exchanges.

Limitations

The platform is a bit more complex to use as compared to other cryptocurrency technical analysis tools and software.

Parting shot

Before you begin your journey in using technical analysis indicators to make cryptocurrency price predictions, you need to be familiar with what technical analysis in crypto entails. Select a cryptocurrency technical analysis software suitable to your needs and follow ICODOG’s trading strategies for more tips and information on how to make successful trades in the cryptocurrency market.

                      The post Best Cryptocurrency Technical Analysis Software in 2019 appeared first on ICODOG.

source https://icodog.io/crypto-trading/best-cryptocurrency-technical-analysis-software-in-2019/

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Future of Litecoin (LTC): 2019 and Beyond

The cryptocurrency market is currently on a strong bullish vibe that has seen most of the top digital assets make massive gains since the start of 2019. Litecoin (LTC), a fork of Bitcoin, is one of the coins that is performing really well as the price of the asset hit $94.48 USD on April 6th 2019. This represents a 214% increase in price since January when the price stood at $30 USD per coin. With the market slowly finding its way to the highs witnessed in 2017, when LTC traded above $400 USD, is there a possibility to reach the all-time high again?

Before we dissect into the future prospects of LTC, we look at the history and interesting facts about Litecoin below.

What to know about Litecoin

Litecoin (LTC) is an idea that cropped up from Charlie Lee, a former Google employee, back in October 2011. Lee saw major improvements that Litecoin would bring to the cryptocurrency universe as Bitcoin started showing some weaknesses. These improvements by Lee include:

Faster generation of new blocks

Greater liquidity through a larger coin supply (84 MM)

Fairer distribution of coins to miners

The ability to test and implement new technology faster

However, the coin did not gain much attention from the world till it hit a $400 USD, and close to $20 billion market cap in December 2017. The platform is built to make transactions four times faster than Bitcoin with block confirmation speeds set at two and a half minutes.

Follow this link to learn more on the various differences between Bitcoin and Litecoin.

Historical price of Litecoin

Litecoin is one of the few early coins that did not raise an ICO which saw a late introduction of the coin to exchanges in early 2014. The first price listed on an exchange was around $4.30 USD. If you invested your money then in LTC, you could have made close to 10,000% in profit if you sold in December 2017 at its ATH. An investment of $100 USD back in 2014 in the digital asset is currently worth $2000 USD today representing close to 20X your initial investment.

Litecoin (LTC) price since 2014 in US dollars (Coinmarketcap)

Today, LTC trades at $78.22 USD across major exchanges, representing a slight 4% decrease in price in the past 24 hours. With the price steady above the $70 USD mark, we focus on how the price of LTC might look in the near future.

Technical Analysis of Litecoin’s price

Litecoin has always had an affinity to the cryptocurrency investors as the volume traded daily shows. The coin is currently ranked fourth on the daily volumes traded with a total of $2,525,119,857 USD traded. Only Bitcoin, Tether, and Ethereum ranks above the coin. This shows the potential Litecoin has in the future once the market stabilizes given the reception from investors.

1. LTC Vs the Dollar

The LTC/USD pair technical analysis shows the price is facing a crucial few weeks in the coming future as the price struggles to cross the bullish pennant. The price set a new support level at $99.58 USD, which if crossed may signal an upcoming boost in LTC’s price.

The current bullish momentum is the first steady bullish trend the LTC/USD pair is experiencing since the start of the bearish run in February 2017. A break above the bullish pennant may push the price towards testing a new resistance level at $170 USD.

2. LTC Vs Bitcoin (LTC/BTC)

The volatility in LTC/BTC is not as great as that on LTC/USD. Litecoin tends to follow Bitcoin’s price but in different variations, as shown in the chart below. LTC currently trades at 0.0156 BTC (1560000 sats) representing a percentage drop against the top cryptocurrency. The Ichimoku cloud signals a bullish run on LTC/BTC pair as Lead 1 crosses above Lead 2 and a green cloud starts to form.

The weekly price also is struggling to break the resistance level at 0.01877 BTC as the price remains above the cloud. The accumulation of satoshis (sats) is important for long term traders which shows the coin is performing better than BTC, the benchmark cryptocurrency. For Litecoin, the challenge doubles as the asset is competing with Bitcoin to become a global super cryptocurrency.

Factors affecting Litecoin’s future price

Litecoin’s future looks bright despite the coin losing over 80% of its value since the all-time high price. The adoption of LTC is taking off at a superficial rate as exchanges, merchants, retail stores and other enthusiasts are taking up the use of LTC. The coin has seen a couple of additions on exchanges across the world which allows more markets to purchase and trade the coin.

In August this year, the halving of Litecoin block rewards happens which will reduce the miners’ rewards from 25 LTC per block to 12.5 LTC. Previous halvings of Bitcoin’s block rewards have seen the coin boost its price to insane levels which may be the case with the current rise in LTC’s price.

Miner will have lower rewards which means the transaction fees, which are part of the miners’ income, need to be increased. However, this may cause a reduction in the adoption rate of the coin, a move that is not ideal for the Litecoin community. Litecoin is added to the Lightning network to curb the issue of increased fees and offer the Litecoin Core platform users instant transfer of coins.  

The partnerships and developments in the Litecoin community will play a huge role in the future price of the coin too. The Litecoin Foundation, the lead developers of the Litecoin Core project are also looking at increasing the privacy levels of the coin through the MimbleWimble protocol.

  Conclusion

While the future remains uncertain on the world of cryptocurrencies, the rest of 2019 looks bright for the LTC enthusiasts. The technical indicators and fundamental analysis of the digital asset shows a possible $170 USD valuation by the end of the year.

(Technical Analysis images from KenyanMiner on Trading View)

                      The post Future of Litecoin (LTC): 2019 and Beyond appeared first on ICODOG.

source https://icodog.io/crypto-trading/future-of-litecoin-ltc-2019-and-beyond/

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Top 6 Ethereum Use Cases

Ethereum is a second generation blockchain platform that supports smart contracts. Currently, it’s the second largest cryptocurrencies with a market cap of $17 billion according to coinmarketcap.com. Launched in 2014 by Vitalik Buterin, the platform added functionality to the Bitcoin blockchain by enabling it to support smart contracts thereby extending the number of things that can be done on the blockchain.

The platform has proved revolutionary and paved the way for more invention within the space as upcoming platforms try to build on what it made possible. Its immutability and transparency have made it ideal for building products and applications that need to run on an open network.

Ether is the currency of the platform, and it’s used to pay miners for verifying transactions. Even though scalability has been a significant issue for the platform, currently it’s still by far the most popular place for dapps.

This is despite the arrival of more scalable platforms like Tron and EOS that have managed to take a portion of its market share. But when it comes to real-world use cases, none of those platforms comes near Ethereum.

The list of applications that can be built on Ethereum seems to be endless, and in this piece, we are going to explore some of the top use cases for the smart contract platform that range from health applications to politics. Without further ado let’s get started.

  Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs)

Initial coin offerings better known as ICOs are the crypto industry’s equivalent to an initial public offering (IPO) in the mainstream investment world. The offer a quick way for companies that need to raise cash for their projects.

Through its ERC20 and ERC721 platforms, Ethereum is designed to help projects launch their tokens on its blockchain, and there is no limit to what can be built on them. Also, these tokens are universal meaning every exchange or wallet service out there that supports ether can easily integrate any of the tokens.

Startups generate tokens and sell them in exchange for Ether, the native currency of Ethereum. These tokens have utility in the application the startup builds, and individuals can purchase them and use them in the platform or even for speculative purpose.

One of the most successful ICOs to be held on the Ethereum platform was Bancor which managed to raise $153 million within three hours.

  Putting Real World Assets on The Blockchain

The security token market is shaping up in 2019, and many expect the industry to be a multi-trillion opportunity. Ethereum is one of the platforms that will enable this shift. Security tokens are representations of real-world assets like precious metals, stocks, real estate, etc.

By tokenizing these assets, issuers can transfer and transact in them much easier as compared to when they have contractual representation on paper.

PolyMath is one blockchain startup that is working hard to make this a reality. After the company managed to raise $59 million through an ICO, it’s now building one of the first fully compliant platforms that will help tokenize real-world assets on the Ethereum blockchain.

  Storage of Data

When it comes to storing data, several companies offer these services. The likes of Microsoft and Dropbox can store large amounts of data on the so-called data farms. However, the problem with these farms is that they are centralized and this presents a real problem in case a hack, a natural disaster or a terrorist attack is to occur.

The solution lies in decentralized storage facilities. This means information isn’t stored on a single or a couple of server farms but many data centers around the world. Up until decentralized platforms came along, this wasn’t possible as building a network that could connect all those servers safely and also enabled the fast transfer of data had proved to be a stumbling block.

However, Ethereum has the potential to solve this problem as its blockchain can be used to encrypt and quickly transfer the stored data between millions of servers.

  Banking and Financial Services Contracts

Ethereum’s smart contracts have many use cases for the banking and finance sector. So far, these contracts can be applied in areas such as national bonds, mortgages, insurance claims, payments, and settlements, etc.

For example, imagine a government bond that is nearing maturity if it’s written and maintained by a smart contract it just disburses the funds to the bearer upon maturity.

Also, imagine a scenario where an individual fails to pay for a certain number of EMIs consecutively without any notice to the bank. In such a case, instead of a foreclosure, a smart contract can be written that can enforce the rules and the conditions.

There are other use cases for Ethereum within finance like smart contract powered loans, decentralized exchanges and even minting of stable coins. One project that is putting Ethereum’s smart contracts into good use is MakerDAO which has created a stablecoin dubbed DAI that is backed by ether, and it’s always worth $1.

  Prediction Markets

This is another area where there are plenty of use cases for Ethereum smart contracts. So far, we have platforms like Augur and Gnosis that are using the Ethereum blockchain to run prediction platforms.

The idea of prediction markets can be applied in places where one needs to know the future outcome of a given event like a football match, the price discovery point of an auction, the result of an election campaign, etc.

In these kinds of setups, the participating individuals are incentivized to participate in predictions and for those that manage to make accurate predictions they are rewarded through trustless smart contracts that are hosted on the Ethereum blockchain.

These predictions can be used in gambling, betting and even to make decisions where a given company wants to know if it should launch a specific product or not.

  Digital Identity

How we identify ourselves hasn’t changed over the past few decades. We still need to carry around our ID cards and passports whenever we go. Part of the problem why the shift to digital identity has been slow has been because its hard for governments to confirm the authenticity of an online document, but this is about to change.

Thanks to Ethereum, it’s now possible to manage digital identities through smart contracts thereby eliminating the issue of identity theft and also data monopoly. Smart contract platforms like uPort have come up to help with identity management.

The platform allows users to register their own identities on the Ethereum blockchain, send and request credentials, sign transactions and securely manage keys.

                      The post Top 6 Ethereum Use Cases appeared first on ICODOG.

source https://icodog.io/ethereum/top-6-ethereum-use-cases/

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Top 5 Blockchain Stocks to follow in 2019

The evolution of blockchain technology in the past few years have caught everyone off-guard. Big companies are relentlessly trying to evolve the technology and use it for improvement of not only their own processes but also for other sectors as well.

The key reasons behind the growth of blockchain, the underlying technology of bitcoin, is the immutability and transparency. These features have a huge impact on different sectors including finance, health, stocks and so on. The advantages are real as it enables companies to stop fraud, ensure data integration and provide value to both the organization and their end users.

In today’s article, we will be focusing on the companies that have invested immensely in blockchain technology, and help it grow. There are currently 80 organizations that are working towards developing practical use cases related to blockchain technology, and according to the World Economic Forum, it will count for 10% Global GDP by the next ten years. The unparalleled growth also means that there are stocks that might interest you. If you are an investor, it is always a good idea to look out for the stocks that can grow in the coming future. That’s why we are going to list top 5 blockchain stocks to follow in 2019.

Top 5 Blockchain Stocks to follow in 2019

IBM

IBM is one of the leading technology company out there. It is also one of the leading technology companies that are doing blockchain development. That’s why we have listed it in the first place as it offers unique value to the users and as well as the investors.

As you might already know that IBM started its journey in 1911 as they worked on a plethora of different technologies. This means that they are leaders in innovation and have helped shape fields such as cloud computing, the internet of things, and of course blockchain.

So, what makes IBM so active in the blockchain industry? They are currently contributing/participating in 500+ blockchain projects. Not only that, 1500+ experts are currently supporting IBM’s blockchain solutions.

They are also known for their IBM Food Trust platform. They are working in parallel with Walmart to make the platform that will improve the food supply chain and ensure proper food safety. Other significant products that they have to offer includes “we.trade” and “CLSNet”. The first one aims to provide a blockchain-based platform for finance, whereas the second platform is a blockchain-based payment service.

  Alibaba

Alibaba is one of the biggest companies in the world as they excel at eCommerce and technology. Clearly, it has the potential to take on the latest technologies including blockchain. When it comes to the blockchain, they are not far when it comes to leadership. They also have 90 patents related to the blockchain which makes them number one company, beating IBM by just one patent as of September 2018.

Alibaba has already used blockchain to improve their internal systems including logistics. Their subsidiary Lynx International have already successfully implemented blockchain in their logistics section. Other real-life implementations include the use of blockchain to fight food adulteration and fight counterfeiting.

Ant Financial, their affiliate firm also launched remittance services. Moreover, like IBM, they are also started to extend their foothold in the blockchain-as-a-service sector.

  Microsoft

Microsoft is yet another leading technology company that has their journey started three decades ago. From there, they have established their tech dominance, starting from their Windows Operating System to the Azure cloud computing service. Microsoft is also well known for their involvement in blockchain as they provide blockchain services to its users. You can use their apps such as Office 365, Sharepoint Online and Outlook, all of them powered by their blockchain service.

They are also providing services to other companies including big organizations such as Salesforce.com. Their flagship service Azure Blockchain-as-a-service is being used by other big companies including AT&T and NASDAQ as they utilize their Azure-based blockchain. Overall, they provide excellent technical expertise and know-how when it comes to technologies such as cloud computing, big data, and even blockchain.

Microsoft is also one of the first companies to embrace blockchain when they launched their cloud-based blockchain solution in 2015. They are now actively participating in other projects including enabling their services to connect to other service providers.

Mastercard

Mastercard might be a surprising entry as they are a centralized entry. However, in truth, they are working hard in mastering the blockchain technology. They are smartly in pursuit to use blockchain technology in improving their system including their intermediary solutions such as Mastercard Obsolete.

One of the most significant use-case for Mastercard is to use blockchain to remove frauds in credit and lending industries. They lost around $22.8 billion in 2016 alone. That’s significant enough for them to dive deep into blockchain and improve their platform.

Apart from that, they are also active in providing their solution to the world. They have released APIs for other companies and developers to utilize. This way, anyone can create their own blockchain related solutions and applications and take advantage of cutting-edge blockchain technology. In short, they are one of the leading blockchain stocks that you should follow in 2019.

Amazon

Amazon’s presence in the eCommerce and cloud solution is unmatched. The giant company foothold in these two sectors is thanks to their receptiveness to technology. They are forefront when it comes to innovation, and that’s where they are in our top 5 blockchain stocks to follow in 2019 list.

Their cloud-computing solution AWS is actively using blockchain and providing service to corporate consumers. By using their blockchain service, corporate consumers can easily create large blockchain platform using easily accessible templates. Moreover, their services are easy to integrate thanks to the Amazon IT tools.

AWS Partner Network(APN) is providing their new service which offers new connections with companies using blockchain. Moreover, their use-cases enable blockchain’s use in different sectors including healthcare, field data management, supply chain, and so on.

Conclusion

This leads us to the end of our top 5 blockchain stocks to follow in 2019. However, before you decide to invest, we recommend doing more extensive research. Investment is always risky, and it is up to you to decide which stocks you are going to invest in.

                      The post Top 5 Blockchain Stocks to follow in 2019 appeared first on ICODOG.

source https://icodog.io/analysis/top-5-blockchain-stocks-2019/

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Dash in Venezuela: Real Cryptocurrency Adoption

Payment systems in Venezuela are taking up cryptocurrency payments as the Venezuelan bolivar soberano faces hyperinflation. Dash (DASH) and Bitcoin (BTC) rank as the top cryptocurrencies being used in the country as a store of wealth and to pay for their daily services. In this article we focus on the use and effects of Digital Cash (DASH) in the country and the challenges and benefits it faces.

Dash logo

The failure of the Venezuelan economy

According to a recent United Nations report, over 17% of Venezuelans have fled the country following the massive economic turmoil the country has faced for the past few years. The country’s national currency. Venezuelan bolivar is practically useless albeit lighting fires and dirtying the streets of Venezuela. The World Bank estimates the country’s inflation rate will reach 10 million percent in 2019 further showing the strain on the citizens in the country.

The huge amounts of physical bolivars you need to pay for goods and services mean citizens cannot physically store it and the central bank cannot meet the demand. Moreover, the digital transactions in the country such as the use of credit and debit cards are restricted by central banking authorities in this time of hyperinflation.

Venezuelan bolivars on the street

The problem of inflation is further compounded by the financial constraints, foreign sanctions and the migration of over 3 million Venezuelans to neighboring Colombia. The dire situation currently being faced is causing rapid adoption and use of US Dollars (USD), Bitcoin (BTC) and Dash (DASH) in the country.  

The latest move by President Nicolas Maduro’s government to introduce a national cryptocurrency, Petro (PTR) also shows the desperate state of the country’s economy.  

Petro’s influence in Venezuela

Petro, portmanteau of petromoneda, is a national cryptocurrency developed by the government and backed by Venezuelan oil deposits, gold, and diamonds. The cryptocurrency is seen as a measure to control the hyperinflation in the country as well as offering a payment option for the citizens. However, the government has only given the PTR holders certificates as the development of the cryptocurrency is yet to be complete. With the government pumping so much towards the cryptocurrency, Dash may face a challenge in the coming future once the tokens are released.

At the moment, Dash is on a high road making the payment systems in Venezuela more convenient and efficient. The Dash Core Group, the core development team of the Dash project, are forming partnerships with various merchants and stores across the country making the process of spending and purchasing Dash cryptocurrency a lot easier.

Dash (DASH): The power of cryptocurrency in Venezuela

Dash is a private digital currency designed to help consumers make payments for purchases made online or in-store anywhere in the world. Dash coins are stored in a Dash wallet from which all transactions in the coin can be initiated. Payment confirmations are done in less than three seconds while cryptographic security is guaranteed through a payment verification process that makes use of the mining power.

The adoption of the cryptocurrency in Venezuela is growing as merchants and other points of sale (POS) continue to accept cryptocurrency payments. Below are some of the large partnerships Dash Core Group is making to ensure ease of payments and efficient purchase of the cryptocurrency.  

Venezuelan citizens and Dash (DASH)

One of the largest partnerships in the Dash cryptocurrency ecosystem is with Cryptobuyer, South America’s largest cryptocurrency broker. The partnership between the two companies is set to strengthen the payment channels using Dash and offer users in the region financial freedom through a decentralized cryptocurrency. Cryptobuyer is currently setting up Dash payment systems in Venezuelan retailer, Traki.

Likewise, the cryptocurrency giant has also partnered with Payza. Payza is one of the largest payment system in South America and accepts over 25 currencies for payments. The latest partnership is Chicken Church, a popular restaurant with stores across the country. More partnerships, ATMs, businesses and retail stores accepting Dash can be accessed on the Discover Dash website.

Is Dash popular in Venezuela?

While Dash makes a claim for being one of the widely spread tokens in the country, Bitcoin still takes the number one spot as the most used cryptocurrency. The growth of popularity of Dash in the country is heightened by the ease of payments the currency offers as compared to the pioneer cryptocurrency. However rapid the adoption rate of Dash may be, BTC is still the go-to crypto according to volumes posted on Coin Dance, a Bitcoin statistics website.

Weekly volumes of BTC exchanged on Localbitcoins (Image: Coindance)

According to one of the popular cryptocurrency experts in the country, Eduardo Gomez, alias Codiox, Dash is not at all popular in the country. He compared the use of Dash in the country to snake oil.

“Snake oil. Nobody uses it for payments down here.”

Final Comments

With the adoption rates of Dash growing moderately in Venezuela in the past few weeks, more will need to be done to avoid Bitcoin overpowering the cryptocurrency when it comes to payments. Dash is currently trading at $121.60 USD representing a 53% growth in price since the start of the year. The coin is ranked 14th on Coinmarketcap listings with a total market capitalization of $1,064,226,035 USD.

                      The post Dash in Venezuela: Real Cryptocurrency Adoption appeared first on ICODOG.

source https://icodog.io/crypto-stories/dash-in-venezuela-real-cryptocurrency-adoption/

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Top Free Bitcoin Mining Software in 2019

With less than 4 million Bitcoin (BTC) remaining to be mined to fill the maximum 21 million Bitcoins, enthusiasts in the field are scrambling to get a piece of the remaining coins. Read more on what will happen once all the 21 million BTC coins have been mined here.

The advancement of mining hardware kicked out the use of graphical processing units (GPUs) in a bid to make more profits. To mine Bitcoin today, a miner must have an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) mining hardware. However, the ASIC miners are currently a challenge in the cryptocurrency industry, we discussed “Why ASIC miners are bad for cryptocurrency” in a previous post.

In as much as hardware mining devices are an important factor in mining Bitcoin so is the software used to mine BTC. Bitcoin mining software acts as the enabler to the mining hardware to complete the mining of the assets. Below we focus on the best Bitcoin mining software to use in 2019.

Why you should focus on Bitcoin mining software.

Bitcoin mining software offers the users with different uses such as keeping track of your hardware statistics such as temperature, fan speed, hash rate and the overall inputs and outputs of the hardware. The software also allows the miner to connect to the blockchain and send info as well as receive information from the rest of the blockchain.  

The Bitcoin mining software has two major functions in enabling the mining of BTC:

If you are an individual miner, the bitcoin mining software connects your rig to the Bitcoin network.

If you are mining with a pool, the bitcoin mining software will connect you to a mining pool.

However, if you are mining on a cloud, then the software is not necessarily needed by the miner. Some software has been built for cloud mining such as Miner Server.

Read more on the top 10 cryptocurrency mining pools in 2019 here

Here are some of the best free Bitcoin mining software to use in 2019

1. CGMiner

CGMiner ranks as one of the best, most popular and extensive free Bitcoin mining software available in the market today. The software supports ASIC/FPGA miners which support Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. CGMiner is a command line application written in C providing miners with a fast, efficient and cross-platform software. The application further provides full monitoring, fan speed control, API monitoring and remote interface capabilities.

CG Miner

The cross-platform application comes with a scalable networking scheduler that can scale to hash rate of any size without network delays. The platform also prevents the submission of stale work to the new block calculations and supports multiple mining pools with an intelligent crossover in case of failure of a pool.

Limitations

CGMiner offers excellent quality of mining to the users, but the text interface may be a hindrance to new miners adopting the application.

2. BFG Miner

Similar to the CGMiner, the BFG Miner is written in C and offers the users with a fast & efficient platform with dynamic clocking, monitoring and remote interface capabilities. The BFG Miner is a fork of the CGMiner hence the similarities. However, the BFG Miner offers a more customizable mining software that miners can tinker and tweak with to their preference and is made specifically for ASIC miners.

BFG Miner

The software further differs from the predecessor as it incorporates the getblocktemplate and a built-in stratum as opposed to the getwork template used by the CGMiner. Getblocktemplate makes the mining process more decentralized by assigning the creation of the blocks to individual miners instead of the pool.

Limitations

BFG Miner only supports ASIC miners which lockout GPU and other types of hardware from the application.

3. Miner Server

For those not ready to invest in the expensive ASIC miners yet, there is an option to mine on the cloud. Cloud mining does not necessarily require an application as you can directly go on to a website and start mining. However, there exist applications that assist users in cloud mining. We selected to explain the best in the pile, Mining Server.

The Mining Server connects the users to a pool of miners and mining rewards (block rewards) are then shared among the participants. Users will need to register to the pool and select a service package that starts off at 14 cents. The application offers a variety of packages where you choose the hashing power that ranges between 250GH/s to 600,000GH/s.

However, the site of Miner Server has been inactive for a while which raises questions on the legitimacy of the mining software. Do your own research before starting to mine on the site.

Limitations

Probably a cryptocurrency mining scam. Users need to be careful when selecting applications for cloud bitcoin mining.

4. MultiMiner

The MultiMiner is a fork from the BFG Miner and is widely regarded as the most user-friendly bitcoin mining software in 2019. The application directly configures with the hardware device installed on it and synchronizes the information to create a table with all details. The desktop application is full of features such as being cross-platform, ability to switch mining hardware and mining different cryptocurrencies such as Litecoin.

MultiMiner interface

  Furthermore, MultiMiner has automatic detection of network devices, as well as the ability to remotely monitor and control other MultiMiner rigs.

Limitation

MultiMiner allows a number of platforms to connect including Linux, Windows, Mac OS X, and Ubuntu. However, the connection to the other platforms except Windows requires some work.

Conclusion

Mining software is taking the wave in mining Bitcoin in particular as the ASIC miners continue to give up massive profits for the miners. The software above is some of the many applications available for free for solo miners and those in mining pools to mine BTC. However, it is key to remember to check the actual functionality and compatibility of the software to your mining hardware before installation.

                      The post Top Free Bitcoin Mining Software in 2019 appeared first on ICODOG.

source https://icodog.io/guide/top-free-bitcoin-mining-software-in-2019/

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Zk-SNARKs: What Is It And How Does It Work?

Zk-SNARKs better known as the zero-knowledge succinct non-interactive argument of knowledge refers to a proof construction where one individual can prove to have possession of specific information like a secret key but without revealing the information. Also, without any interaction between the one who is proving and the one who is verifying.

These proofs allow an individual to prove to another that a statement is true; however without disclosing any information that is beyond the validity of the statement. So far, there are a few projects that are using Zk-SNARK proofs including Zcash, JP Morgan blockchain based payment system and also as a way to securely authenticate various clients to servers.

However, it’s worth noting that Zcash is the first widespread application of the technology. While there are other privacy coin projects like Monero that employ ring signatures and some other techniques to create smoke screens around transaction information effectively, Zk-SNARKs have fundamentally changed the way data is shared.

Zcash derives its privacy from the fact that transactions in the network can remain encrypted and still be verified as valid using zero-knowledge proofs. This means that those that are enforcing the consensus rules don’t have to know about all the data that is underlying in each transaction. It’s worth noting that the privacy features in Zcash are not activated by default but they are somewhat optional and one has to do a manual setup.

History of Zk-SNARK

Zero-knowledge-proofs is the brainchild of three MIT researchers namely Silvio Micali, Goldwasser and Charles Rackoff. They developed the idea as they worked on some problems that were related to interactive proof systems. Interestingly, before they discovered the zk-SNARKS technology, there was an assumption that the “prover” was the malicious individual in any scenario, so the assumption was that s/he would be the one who tries to fool the verifier.

However, these three researchers filliped this idea and started questioning the morality of the verifier instead. They did this by illustrating how much knowledge the verifier would get know about the prover during the verification process. They pondered how they would be sure if the verifier was not going to leak the acquired knowledge.

Properties That Are Necessary For Zero Knowledge Proof To Work

For ZKP to work the following parameters need to be satisfied;

Soundness – incase the prover is dishonest; they will not be able to convince the verifier of the soundness of the statement through lying.

Completeness – if the statement is true then an honest verifier can easily be convinced of it by an honest prover.

Zero-Knowledge – if the statement is true then the verifier will have no idea what the statement is going to be.

A Breakdown of Zero-Knowledge Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge

Zero-Knowledge – this refers to a proof of construction where one can prove to possess information without having to reveal the piece of information. For example, Kelvin can prove to Alvin that the hash value of a random number does exist without having to tell what that random number is.

Succinct – this tells that the zero-knowledge proof can be verified quickly. Including proofs that have large statements. This is unlike the past with previous zero-knowledge protocols where the prover and the verifier had to engage in several rounds of communication so that they could validate a proof.

Non-interactive – this means that the verifier doesn’t have to interact with the prover to validate zero-knowledge proof. Instead, the proving party can publish their proof in advance, and the verifying party can ensure its correctness.

Arguments– here the verifier is only protected against provers whose computational power is limited. In case the prover happens to have enough computational power, they can create proofs/arguments about wrong statements. It’s important to note that a prover with enough computational power can break any public key encryption.

Of Knowledge – it’s impossible for the prover to construct a proof/argument without knowing a certain “witness” in this case the address he intends to spend from, the path to a specific Merkle-tree node or the preimage of a hash function.

How Zk-SNARKS Works

On its basic level, a Zk-Snark consists of 3 algorithms; G, P and V. G is a key generator. It takes an input “lambda” (which has to be kept confidential and should not be revealed under any circumstances) and a program C.

G proceeds to generate two publicly available keys, i.e. a proving key pk and a verification key vk. Both of these keys are both public and are available to any of the concerned parties.

P represents the prover who is going use the proving key pk, a random input x (which is publicly available) and the private statement – three items as input to prove the knowledge of a statement without revealing what it is.

Using the example of “w” as the private statement the algorithm generates a proof (prf) such that: prf= P(pk,x,w). So, in this case, the verifier algorithm has returned a boolean variable. Usually, a Boolean variable has only two choices; either TRUE or FALSE.

The verifier then takes the verifying key, the public input x, and the proof prf as V(vk,x,prf) and returns TRUE if the prover is correct or False if otherwise.

Future Applications of The Tech

Being able to create shielded transactions on Zcash is just one of the many possible applications of this technology. Theoretically, zk-SNARKS can be used to verify any relation but without revealing the inputs or leaking information.

Also, with Ethereum entering the Metropolis phase, the platform plans to introduce Zk-SNARKs as one of the various changes that are going to make it more abstract and privacy-friendly.

There is no doubt the introduction of zero-knowledge proofs is going to be a huge game changer for the smart contract platform.

However, how the integration will happen remains to be seen, but there is plenty of excitement stemming from the theoretical concepts.

                      The post Zk-SNARKs: What Is It And How Does It Work? appeared first on ICODOG.

source https://icodog.io/guide/zk-snarks-what-is-it-how-it-works/

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Cryptocurrency technical indicators: Bollinger Bands

This is the fifth article of ICODOG’s latest series, “Trading cryptocurrencies successfully”, which focuses on the main investment strategies to trade the latest sensation in the world’s asset market, cryptocurrencies.  The previous article introduced the Renko charts, what it is and how to use it. In this article, we focus on Bollinger Bands and the significance of the indicator in cryptocurrency trading.

Bollinger Bands, abbreviated as BB, is a technical indicator represented with two lines above and below the 20-day simple moving average (SMA). The two bands (upper and lower) are plotted on the chart as positive and negative standard deviations away from the 20-day SMA. While the 20-day SMA is used as the standard, users can customize the chart to their preference. The BB indicator is used to measure the volatility of the asset’s price, in this case, a cryptocurrency, by examining the relationship between the bands and the price.

John. A . Bollinger (Image: World Top Investor)

The technical indicator was brought to life in the 80’s by a financial analyst named John. A. Bollinger. BB technical indicator filled a need to visualize changes in volatility. When the indicator was first being used volatility was known to be static but the knowledge around it increased. Today volatility is plotted on the chart as dynamic.

How to calculate Bollinger Bands (BB)

As explained above, BB comprises of two bands oscillating between the 20 day SMA, namely the upper and lower Bollinger Bands. The steps below explain how to calculate points that plot the three bands on the chart.

 1. Calculate the 20-day simple moving average

The first step is calculating the 20-day SMA by taking the average of the past 20 days closing prices which plots the first data point. The next point is plotted by taking the average of the next 20 days excluding the earliest price and including the latest price in the calculation.

The calculation is represented using the formula:

(A1 + A2 + …. + AN)/ N

Where:

A = average in period N

N = number of time periods

​

2. Calculate the standard deviations

Once you calculate the 20-day simple moving average, the next step is to calculate the positive and negative standard deviations. Standard deviation is a measure of volatility and the shrinking and expanding of the bands is a signal of low and high volatility respectively. Standard deviation is a measure of the variance of a given value from the data set average.

To calculate the upper BB (positive standard deviation), take the square root of the variance and multiply it by 2. The variance is calculated as the square of the differences from the mean. Add the value of double the standard deviation to the 20 day SMA and plot on the chart.

To calculate the lower band, take the standard deviation and multiply by two as done in the upper band. However, instead of adding the value, subtract it from the 20-day SMA and plot the value on the chart.

Upper Band = 20 Day SMA + (Standard Deviation x 2)

Lower Band = 20 Day SMA – (Standard Deviation x 2)

3. How to read and understand Bollinger Bands

Before starting this section it is crucial to note that Bollinger Bands are not perfect in giving a signal to which price will move, pretty much as all the indicators. However, a number of traders believe that a constant touch of price on the upper band, or nearing the band shows the cryptocurrency is overbought, triggering a sell signal. The vice versa is also a common perception that the price closing in on the lower band or crossing it shows an asset is oversold hence a buy signal.

While reading Bollinger Bands and the price constantly hits the lower band, remaining between the 20 day SMA and the lower band, then moves above the 20-day SMA, it shows signals of a reversal. As a trader, this offers a buy signal with the upper BB as the target for the trade. The reverse price action also works in a similar manner.

The Squeeze and Breakouts

When the bands come close together, constricting the moving average, it is called a squeeze. A squeeze signals a period of low volatility and is considered by traders to be a potential sign of future increased volatility and possible trading opportunities. Conversely, the wider apart the bands move, the more likely the chance of a decrease in volatility and the greater the possibility of exiting a trade.

The squeeze and Breakouts visualized

Breakouts refer to the price crossing and closing above the upper or lower bands. Breakouts are a rare event to occur and signals a strong uptrend or downtrend in the price.

Remember, the squeeze and breakouts are not price signals but rather show the extent of volatility on the price of the cryptocurrency.

Conclusion

Bollinger Bands offers the users an easy way to tell the volatility of price and make decisions on that information. Unlike other indicators with static interpretations, BB offers dynamic interpretations as the indicator has various reading points. Remember, no technical indicator is 100% accurate in predicting the price and BB is no different.

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source https://icodog.io/crypto-trading/cryptocurrency-technical-indicators-bollinger-bands/

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A Brief Introduction to Smart Contracts

A smart contract can simply be defined as a computer code that runs on top of the blockchain. It contains a set of rules that determine how the involved parties can interact with each other. So, whenever these predefined rules are met, automatically the agreement is enforced. It’s the purest form of decentralized automation.

The smart contract code is responsible for facilitating, verifying, and enforcing the negotiation or performance of a transaction or an agreement.

The idea of smart contracts was initially conceived in 1993 by Nick Szabo a cryptographer and computer scientist. He described them as a kind of digital vending machines. At the time he gave an example that explained how users could input value or data and in turn receive a finite item from a machine like a soft drink or a snack.  

Interestingly, the term smart contract is quite unfortunate since these codes are neither intelligent nor should they be confused with legal agreements. It’s important to note that a smart contract can only be as smart as the people that code it. Also, they have the potential to become legal contracts in case certain conditions are met. However, they shouldn’t be confused with legal contracts that are accepted by law enforcement or courts.

But, with the area fast developing we are starting to see a fusion of smart contracts and legal contracts.

  Characteristics of Smart Contracts

Smart contracts offer numerous advantages, for example, they are capable of tracking performance in real time consequently bringing tremendous cost savings. Also, compliance and controlling can happen on the fly. To get external information a smart contract will use the help of information oracles that will feed it with external data. So simply put smart contracts are;

Self-executing

Self-verifying

Tamper resistant

They also can;

Lower the cost of transactions

Guarantee more security

Reduce the reliance that is placed on trusted intermediaries

Help turn legal obligations into automated processes

  The Smart Contract Process

Pre-defining the contract.

Here the terms of engagement are established by all counterparties, e.g. currency to be used to make payments, the currency rates, and variable interest rate.

The conditions for execution are also set for example the time and date and even the variable interest rate at a given value.

Events – here events trigger the implementation of the contract.

The events can refer to; the information received and initiation of the transaction.

Execution and the transfer of value – here the terms of the contract will dictate the movement of value which is based on if the conditions have been met.

Settlement of the contact – this can happen in two ways;

On chain assets (digital)– in the case of virtual assets such as cryptocurrency, the accounts are automatically settled.

Off-chain assets (physical) – for assets like stocks and fiat, the changes to accounts on the ledger will match the off-chain settlement instructions.

  Benefits Of Smart Contracts

Transparency

Smart contracts allow for the terms and conditions of these contracts to be fully accessible and visible to all the relevant parties. Once the agreement has been established, there is no way to dispute it.

Accuracy

One of the main requirements of smart contracts is the need to record all the terms and conditions in precise details. The element is necessary since an omission can result in transaction errors. So, automated contracts try to avoid the pitfalls that are associated with manually filling out heaps of forms.

Security

Smart contracts employ the highest level of data encryption that is currently available, the same as what is used by cryptocurrencies. By doing this, their level of protection is among the best and the most secure on the world wide web.

Speed

Smart contracts live on the internet and run on software code. As a result, they can execute transactions very fast.  This speed can save many hours when compared to traditional business processes.

Efficiency

This is the byproduct of accuracy and speed. The great thing is that higher efficiencies lead to more value generating transactions which are processed per unit of time.

Clear Communication

When setting up smart contracts, there is a need to detail everything accurately. This means there is no room for miscommunication or misinterpretation. Therefore, they can cut down on efficiency that is lost to gaps in communication.

Storage and Backup

Smart contracts are used to record vital details of each transaction. Therefore, wherever an individual’s details are used in a contract, they are permanently stored for future reference. So, in case there is data loss then these attributes can be easily retrieved.

Trust

The good thing about smart contacts is that they inspire absolute confidence in their execution. The secure, autonomous and transparent nature of these agreements takes away the possibility of bias, manipulation or error.

Guaranteed Outcomes

This is another attractive feature of automated contracts. They have the potential to significantly reduce or even eliminate the need for litigation and going to courts. By employing self-executing contracts, these parties commit themselves to operate by the rules of the underlying code.

10.     Savings

One of the primary benefits of a smart contract is that they eliminate the need for having a vast chain of middlemen. This means there is no need for lawyers, banks, witnesses and any other intermediaries.

  Types of Smart Contracts

Smart contracts have the potential to disrupt many industries including the banking sector, insurance, telecommunication, art world, music and film, education and many more. They range from simple to complex.

An example of simple contracts includes time stamping services like ascribe for art registry — also, governmental and semi-governmental records for land titles, birth certificates, school, and university degrees.

However, many regulatory aspects are made up of complex contracts. A good example is the Decentralized Autonomous Organization which represents the most complex form of smart contracts. 

Examples of Simple Contracts

A simple digital value exchange – let’s imagine an employer sending some Bitcoins to an employee.

A smart right and obligation contract – let’s imagine a consumer that buys a digital content stream.

Examples of Complex Contracts

Distributed autonomous government – let’s imagine settlers of a previously uninhabited area who code their own self-enforcing government services.

Distributed autonomous organization – let’s imagine self-driving trucks that make P2P deliveries and pay for local toll road fees.

                      The post A Brief Introduction to Smart Contracts appeared first on ICODOG.

source https://icodog.io/guide/a-brief-introduction-smart-contracts/

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Want to Become a Blockchain Developer? Check out our tips

Blockchain development is a skill few have at the moment, many want to learn and the others without a clue on what blockchains actually are. With the supply/demand ratio of blockchain jobs at a high of 14 jobs per blockchain developer and salaries above $100,000 USD, more developers are needed in the field. This article highlights what you need to start the process of learning blockchain technology and how to become a top blockchain developer in the future.

Decentralized technologies such as blockchains are gaining massive coverage and attention from big corporations and institutions across the world. If you followed keenly the cryptocurrency market during the massive soar in price in late 2017 and the following bear reversal for the rest of 2018, one thing was clear: development of blockchains was at an all-time high.

Average salaries for blockchain developers in Q1 2018

In addition, reports from Upwork revealed blockchain as the fastest growing skill on the site for the first quarter of 2018. The field grew massively during the first months of 2018 placing it top of the 5000+ categories of jobs listed on the site. This represents a 6000% increase in number of blockchain jobs listed over the same period in Q1 2017.

The field grows by the day as institutions continue searching for blockchain developers and coders to add to their ranks. Big corporations such as JP Morgan, IBM, Samsung, Audi and other big industry players are focusing on this new wave of technology.

Top wanted blockchain development skills

Solidity: The Ethereum coding language popularized smart contract development and is widely used to create dApps on the Ethereum blockchain.

Hyperledger Fabric: an enterprise blockchain framework focused on modularity and scalability to support the often changed business rules.

Ripple: The cross boarder payments settlement platform is charming more developers towards blockchain too.

Here are some points to note before starting the journey towards being a top blockchain developer.

What’s important to learn?

Before starting the journey towards becoming a top developer, there are some essential rules you should take note of including;

Blockchain development is time intensive and requires you to take hours of practice to learn the skill. Furthermore, you will need resources to enroll for classes on blockchain development too.

Prior knowledge in coding languages such as Python, C++, and others is needed as blockchains are developed using these coding languages.

Do not expect instant results. Blockchain development requires years of practice to become a fully -fledged developer in the field, it is not an instant pill.

Steps to becoming a blockchain developer

1. Understanding the basics of blockchain

For any new concept, such as blockchain technology, it is crucial to familiarize yourself with the words and jargon in the field to avoid missing key pointers. For beginners, the need to learn the technical terminologies in the field is fundamental to ease their access into blockchain development. The knowledge of blockchain terms such as blockchain, consensus mechanisms, decentralized systems, mining, smart contracts and public & private cryptographic keys.

To build a technical application on top of the blockchain, developers have to learn the crypto economics that runs the projects as well. Most developers focus on the cryptographic part of the equation leaving out the economics part. This leads to poor development of the application which misses key links to making the ICO work. Learning specifics of the blockchain development process will further require you to be familiar with other technical progressions in the field such as raising an ICO, security tokens, and stablecoins among others.

Final step to understanding the basics of blockchain development is reading Satoshi Nakamoto’s first Bitcoin whitepaper. The whitepaper titled, “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System”, explains the process of developing bitcoin, the first cryptocurrency in the world.

2. Learn how blockchains work

Once you are familiar with the basic terminologies in blockchain, you will need to acquaint yourself with the practical ways the blockchains actually work. One of the most common ways to learn how blockchain works is by purchasing a few coins from the various cryptocurrency exchanges available. (Read this guide on how to avoid major cryptocurrency scams while making your investment.)

The next step is getting a cryptocurrency wallet and learning how the wallet works. There are different types of wallets offering security and convenience at different levels such as online wallets, paper wallets and cold storage wallets. For small amounts and ease of trading on exchanges, the online exchanges offer better convenience but are susceptible to security breaches. Cold storage wallets offer the best options to securely store your coins.

Learn more on how blockchain technology works in this article.

3. The coding Tutorial

Before you start to code, it is imperative to note that the creation and maintenance of the blockchain is not easy. A couple of challenges increases the difficulty to keep open sourced blockchains secure and block off hacks on the system.

Security: One of the challenges that faces creation and management of blockchain networks is the open sourced nature that allows the public to check for bugs and vulnerabilities. If the bugs and vulnerabilities are revealed by unethical hackers, the system faces a possible wipe off of funds from the system. Hence, developers should keep checking their blockchain to avoid any security breaches.

Implementation of the blockchain: The decentralized nature of blockchains offers a performance conundrum for the developers. The language used to develop the blockchain has to be versatile enough to allow max performance of the platform.

Deterministic behavior: In blockchain development, all transaction operations must be deterministic. You cannot have a transaction that behaves one way and then behaves another way the next day. Similarly, you cannot have smart contracts that work in two different ways on two different machines.

4. Creating your blockchain

Components of a block

 (This section is collaboratively created with team from DLBRT)

Cryptographic hash: This is a mathematical algorithm that maps data of arbitrary size to a bit string of a fixed size (a hash) and is designed to be a one-way function, that is, a function which is infeasible to invert. The only way to recreate the input data is to attempt a brute-force search of possible inputs to see if they produce a match. The input data is often called the message, and the output the hash value or hash sum, message digest or the digest.

Previous block cryptographic hash

A timestamp: Shows the time the block was created.

Transaction data: Every block has data on the transactions that are represented as a merkle tree root hash.

A blockchain is formed by linking the blocks created securely using cryptographic hashes. It is created by adding blocks to the genesis block and validating the chain.

Remember, blockchain development requires a strong background in blockchain friendly languages such as C++, Python, Go, C# etc.

5. Learning smart contracts

“A computer protocol intended to facilitate, verify, or enforce the negotiation or performance of a contract.” – Wikipedia

Anything that runs on a blockchain needs to be immutable and must have the ability to run through multiple nodes without compromising on its integrity. This means that users have to learn the ins and outs of smart contracts to ensure they fulfill three conditions; deterministic, terminable and isolated.

  Completing the steps above is the first step towards becoming a fully-fledged blockchain developer in 2019. Practice makes perfect in the field hence you will need to put in the hours. It is best advised for beginners to take up online classes, or MOOC classes to better their knowledge in the field of blockchain development.

                      The post Want to Become a Blockchain Developer? Check out our tips appeared first on ICODOG.

source https://icodog.io/guide/want-to-become-a-blockchain-developer/

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Cryptocurrency technical indicators: Renko Charts

This is the fourth article on ICODOG’s latest series, “Trading cryptocurrencies successfully”, which focuses on the main investment strategies to trade the latest sensation in the world’s asset market, cryptocurrencies.  The previous article introduced the Ichimoku cloud, what it is and how to use it. In this article, we focus on Renko charts and the significance of the indicator in cryptocurrency trading.

You are probably used to candlesticks and equally spaced timelines on charts to make technical analysis and predictions of future cryptocurrency price. A Renko chart is a unique type of technical indicator that offers the users a signal in price movements. Unlike the normal charts, Renko charts have equivocal timelines and is built using “bricks” that depend on the fluctuations in price rather than candlesticks. The chart is used to determine the support and resistance levels, reversals in price and price movements in the future.

Comparison between a Renko Chart and a bar chart

The Renko chart is said to be named after the Japanese word for bricks, “renga” following that the chart is built of ‘bricks’. The concept of the chart is really simple as the user picks a “brick size” and price movements crossing the “brick size” form the next brick.

Constructing a Renko Chart Brick

As mentioned earlier a Renko chart is a unique chart that follows price movements rather than the real-time price changes. The chart is designed to filter out the minor movements in the price of an asset in this instance cryptocurrencies. Renko charts offer the users with clear trends using the support resistance indicators and reversal patterns. However, the charts are disadvantaged as leaving out the minor trends leads to loss of information on the market. The charts are also very unpredictable whereby a brick may take months or minutes to construct.

Example of a Renko Chart (Image; Investing.com)

Types of bricks

Renko chart bricks are of various types that signal different actions of trading to take by the investors and traders. The chart has 4 major brick types namely;

Up brick

Down brick

Projection Up brick

Projection down brick

Illustration

Renko chart is one of the easiest indicators used to make technical predictions in the market today. The first step is the user selecting a brick size. For example, let’s assume the brick size selected is $3 whereby a cross below the current brick price, below or above, will create a new brick.

We further assume that the current price of the cryptocurrency is $100 USD. If the price moves up to $103 USD, a new up brick is formed on the chart. It is key to note that the bar will only be drawn on the chart if the price hits the brick size, not $102.99 or any number below the stipulated mark. This also happens if the price of the coin drops below $97 USD whereby a down brick will be drawn on the chart. Again, the brick will only be drawn once the order is filled and not before.

Furthermore, the bricks are immutable in that once drawn on the chart, the action will not be undone but rather move on to the next brick. For example, if the price hits $106 USD, the chart will draw a brick ending at $103 and a second one at $106 USD. This also applies during a downtrend where the price of the cryptocurrency drops below $103 USD mark after reaching it. A brick will be drawn on the chart, and a down brick will not start until the price hits below $100 USD.

Renko charts has two major points to note before using the indicator:

The bricks must touch at a 45 degrees angle and their corners will always be touching.

Only one brick per vertical column.

How to calculate a Renko Chart

Renko Charts are calculated using two methods namely the Traditional method and ATR method.

The Average True Range (ATR)

Uses the values generated by the Average True Range (ATR) indicator. The ATR is used to filter out the normal noise or volatility of a financial instrument. The ATR method “automatically” determines a good brick size. It calculates what the ATR value would be in a regular candlestick chart and then makes this value the brick size.

The Traditional method

Uses a user-pre-defined absolute value for brick size. New bricks are only created when price movement is at least as large as the pre-determined brick size. The upside to this method is that it is very straightforward and it is easy to anticipate when and where new bricks will form. The downside is that selecting the correct brick size for a specific instrument will take some experimentation. Typically, you will want to select a brick size that is about 1/20th of the current value of the instrument.

(This section is from TradingView)

Limitations of the Renko chart

The loss of information by ignoring minor trends. The charts do not show detailed information when the price is ranging, which could be useful for a trader.

The charts use the closing price to form the decision which leaves out a huge range between the highest price and lowest price difference.

As is with any other cryptocurrency technical indicator, the Renko charts are not 100% sure and the use of other indicators is needed to confirm the trade position to take.

                      The post Cryptocurrency technical indicators: Renko Charts appeared first on ICODOG.

source https://icodog.io/crypto-trading/cryptocurrency-technical-indicators-renko-charts/

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Atomic Swap: What is it and how does it work?

Centralized exchanges have become a crucial part of our crypto experience. We rely heavily on them. However, they are not secure and can also have pretty decent disadvantages attached to it.

Meet Atomic Swap, a mechanism through which one cryptocurrency can be traded/exchanged for another one without the need to trust a third-party. This is groundbreaking as it can completely change how we trade or exchange different or same currency.

  History Behind the Atomic Swap

The idea behind the atomic swap is not new. It was a hot topic near 2012 when Sergio Demian Lerner drafted a trustless exchange protocol. It was just the beginning. However, in 2013, Tyler Nolan came forward and finished the idea into a full-fledged concept of atomic swaps. Hence, he is regarded as the inventor of atomic swaps.

So, why even atomic swaps are needed? Let’s take a look at the problems attached to centralized exchanges to get a more clear picture.

  Centralized Exchanges – Why they are not enough?

In this age and day, centralized exchanges are seen as a lifesaver for most of the novice users out there. But, it also brings a lot of issues with them. Generally, if two users want to exchange coins, they need to exchange to do the ordeal. It does the job, but it requires a series of steps to get it done. Apart from it, there are many other issues that a centralized exchange suffers from. Let’s take a quick rundown on the problems with exchanges.

  Mismanagement: Centralized exchange can be a threat to themselves. One such example is the infamous Mt.Gox Hack. It resulted in the loss of $500 million due to poor management by none other than the CEO of the exchange.

Hack: Clearly, centralized exchanges are susceptible to hacks and many exchanges have been hacked until now. The centralized aspect makes them more vulnerable and is also against the core philosophy of blockchain, i.e., decentralization.

Government Regulations: Governments are keen to learn about anything that is centralized. Also, centralized exchanges need registration which makes it easy for the government to govern these exchanges.

  What are Atomic Swaps?

Atomic swap is a peer-to-peer protocol that allows cryptocurrency exchange from one peer to another without the need for centralized third-party service. The user is in full control during the whole process and also possess private keys ownership. It is also known as “cross-chain trading.”

Atomic swaps are decentralized and hence are not prone to the problems that the centralized exchanges offer. The word, “atomic” means that it is an individual or whole transaction without the need of a centralized entity.

Is atomic swap completely free? If you can do it, yes it is. However, it is not easy to do as it requires command line execution. That means that you might have to pay small fees if you take help of services that let you do an atomic swap in the first place. These services are decentralized and ensure that the concept of atomic swap is well implemented.

  How Atomic Swap works?

Now, that we have understood what an atomic swap is. We are not ready, to learn how they actually work. Atomic swap is simplistic. It is a peer-to-peer transfer, and the whole transaction depends on a shared secret. The shared secret is only known to the two parties, and no one else can get access to it. This also means that the 3rd party have no control over the transaction and cannot interfere between it as they do not have access to the shared secret.

But, what makes it all possible? Technically? Hashed Timelock Contracts or HTLCs make it all possible. They are also a core part of the lightning network. Let’s explore more about Hashed Timelock Contracts below.

  Hashed Time Contracts

Hashed Time Contracts are payment channels that can be run off-chain to deal with payments.

To make the payments, a state channel is opened during the transaction. It is a two-way communication which means that both peers need to take part in the interaction to get started. By using an off-chain channel, the transaction time is drastically decreased as it no longer depends on the third-party intervention.

An off-chain state channel needs to be operated to do all of these. To do so, there is some requirement that requires to be met. It includes the following.

  Blockchain state segment is locked using a smart contract or a multi-signature with agreed upon participants.

Once locked, the participants sign transactions to interact with each other. They do it too without the need for any miners.

Lastly, the entire transaction is added to the blockchain.

  The state channel is then closed after the transaction is completed. This is done to ensure if the time set elapses or the transaction limit is reached.

HLTCs are specially built on top of the state channel which uses “timelocks.” They are extended with the help of hash locks which in turn ensures that the transaction is done successfully before closing the state channel.

  What is the current state of atomic swaps?

So, what is the current status of atomic swaps? Currently, it is not widely used, but it does offer a unique way to handle transactions. Also, the cryptocurrency must use the same hash algorithm and also support lock contracts. Another limitation is the skill required to use a programming language to execute atomic swaps.

Once these issues are rectified, atomic swaps can become mainstream, but for now, it is currently a concept that is mainly used by businesses.

  Conclusion

Atomic swaps are here to stay. With time, we will see more adoption around the use of atomic swaps and the rise of decentralized exchanges. After all, atomic swaps provide privacy and security without the need for a centralized exchange.

So, what do you think about the atomic swap? Will it change the future of how we do transactions or it will stay as a concept that is mainly used by businesses? Comment below and let us know.

                      The post Atomic Swap: What is it and how does it work? appeared first on ICODOG.

source https://icodog.io/guide/atomic-swap-what-is-it-and-how-does-it-work/

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Bitcoin Price Predictions for 2019 and Beyond

The year has started off on a positive note for the cryptocurrency universe after a terrible period in 2018 that saw the price of Bitcoin (BTC) fall from highs of $16,000 USD to a quarter the price today. Regulatory guidelines are being put in place, institutional investment is trickling in, and blockchain development teams are tirelessly working on the projects. The overall mood around the communities has improved immensely the number of cryptizens (crypto citizens) has increased since the start of the year.

Personalities from within and without the field have given their predictions of Bitcoin by the end of 2019 and the near future. The figures sampled across the various personalities in this article range their predictions between $1000 USD to over $50,000 USD.

Bitcoin price history

Before we get to the predictions, let’s explore a brief history on the volatile price of Bitcoin (BTC) in the past few years. The decade old cryptocurrency experienced a wild ride in 2017 as the price soared from $1000 USD in January to above $10,000 in November. BTC quickly reached an all-time high (ATH) price of $20,000 USD in December, a month later.  However, the price of BTC plummeted back to $10,000 USD in less than a month as the gains realized in 2017 were quickly wiped off during 2018.

Chart showing the price of Bitcoin (BTC) since January 2017

BTC however has remained the top cryptocurrency during its arduous times and currently leads the horde with a dominance of 50.15% of the total cryptocurrency market capitalization. Bitcoin currently trades at $40107.53 USD according to Coinmarketcap. 

Market Predictions for BTC in 2019

Bitcoin: Bullish Predictions

The cryptocurrency investors and enthusiasts remain optimistic of an upcoming bullish run on the coin in the coming months. Businessmen, technocrats and other experts such as Elon Musk, Micheal Novogratz and Tim Draper have praised Bitcoin’s genius publicly bringing their followers to light with the revolutionary technology.

Furthermore, 2019 promises to be a big year for Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies as major development await to be launched such as Bakkt. The Microsoft and Starbucks backed company is building an open and seamless global network to enable you to buy, sell, store and spend digital assets simply, safely and efficiently. Backed has partnered with 12 global companies and raised over $185 million USD for development.

Bitcoin halving is in less than 420 days and a common tend emerging from the last two halvings shows a potential bullish run in the near future. A year before the halving, prices of BTC enters an accumulation period that is followed by a strong bullish momentum as seen on the chart below.

Bitcoin halving in May 2020 signals a strong bullish momentum in 2019

1.      Mike Novogratz

The billionaire made his predictions on the price of Bitcoin late last year stating the coin could reach highs of $10,000 by the end of March and cross its ATH price of $20,000 by the end of the year. The Galaxy Digital founder believes institutional investment from firms such as Fidelity and Bakkt will be key to the surge in BTC’s price.

Michael Novogratz

2.      Zhao Dong

Another bullish prediction on BTC is from one of China’s largest Bitcoin OTC traders, Zhao Dong. He predicts the price of Bitcoin to soar to $50,000 USD by the end of 2019. Furthermore, the Chinese billionaire has called on BTC believers to HODL on the coin while others “don’t pay attention.” He said,

“For most people, if they don’t pay attention to Bitcoin now, they won’t pay much attention to most of the time, so for them, only how many tens of thousands of bitcoins will break them will be noticed again. If you and I believe in the future of Bitcoin, so it is best to hold as much as possible when nobody cares.”

3.      John McAfee

The creator of the McAfee antivirus and cryptocurrency influencer, John McAfee, is strongly bullish on the price of BTC. McAfee wrote on twitter that he will be revising his predictions of Bitcoin from $500,000 USD to $1 million USD by 2020. In 2017, his call on BTC to cross $7,000 USD by the end of the year was well surpassed giving him much credibility on his future predictions.

John McAfee

4.      Tom Lee

The ex-Chief Equity Strategist JP Morgan, and Co-founder and head of research of Fundstrat, Tom Lee made a bold claim that the price is set to hit 35,000 USD. He further said there remains a probability of the coin reaching a maximum price of $64,000 with the minimum price set at $20,000 USD. Tom believes the price of BTC directly correlates with the break-even cost of mining the coin.

Bitcoin: Bearish Predictions

Not all predictions, however, point to a rosy future of the price of Bitcoin as some people expect the price to drop below $2,500 USD in the coming months. The failure of the SEC to provide a ruling on Bitcoin ETFs at the start of the year is a big step back for the progress of Bitcoin adoption. Furthermore, governments and regulatory authorities around the world such as China are keeping stringent laws on cryptocurrencies which may negatively affect the price BTC.

Here are some of the bearish predictions on the price of BTC in 2018:

1.      Willy Woo

The founder of Woobull.com predicts an upcoming bearish momentum in Bitcoin’s price as we head into Q2 2019. Willy expects the price of Bitcoin to bottom in the coming months before entering an accumulation period for the rest of the year.

“All our blockchain indicators remain bearish. NVT, NVTS, MVRV, BNM, NVM. They are experimental but have served to make very correct calls to date, even when traditional on-exchange indicators were reading to the contrary.” – Willy Woo

2.      JP Morgan reports

Reuters reported the predictions by JP Morgan analysts who predict the bear run to continue and push the price of Bitcoin (BTC) below $1,260 USD in the coming months. The analysts explained their predictions saying,

“Even in extreme situations like a recession or monetary crises, there are additional liquid and less-complicated instruments for transacting, investing and hedging rather than cryptocurrencies.”

Conclusion

The current developments in the Bitcoin community and growth in the adoption rate offers a bullish signal on the price of BTC going forward. The technical indicators are signaling an upcoming bullish run and with more people understanding the need for digital currencies by the day. While past performance is not a great indicator for future price, the fundamentals underlying Bitcoin may well see it soar in the near future to $20,000 USD crossing its all-time high price.

Do you think Bitcoin faces a soar in its price in 2019? If so, will BTC break its all-time high by the end of the year? Share with us your thoughts and ideas on the future of BTC’s price.

(Images from Coinmarketcap, Shutterstock and Bitcoin block Halving)

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source https://icodog.io/bitcoin/bitcoin-price-predictions-for-2019-and-beyond/

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 Litecoin vs. Bitcoin: Where Do They Differ?

Before we take a look at what the differences between Litecoin and Bitcoin are, it’s important to note that both are cryptocurrencies. Digital currencies that are created using encryption techniques that control the generation of units of the currency and verifying the transfer of the funds. These virtual currencies operate independently of the control of central banks.

What Is Litecoin?

Dubbed the silver to Bitcoin’s gold, Litecoin is a peer to peer cryptocurrency that operates as a global payment method by using the blockchain technology to transfer and trade coins. It was created in 2011 by Charlie Lee, a former Google engineer under the MIT/X11 licenses.

In many ways, the cryptocurrency is an extension of Bitcoin. Since the creator of Bitcoin made its code public, Litecoin was created by changing a few things about the Bitcoin code. It’s important to note that the Bitcoin code has acted as the foundation for many cryptocurrencies that exist and for this reason coins like Litecoin are referred to as altcoins.

What Is Bitcoin?

Bitcoin is also a peer to peer cryptocurrency and the first that was made. It was created back in 2009 by an anonymous character by the name Satoshi Nakamoto. The currency aimed to put the seller in charge by eliminating the middleman, canceling transaction fees and making transactions transparent.

Thanks to the blockchain technology, Nakamoto was able to accomplish this by creating a decentralized system where users had control of their funds and knew what was going on. The creator ensured the code of the cryptocurrency was open source allowing people to improve and modify it to create other projects.

Now that we have a clue what Litecoin and Bitcoin are let’s have a look at how they differ from one another.

Differences Between Litecoin and Bitcoin

Coin Supply Limit

When Nakamoto created Bitcoin, he set the total supply of the coins that will ever exist on its network at 21 million.  By doing this, he created artificial scarcity. The coins are released on the network after every ten minutes through a process known as mining. Miners play a vital role in the Bitcoin network since they are in charge of validating transactions with the winning miner rewarded with a certain number of coins.

At the start, the reward for successfully validating a transaction was 50 BTC, but Nakamoto set this reward to half after every 210,000 blocks have been mined. This will keep occurring until all the 21 million coins have been mined sometime in the year 2140.

As for Litecoin, it has a total supply limit of 84 million coins. The currency is also mined like its predecessor even though it doesn’t require specialized equipment’s like Bitcoin as we will see later on. Also, it halves at the same rate as Bitcoin which is after every four years. Its reward began at 50 LTC but currently sits at 12.5 coins. So, it’s fair to assume that the last LTC coin will be mined a few years after all BTC coins have been mined.

Algorithm

Here is where the most fundamental technical difference exists between Litecoin and Bitcoin. Bitcoin uses the SHA-256 algorithm while Litecoin uses the Scrypt algorithm.  Their practical significance lies in their impact when it comes to the process of mining new coins. In both cryptocurrencies, the process of confirming transactions requires a lot of computing power.

The mining activity is conducted by members of the cryptocurrency network who are known as miners. They allocate their computing resources to confirm the transactions of other users. As a reward, they earn units of the currency which they have mined.

Bitcoin’s SHA-256 is more complicated than the Scrypt algorithm and allows a higher degree of parallel processing. As a result, Bitcoin miners have had to utilize increasingly sophisticated methods so that they can mine the cryptocurrency more efficiently.

This is how Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) came around and made it impossible for the average miner using CPU and GPU to mine BTC. In contrast, Scrypt was designed to be less susceptible to all kinds of custom hardware solutions that are employed by ASIC miners. This makes Litecoin more accessible to average users who also wish to participate in its network as miners. Litecoin is only mineable using CPUs and GPUs.

Market Capitalization

Currently, Bitcoin has a market cap of $72 billion a far cry from the over $300 billion it had back in December 2017. It’s not Bitcoin only that has lost a substantial amount of its value over the past year but all cryptocurrencies after experiencing one of the worst bear markets. However, it still holds the first position on the crypto charts a position it has held since the beginning.

While Litecoin has a market cap of $3 billion which is a fraction of the $19 billion it achieved on December 19, 2017, one LTC at the time was trading at over $300, but it’s currently trading at $60. However, its position on the crypto charts hasn’t been affected much as the coin occupies the fifth position.

Transaction Confirmation Time

This is where the main difference between Litecoin and Bitcoin lies. Remember Litecoin was created to solve some of the limitations Bitcoin had – one of them being transaction speed. Technically, transactions occur instantaneously on both networks but time is required for the transactions to be confirmed by others on the network.

Data from Blockchain.info indicates that the average transaction time for the Bitcoin network is 10 minutes and it can even take longer depending on the amount of traffic. However, Litecoin takes four times less time with a confirmation occurring every 2.5 minutes on the network.

This difference has the following implications:

Litecoin can handle a higher volume of transactions due to its faster block generation. However, with the lightning network already in place, expect the speed of Bitcoin to improve tremendously.

The disadvantage of being able to process a higher volume of blocks is that the Litecoin blockchain is larger than that of Bitcoin with more orphaned blocks.

Faster block time helps reduce the risk of double spending attacks on the Litecoin blockchain.

Faster transaction confirmation is one of the reasons that make Litecoin more appealing to merchants than Bitcoin since they don’t have to wait for long for the process to complete.

                      The post  Litecoin vs. Bitcoin: Where Do They Differ? appeared first on ICODOG.

source https://icodog.io/analysis/litecoin-vs-bitcoin/

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Ichimoku Cloud: What is it and How to use it

This is the third article on ICODOG’s latest series, “Trading cryptocurrencies successfully”, which focuses on the main investment strategies to trade the latest sensation in the world’s asset market, cryptocurrencies.  The previous article introduced the technical indicators available in the market and caution on how and when to use these indicators. This article focuses on the Ichimoku cloud as the first technical indicator to be expounded on the series.

Ichimoku cloud is a technical indicator that uses the support and resistance techniques to make future predictions of trends.  Using the past period highest and lowest price averages, the indicator forms a cloud that predicts the future support and resistance levels.

The Ichimoku cloud consists of five major calculations namely; conversion line, base line, Lead 1, Lead 2 and the Lagging span line.

Ichimoku Cloud indicator on the BTC/USD pairing. The five data points makes it look messy.

Calculating the Ichimoku cloud averages

The key five lines of the Ichimoku Cloud

As mentioned before, the Ichimoku cloud is a combination of five lines, four of which are calculated using past averages of price of the asset. The five calculations include the:

Conversion Line, also known as kekan sen, the average of the highest and lowest prices in the past 9-periods.

Base Line, also known as kijun sen, the average of the highest and lowest prices in the past 26 periods.

Lead 1, also known as the senkou span 1, the average between the conversion line and the baseline

Lead 2, also known as senkou span 2, is the average of the highest and lowest prices in the past 52 periods.

Lagging span line, also known as chikou span: The close price plotted in the past (usually 26 periods). This setting can be changed to fit custom preferences.

How to calculate

The trading platforms available for traders in today’s markets will plot the cloud on the charts automatically by selecting the indicator. The cloud is plotted using midpoints between the highest and lowest price points in the past. While it is pretty much outdated to calculate the Ichimoku cloud by hand here is how you can do it. Follow the steps below to create one data point;

Calculate the Conversion and Baseline values.

Calculate the Lead 1 based on values from (1) and plot the values 26 periods into the future.

Calculate the Lead 2 and plot the data 26 periods in the future too.

The difference between the two Leads creates the cloud. If Lead 1 crosses above Lead 2 then the cloud is colored green and if Lead 1 crosses below Lead 2 the cloud is colored red.

Finally, plot the Lagging span line using the closing price as data points 26 periods in the past.

Repeat the process and connect the data points placed to complete the Ichimoku cloud.

The above steps will create one data point. To create the lines, as each period comes to an end go through the steps again to create new data points for that period. Connect the data points to each other to create the lines and cloudy appearance.

Interpreting the Ichimoku Cloud

 The Ichimoku cloud is quite messy if all the five lines are plotted on to the chart. To make the chart cleaner and more understandable, trading platforms provides an option to select which lines to keep on the chart. Remember the Lead 1 and Lead 2 lines to form up the cloud hence cannot be unselected. Check the chart below with only the Lead 1 and Lead 2 data points plotted.

Chart showing the Lead 1 (yellow) line and Lead 2 (purple) line

The Ichimoku cloud is not hard to interpret as much as it is to plot hence the huge adoption of the indicator for traders building a strategy. When the price is above the cloud, the trend is rising and when the price crosses below the cloud, a selling momentum is in play. Any price movement between the clouds signals indecision in the market or a transformative period.

The Lead spans also help confirm the trend movements such as when Lead 1 crosses above Lead 2 then a bullish trend is ensuing and a cross below Lead 2 signaling a bearish trend.

The Ichimoku cloud also plots future support and resistance levels, unlike other indicators that only allow plotting of the current and past support and resistance levels. Traders will often use the Cloud as an area of support and resistance depending on the relative location of the price.

Chart showing the plotting of the conversion line (Light blue) and Baseline (purple)

Furthermore, the chart provides an indicator using crossovers between the conversion line and the baseline. When the price is above the cloud, check for a crossover of the conversion line over the baseline which offers a buy entry point. A crossover of the conversion line below the baseline offers a chance to close your trade.

  Limitations of using the Ichimoku Cloud indicator

The chart looks busy. Once again, the plotted Ichimoku cloud with the five lines will be difficult for most investors to follow. Platforms provide an option to select the lines required at the moment.

As is with most indicators, the data points are based on previous historical data which may not be predictive of the future returns.

The cloud itself remains above or below the price line for a long period of time which makes it irrelevant for short term trades.

Conclusion

The Ichimoku Cloud presents one of the best indicators to use. While it can be difficult to get a hang on it, the indicator provides better results than most technical indicators. Remember to combine the indicator with others to avoid falling into a trap in case the cloud gives a false signal.

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source https://icodog.io/tech-analysis/ichimoku-cloud-what-is-it-how-to-use-it/

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Introduction to Crypto Technical Analysis: The Indicators

This is the second article on ICODOG’s latest series, “Trading cryptocurrencies successfully”, which focuses on the main investment strategies to trade the latest sensation in the world’s asset market, cryptocurrencies. The first article, “All you need to know about Fundamental Analysis of cryptocurrencies in 2019” highlights the unique factors to consider while carrying out the long term analysis of digital assets. This article focuses on the short term analysis of price movements in cryptocurrencies and the various types of indicators chartists use to make future predictions. 

“Technical analysis is a trading discipline employed to evaluate investments and identify trading opportunities by analyzing statistical trends gathered from trading activity, such as price movement and volume.” – Investopedia

All the jargon above is easily explained as evaluation of price charts and determining the future price of an asset such as a stock, currency, commodities and cryptocurrencies. Technical analysts base their predictions on an assumption that the price of an asset moves in a predictable pattern and is not completely random. Here are some of the assumptions technical analysts make while predicting the future price;

The price reflects all available information on the asset

“The market discounts every information.”

Technical analysis differs from the fundamental analysis as it considers the price only as the determinant of future price. These traders believe that the price reflects all available information on the asset including the fundamental, economic and behavioral factors. The assumption further states that to make a future prediction of price, you only need the demand and supply statistics and the historical prices.

History repeats itself

“Nothing new under the sun [market]”

The analysis of charts takes up the notion that past trends and price movements are set to repeat themselves in the future. These analysts attribute the assumption to overall market behaviors and predictable emotions such as fear, confidence, and ambiguity. The technical analysis aims to leverage the psychology of the market to understand the trends and movements in price to make future predictions.

Asset prices moves in predictable trends

“Long, medium and short term trends”

This final assumption is mostly used in predicting future prices of traditional assets rather than digital assets. It states that prices are likely to follow a past trend which is stable rather than an unpredictable sharp movement. The prices of cryptocurrencies in the past 2 years have behaved uncharacteristically such as to critic this assumption.

  Types of indicators

Traders that use technical analysis have various unique strategies that can be categorized into the following major indicators;

A.     Overlays

These indicators are those that appear on the main price chart. Some of the examples include;

·         Price trend lines

Price trend analysis focuses on predicting the short, intermediate or medium-term movement of the price of a cryptocurrency. This method is popular to most traders who believe that moving with the trend, whether a bull run or bear run, will help you make profits and avoid losses. This analysis revolves around predicting if the current trend will continue and how long it will take before a reversal occurs.

An upward trend shown on the daily BTC/USDT charts

·         Support and resistance levels

Support and resistance levels are used by technical analysts to measure the levels of demand and supply of a token among investors. The support level represents the floor of the price and signals an increasing demand for the digital asset hence an upcoming bullish run. Resistance represents the ceiling of the price momentum and signals a decrease in the demand of a particular coin hence an upcoming bear run.

Illustration of support and resistance levels

·         Moving Averages

Moving averages, simply abbreviated MA, are indicators that follow trends and help traders notice a reversal in a trend. MA reveals the average price of a tradable instrument over a given period of time. There are two major types of moving averages used by technical analysts in cryptocurrency trading namely simple and exponential moving averages.

B.      Oscillators

These indicators are usually off the main price chart and move up and down between an upper and lower limit with a midpoint.

·         Relative Strength Index

This indicator is used to measure the current sentiment in the market given the current period’s prices. The index signals an overbought region if it crosses the upper limit and oversold if it crosses the lower bound. If the RSI crosses the upper limit, it further signals an upcoming bear run while across below the lower limit signals an upcoming bullish momentum.

The RSI indicator

·         Stochastic oscillator

Similar to the RSI, the stochastic oscillator allows traders to know if the cryptocurrency is overbought or oversold. The stochastic oscillator uses the support and resistance levels to make more accurate predictions on the future price. However, the calculations of the indicator factors in the highest and lowest prices for a given period hence gives false signals during a price breakout or sharp fall.

  The importance of technical analysis indicators

Indicators are important in technical analysis as they help traders;

Predict the future price of a cryptocurrency.

Confirm the predictions of the future price of a digital asset.

Alert the trader in case of any reversals in price.

  Limitations of technical analysis in cryptocurrency price predictions

Technical analysis offers a clear picture in the short term analysis of the price of an asset. However, there are some limitations to technical analysis:

Efficient markets hypothesis– This hypothesis states that in an efficient market all information is reflected on the price hence you cannot make a profit through mispriced assets. Technical analysis works in a weakly efficient market.

Ouroboros– The fundamentalists argue that technical analysis is a short term game that benefits the strategy adopted by most traders. If a large number of traders select the same strategy and place a stop loss that is executed at the same price, the markets will show a bearish trend to which more investors will sell to follow the trend. A never-ending cycle in technical analysis.

Conclusion

These represent the major technical indicators in use today among the many thousands of indicators available. In our upcoming articles in the series, “Trading cryptocurrencies successfully”, we will discuss the technical analysis indicators above in more detail.

                      The post Introduction to Crypto Technical Analysis: The Indicators appeared first on ICODOG.

source https://icodog.io/crypto-trading/introduction-to-crypto-technical-analysis-the-indicators/