On The Pulse - Edition #004
Welcome to On The Pulse, with Maui.

Hey everyone, welcome back to this week's edition of 'On The Pulse.' Thanks as ever to all who have subscribed and are reading this via email. If you're currently browsing, please consider subscribing! If you find today's newsletter valuable, please recommend it to a friend and feel free to suggest topics or ask questions on my Twitter @jordymaui.

This week we're taking a dive into exploring altcoins, catching up on all the latest news such as the Solana blockchain going down, Hong Kong ETF approvals, and of course, plenty more. Be sure to keep reading for weekly chart analysis and price predictions too!

Lesson of the Week: "Exploring Altcoins "

Let’s take a deeper dive into the altcoin universe, understanding the depth of opportunities and challenges these Bitcoin alternatives present. Altcoins are the driving force behind cryptocurrency mass adoption and cover pretty much the entire industry besides the often proclaimed king, Bitcoin.

• 📊 Defining Altcoins: While altcoins enrich the blockchain ecosystem with diverse functionalities, not one has yet eclipsed Bitcoin in market cap, a testament to Bitcoin's foundational strength despite altcoins' innovative utilities and improvement on blockchain technology. Simply put though anything other than Bitcoin is considered an ‘altcoin’.
  

• 💡 Variety and Innovation: Ethereum is a prime example of altcoin ingenuity, enabling the development of DeFi, NFTs, and more on its platform, illustrating the expansive potential of blockchain technology beyond Bitcoin's initial design. There has then been further developments of what Ethereum created through the development of more altcoins such as Solana, Avalanche or Cardano.
  

• 🌟 The Potentials of Altcoins: Altcoins offer the allure of early-stage investments, where early supporters can reap substantial benefits from projects that achieve their vision and gain mainstream adoption. It is way more volatile to invest into altcoins in comparison to Bitcoin due to the market clap and trading volumes in each altcoin. There are many victory stories on altcoins that have made people millions including the likes of ‘memecoin’ Dodge.
  

• 🚨 The Negatives of Altcoins: However, the altcoin landscape is peppered with tales of loss, driven by projects that falter in execution or fail to deliver on ambitious promises, highlighting the speculative nature of these investments. While someone has just made millions on an altcoin surging, there are another 10 who have completely failed on their product, missions or risk management and left investors with zero.
  

• 🔍 Finding Altcoins: Discovering emerging altcoins requires diligence, through channels like exchange listings, social media buzz (crypto twitter), and active participation in the crypto community (discords, group chats or educational resources like this newsletter!), where the next big opportunity might just be unveiled.
  
  We will elaborate on what makes a good altcoin in a future newsletter.

Major Headlines: "The Weekly Roundup"

Over the past week, we've seen more ETF approval news, blockchains coming to a complete halt, and exchanges trying to navigate regulations to reopen in certain countries. There are plenty of great headlines for you to catch up on, so as always, take a look at the summaries below and dive deeper if you wish!

🌐 HK ETF Approval on the Horizon: 
Excitement builds as Hong Kong's regulator accepts the first application for a spot Bitcoin ETF, with approval expected within the next 90 days. This development marks a significant milestone for the crypto industry in Asia, potentially opening the doors to a new wave of institutional and retail investors. The anticipation around this ETF and even more money flowing into BTC is of course huge given the recent spiral in price, post-ETF arrivals. Read more about the HK ETF Approval

🚧 Binance's UK Re-entry Challenges: 
Binance faces hurdles in its efforts to reestablish a presence in the UK, encountering regulatory barriers. This struggle highlights the ongoing challenges crypto exchanges face in navigating the complex regulatory landscapes across different jurisdictions. Especially as the UK backs itself to become a leading country for blockchain innovation and adoption, it’s not looking so great! Learn more about Binance's situation

💬 US Stablecoin Talks Tentatively Begin: 
In the US, delicate conversations have tentatively started regarding the creation of a US stablecoin, signaling a cautious but forward-moving approach to crypto legislation. These discussions are crucial as they could pave the way for more structured and supportive crypto regulations in the United States, potentially influencing the global crypto regulatory landscape. Right now, our stablecoins are not centralised and despite this going against what many believe the industry is built around (decentralisation) it could definitely have positive impacts for security and safety. Discover the details of the US stablecoin talks

🛑 Solana's Network Halts: 
The Solana blockchain experienced a complete halt, stopping block production and raising concerns about network stability. This outage is a significant event for the Solana community and investors, prompting discussions about the resilience and reliability of blockchain infrastructures. Such incidents highlight the technical challenges facing emerging technologies and the importance of robust solutions. Of course while it did lead to many memes and caution, the chain was back up and processing fairly quickly with the congestion sorted. Read about Solana's network outage

Maui’s Weekly Analysis of Charts

Dive into the pulse of the crypto market with me for a quick overview. If there are elements you don’t understand here, don’t worry – feel free to ask me questions on Twitter. Interested in a specific chart analysis? Let me know! I’ll also be holding weekly polls based on your suggestions. Anyway, here are this week’s charts:

₿ BTC (Bitcoin):

• Recent Price Action: Over the last 7 Days, $BTC is currently at the same levels and price points as the last newsletter, $43,800 (a flat gain of 0.6%).
  
  Last week, after the outcome of Rate Cuts being supposedly dismissed for March in the Q&A section of Powells FED speech, we saw a swift move to the downside levels of $41,800 before significant buying power tried to force a move above $43,500 that was rejected. Since then, we’ve ranged strongly over the week failing to break either side.
  

• Weekly Forecast: There are still two levels we are patiently waiting for, either a breakdown and move towards the lows of the range at sub $41,000 or a breakthrough the highs of $43,500 and journey towards our interest areas of $44,000 and $45,500.
  
  Personally, i’m bias towards the bulls being able to take the push here and see the $45k levels return. From there, it’s going to take a ton of strength to push through and challenge the highs so i’d be cautious of a lower high - until we get there, I remain bullish on this current price action regardless.

♦ ETH (Ethereum):

Recent Price Action: Over the last 7 Days, $ETH is up 2.8% from $2,300 last Wednesday to currently $2,370 - not much at all but still showing minor strength given the recent choppy price action.

• Weekly Forecast: ETH is still stuck within the range of $2,150 and $2,450 much like Bitcoin and is grinding towards a breakout to push above the $2,500 level. With ETH ETF news still being thrown around, it’s certainly worth staying persistent with Ethereum and watching moves to the upside take place. We all know how BTC reacted to ETF speculation vs ETF release…

My take on ETH price action is to play the breakout to the upside, staying cautious that BTC is also ranging and can ultimately drag the market up or down, I still think there is major strength to $ETH with its upcoming ETF narrative and so far, lacking price action.

🟪 SOL (Solana):

• Recent Price Action: Over the last 7 days $SOL is currently down 3.74% has been chopping between $100 resistance and $93 support (which is showing insane strength as of late)

• Weekly Forecast: After the outages, there was a lot of speculation people would short/withdraw $SOL from the chain but it had little effect at all and was just pure speculation. I can see $SOL continuing to try break the $100 resistance and looking to surge on to challenge previous highs of $116, the downside would be to continue sideways action and swoop the lows at the $86 support lines.
  
  My outlook on $SOL this week also goes with the bullish look of returning/pushing the highs further to either form a lower high or continuation to its yearly highs and more. Be cautious of how alts react to Bitcoin Price Action but for me, we see upside from here.

🔺 INJ (Injective):

• Recent Price Action: The last 7 days has seen $INJ fall 7.16% and bleed out from the previous price of $33.400 to the support area we have just bounced from at $31.800
  

• Weekly Forecast: With most low cap alts bleeding through the week while BTC ranges, INJ has shown strong support in the key areas we mapped out last week. A brilliant buying zone and we certainly look to the upside continuation now and aim for new highs to form.
  
  My opinion of $INJ is certainly breaking through the previous highs and continuing to surge as one the best altcoin opportunities out there. I’ll be aiming for the $40 price area to be reclaimed and push further from there.
  
  If you have any specific charts you’d like me to take a punt at next week, please do tweet me suggestions, i’ll happily poll ideas too.

📰 The Summary: From Crypto Trends to NFT Buzz

Each week, we will end the newsletter with a really brief TLDR (Too Long, Didn’t Read) assessment of what’s been going on this week across Crypto and NFTs. I hope this section provides additional value for those who read!

Crypto:

• 📉 Market Trends: Chop Chop! Not much entertainment this week as we swoop lows, reject highs and ultimately range for longer.

• 🪂 HK ETF Approval within 90d: Several reports show that the Hong Kong ETFs are set to be approved and trading within 90 days.

• 💸 Binance Struggling to reopen in UK: Binance are struggling to reopen business in the UK after facing regulation hurdles.

• 🔮 No crypto ads expected for Superbowl: For the last few years superbowl ads have been crypto heavy but 2024 is set to host none.

• 🔮 Solana’s blockchain goes down!: Transactions came to a standstill on Tuesday as Solana’s blockchain went completely dark.

NFTs:

• 🐧 Doodles x Casio: Doodles have released a campaign with Casio for custom G-Shock watches.

• ⛵ Pixelmon raise $8m in Seed Round: Once rugged ‘Pixelmon’ have successfully raised $8m in a seed round to build their web3 game.

• 💼 $1m Loan taken against CryptoPunk: G-Money took centre stage by taking a $1m loan against his cryptopunk.

• 💼 Magic Eden x Pudgy Penguins: Magic Eden and Pudgy Penguins announce a strategic partnership to become their main marketplace.

And with that, we’re wrapped up for another week. If you have any suggestions for lesson of the week, please let me know! If you enjoyed this weeks newsletter, please feel free to support by following me on twitter @jordymaui

Until next time!