On The Pulse - Edition #012
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.

For this week, we will be going over Leverage trading in Crypto alongside some major headlines and analysis from this week. Please make sure to take the time to read through & I hope you enjoy my new additions to the alts lists!

Lesson of the Week: "Leverage Trading in Crypto"

Leverage trading is a popular method in the crypto market that allows traders to amplify their exposure to assets by borrowing funds from an exchange. This enables traders to open larger positions than their initial capital would allow, potentially magnifying profits but also increasing the risk of losses - essentially you are multiplying your capital to trade with. Formally, Leverage is expressed as a ratio, such as 2x, 5x, or even 100x, indicating how much more exposure a trader has compared to their initial investment through the multiplier.

📊 Understanding Leverage:
With leverage trading, traders can increase their potential returns by using borrowed funds to amplify their positions. For example, with 10x leverage, a trader can control $10,000 worth of assets with just $1,000 of their own capital. While this can lead to significant gains if the trade moves in their favour, it also means that losses are multiplied if the trade goes against them.

💡 Risks and Rewards:
While leverage trading offers the potential for higher profits, it also comes with increased risk. Traders can quickly lose their entire investment or even owe additional funds to the exchange if the market moves unfavourably. It's crucial for traders to have a solid risk management strategy in place and to only use leverage with funds they can afford to lose.

🚀 Margin Calls and Liquidations:
One of the risks of leverage trading is the possibility of a margin call or liquidation. If the value of the assets being traded falls below a certain threshold, known as the maintenance margin, the exchange may require the trader to deposit additional funds to cover potential losses. If the trader fails to do so, their position may be liquidated, resulting in a loss of their entire investment - and potentially anything left in their account to cover fees.

🔍 Choosing the Right Exchange:
When engaging in leverage trading, it's essential to choose a reputable exchange with robust risk management protocols in place. Traders should also be aware of the fees associated with leverage trading, including funding fees and interest charges on borrowed funds. For example, most large exchanges offer Leverage trading but have a variety of fee structures in place.

💡 Risk Management:
To mitigate the risks associated with leverage trading, traders should employ risk management techniques such as setting stop-loss orders to limit potential losses and avoiding excessive leverage. It's also essential to stay informed about market conditions and to be prepared to exit positions if necessary.

In conclusion, leverage trading can be a powerful tool for amplifying profits in the crypto market, but it also comes with significant risks. Traders should approach leverage trading with caution, thoroughly understand the mechanics involved, and always prioritise risk management to protect their capital. I recommend doing a lot of research on trading, understanding markets and charts before even entering this world. The worst thing somebody could do in crypto is enter leverage trading without experience, you will 100% lose money.

Major Headlines: "The Weekly Roundup"

This week the headlines are focused on exchange withdrawals, Coinbase SEC trials and cryptos most famous man - SBF getting his sentence.

⏬ Kucoin faces $1.7b in withdrawels after criminal charges:

KuCoin, the large crypto exchange, is still in hot water as it faces a massive wave of withdrawals totalling $1.7 billion following criminal charges. The exchange and its founders are under scrutiny for alleged money laundering violations, prompting a significant loss of confidence among users. With such substantial withdrawals, KuCoin is navigating turbulent waters as it grapples with the fallout from these charges as reported last week. Read more here:

👮 SBF sentenced to 25 years and $11b in fines:

Sam Bankman-Fried, the influential figure behind FTX and Alameda Research, is facing a significant setback as he is sentenced to 25 years in prison. The news comes as a shock to the crypto community, given Bankman-Fried's prominent role in the industry. The reasons behind the sentencing are unclear at the moment, but it raises concerns about the future of FTX and Alameda Research. Stay updated on this developing story here.

🎮 a16z launch $30m backed gaming accelerator: 

Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) Crypto VC firm has made a significant move by investing $30 million in gaming startups. This investment highlights the growing intersection between the gaming industry and the crypto space. With gaming becoming increasingly decentralised and integrating blockchain technology, a16z's investment signals confidence in the potential of blockchain-based gaming projects. Stay tuned for more updates on this exciting development in the gaming and crypto sectors.

⚖️ Coinbase fail to dismiss SEC case against them: 

Coinbase, a leading cryptocurrency exchange, suffered a setback as it lost its bid to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The lawsuit alleges that Coinbase's lending product, which the SEC views as a security, violated securities laws. This development has led to a decline in Coinbase's stock price as investors react to the uncertainty surrounding the legal proceedings. Read more detail on this here.

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 down 6% after a flush dump to just below $65,000 causes neutral funding to return.

• Weekly Forecast: Chop, range and bullish pennant looking to form, bull market dips are made for buying.
  
  As we said last week, dips like these are made for buying and after we saw an immediate reaction, this weeks flush has set a current higher low and began forming a bullish pennant. So definitely waiting on a huge breakout either side and leaning more towards a new ATH.

♦ ETH (Ethereum):

• Over the past 7 days, Ethereum is down 8% hitting our support of $3,200 dead on and bouncing.

• Weekly Forecast: After bouncing at support, ETH is also looking to form a bullish pennant and set a higher low.

If the corn (BTC) runs - ETH will follow! Definitely looking to add more to our holdings here and at any point lower for $ETH. This is looking to be an incredibly strong area of support and is primed for the next extreme leg up.

Bitcoin Dominance (BTC.D) chart continues to chop around leaving many alts to range and endlessly chop leaving both sides trapped. In my opinion its best to add to alt positions in these conditions but avoid any leverage trading.

As always, i’ll mention this: BTC.D up = Money is in Bitcoin, alts bleed or stay stagnant. BTC.D down = Money flowing into alternative coins & bitcoin ranges or bleeds out.

Now, let’s give an update on the altcoins we’re still looking at each week.

This week - we’ve hit price targets for buying areas and have been able to capitulate on purchasing more at lower prices ready to aim for our profit areas with the next leg up!

/ AVAX (next height target of $70, buying more/bids at $34 or lower.)
Reached $65 before retracing, still showing strength - buying anything lower than $50 on AVAX with current targets still in sight. (hit $45, bought heavy.)

/ SOLANA (next height target of $200, buying more/bids at $105 or lower.)
Took a major hit after breaking through $200, buying anything below $170 for SOL at these stages and now chasing new all time highs. (hit $175 but continued to add to our position, looks very strong.)

/ INJ (next height target of $54, buying more/bids at $32 or lower.)
After a very strong retrace to $34, we’re buying more INJ here in the range in order to continue accumulating before all time high break outs. (continues to range and went as low as $32, also added size to our spot positions for INJ.)

/ SEI (next height target of $1.30, buying more/bids at $0.63 or lower.)
After dipping to $0.75 and having a strong bounce, we’re looking to also accumulate at these prices awaiting a breakout to the upside of our target. (incredibly strong bounce at $0.67 and added more size in here.)

/ MAVIA (next height target of $12, buying more/bids at $4 or lower.)
Despite pullbacks, prices only fell as low as $5.20 so we will look at also accumulate here and aim for higher targets, strong positions around the board. (nothing changed, adding to our bags as it ranges here and forms double lows.)

/ RNDR (next height target of $12, buying more/bids at $6 or lower.)
With the NDIVIA conference ongoing and RNDR speaking soon, our dips to $10 seem the local low is in and we continue aiming for much higher than $12. (after hitting $9 and bouncing, adding even more to our positions here.)

/ LINK (next height target of $24, buying more/bids at $17 or lower.)
Bids hit, support holding strong - we accumulated more LINK at $17 awaiting its time to rise, strong hold for a rally at some point during the bull. (hit $17.50 bids and added size to our LINK bags, very good bounce strength.)

/ MATIC (next height target of $1.50, buying more/bids at $0.98 or lower.)
Another one where bids hit & we we’re able to capitulate the bounce, accumulating more MATIC at lows of $0.93 before bouncing again. (bounced off the 200EMA at $0.87 and added more at our previous $0.93 area.)

/ NEAR (next height target of $10, buying more/bids at $3.50 or lower.)
With $6 acting as a bounce and support, we’re looking to still claim highs and push above $10 for our next price target with NEAR. (held strong at $6 support so adding more to our NEAR positions here.)

/ TIA (next height target of $24, buying more/bids at $13 lower.)
Bids just about hit on TIA as its low of $12 came in, now aiming for a return to the upside and new all time highs. (lower $12 bids hit as we bounce from $11.)

(New coins i’m adding to this growing list below!)

/ FET (aiming for ATH of around $4+, buying more here at $2.60 bounce)
Great strength shown on FET and a trending AI based coin that amplifies defi trading etc - certainly something we will be aiming to profit on during the AI & Gaming rotations.

/ TAO (aiming for ATH of $850+ and bought at the $528 support region.)
Bittenser is another AI based coin thats shown great strength and interest in the recent AI narrative.

/ WIF (aiming for ATH above $10 and bought at the $3.70 areas)
Memecoins are definitely here to stay and I think it would be silly not to include our biggest potential runner for the 2024/2025 bull market in WIF.

/ APT (aiming for $30+ and accumulating here at the $14-$15 range)
This layer one is certainly something to keep an eye on as they aim to bring Dapps to the mainstream world with META as seamless as possible.

If you would like me to take a look at any specific charts or go deeper into anything, please feel free to reach out to me on twitter or email!

📰 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: Another flush but higher lows currently settling across the market trending bullish again (currently!).

• 👮 SBF sentanced to 25 years and $11b fine: Responsible for the FTX downfall, Sam Bankman-Fried is finally sentenced to 25 years.

• ⚖️ Coinbase fail to dismiss SEC case: The public company Coinbase have failed to dismiss the SEC lawsuit against them as their stock slips.

• ⏬ Kucoin face $1.7b in withdrawals: After criminal charges issued last week, the exchange saw almost $2b in outflows and withdrawals.

• 💸 ETFs see $244m inflows lead by ark: Inflows have returned to ETFs with hundreds of millions coming in with the ARK ETF leading.

NFTs:

• ✍️ Vitalik Encourages memecoins for charity: ETH founder writes an interesting blog piece about supporting memecoins and their culture.

• 🔄 WIF flips PEPE as it hits $4b in market cap : After approaching the flip last week, WIF finally makes its move to the top.

• 🔼 Magic Eden are 50% of daily NFT Volume: As their market dominance continues, they now have over 50% of daily volume.

• ⛔ Machi presale token falls from launch: After bringing in $40m the machi presale dumps and airdrops lose almost 95% of their investment.

• 🎮 a16z opens up $75m gaming accelerator: The largest crypto VC have committed large funds towards a web3 gaming accelerator program.

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!