My mistake; looks like he covered into the cascade. Probably got some nice $200 coins too and plenty of USD
A bullish market is one that resists repeated tests of lows on declining volume. That means selling has dried up at that level and is when traders buy--not during bullish moves (that's when they sell).
The market capitulated in January. That's where the big volume came in to start the ownership transfer of the supply float. The six months that followed showed higher lows and declining volume and volatility--evidence of accumulation. The swing traders and shorters were long gone by May and the market became dull until the strong rally in July. That rally happening after the dull period is an important signal that most of the float had been locked up, waiting for higher prices. I agree that last night was not capitulation, rather a shakeout that retested the same January lows on low volume. It's meant to dislodge even more supply by unnerving investors, trap the remaining bears and remove selling before a move out of the trading range.
Once you understand how the large market operators work you can make more sense of what the market is doing outside of technical indicators. It gives you context. The point to understand about last night is that it was a small group that caused this cascade under the guise of the XT drama--bad news tends to shake the market out and they know it. to Once the drama blows over a bit the market should be poised for a big move up.
Would you go long here? (It's the weekly chart in reverse that someone posted on reddit.)
I wouldn't necessarily long there based on that chart, no. But I also wouldn't only look at Bitfinex's chart. Both Stamp and China are both consolidating in a corrective right now. Put more simply, they are in a bear flag after a strong dump. So I wouldn't assume at all that lows are in on the other exchanges..... and bitcoin being bitcoin, I wouldn't even assume the low is in on Bitfinex.
The problem with volume analysis is it isn't so clearcut. Firstly, volume often confirms a move -- the volume doesn't come in until during/after the major move down. So declining volume may indicate that the capitulation hasn't actually happened yet. A high volume spike, on the other hand, generally indicates capitulation, and mean reversion to follow.
I agree that bitcoin, in the mid term, is poised for a strong move up. But it's dangerous to be particularly bullish off this kind of momentum. And there is no way to compare this drop to the first drop to $166 -- that was a clear capitulation with much larger magnitude and volume. So the question is -- will we get a capitulation or not? The trouble with trying to rationalize accumulation in the broader market is that
if bulls lose key accumulation levels, there is now very considerable fuel in the form of sellers to push the market down. Most notable in that regard is that $235-240 is the highest-volume trading zone of the entire bear market since $1160s top. So now that we are consolidating bearishly below it, I know that there are a lot of accumulated longs that are now underwater.