Optimism that the SEC will soon approve a spot Bitcoin ETF is growing and this is sending Bitcoin (BTC) and the broader crypto market higher on Friday.
Bitcoin was last trading in the mid-$29,000s, up over 3% in the last 24 hours and up nearly 11% in the last seven days, as per CoinGecko.
The list of major institutions (most recently JP Morgan) and analysts who have publicly stated they expect near-term spot Bitcoin ETF approvals in the US is rapidly rising and the general public also appears to be taking a greater interest in the topic of Bitcoin ETFs, as shown by rising interest in those search terms according to Google Trends.
Several institutions that filed applications tweaked those applications this week, which many market participants interpreted as a good sign that the SEC and these applicants are in constructive dialogue with each other.
Meanwhile, one week ago the SEC purposefully missed a deadline to appeal a recent legal loss they sustained in a lawsuit versus digital asset manager Grayscale – in late August, a judge ordered a review of their rejection of Grayscale’s application to transform their Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) into an ETF.
If the SEC is about the approve a batch of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the coming months, why would they continue to fight against Grayscale, or so the thinking goes.
Adding to the market’s upbeat mode on Friday was another setback for the SEC in its lawsuit against XRP issuer Ripple Labs – the SEC opted to drop its charges against two key Ripple Labs executives, which the agency claims aided and abetted the sale of XRP to investors (which the SEC is claiming are unregistered securities).
Markets interpreted the decision to drop legal action against these executives as a sign that legal momentum remains firmly in the hands of Ripple Labs, hence why XRP has jumped 6.8% in the last 24 hours to above $0.52, its highest level in around 2 weeks.
Elsewhere, Ether (ETH) was last up around 3% in the last 24 hours, Solana (SOL) was last up around 5.8%, Cardano (ADA) was up around 1% and Dogecoin (DOGE) was up around 2.4%.
While these are solid gains, and while these gains might extend in the coming weeks amid positive sentiment in the market, none of these blue-chip cryptocurrencies are likely to be able to post exponential gains in the space of a few days.
Those types of gains can only be found in the highly illiquid shitcoin/meme coin market.
So traders will continue to turn to these markets in the hunt for quick profits.
Here are some of the top-performing shitcoins/meme coins, as per DEXTools.
Coin Rig ($COINRIG)
A new shitcoin that launched on Friday called Coin Rig ($COINRIG) has pumped on its first day of life, rising more than 500% as per DEXTools to reach a market cap of around $340,000 amid trading volumes that have already risen to around $566,000.
The token has only been able to register a meager 61 holders so far, however, but does have reasonably good liquidity of around $230,000.
The token’s contract has three concerning aspects, as per DEXTools’ security audit, and has a solid 92.3% upvote rating as per DEXTools’ Community Trust score.
The Blow Project ($BLOX)
Gaming token the Blow Project ($BLOX) just hit a new all-time high on Friday after ralling an impressive 150% in the past 24 hours as per DEXTools.
Its market cap was last around $3.2 million, with nearly $2 million in trading volumes in the past 24 hours, over 1,700 holders and over $300,000 in locked liquidity.
The token has a 5% buy and sell tax, and traders should also be aware of three other smart-contract risks that have been identified by DEXTools’ security audit.
Loong ($LOONG)
A shitcoin called Loong ($LOONG) has surged 100% in the last 24 hours, taking it to new all-time highs as per DEXTools.
Since its launch just under two weeks ago, Loong has been able to rally to a market cap of around $800,000, and now has close to $100,000 in locked liquidity.
Its worth noting, however, that the latest pump to new all-time highs has been driven by low trading volumes of only around $47,000 in the past 24 hours, so the latest move higher doesn’t have much by way of legs.
Investors should also be concerned by a number of concerning aspects to the token’s contract, as per DEXTools’ security audit.
The token might be a honeypot, its tax may be modifiable and transfers may be pausable amongst other functions that might hand the token’s issuer unfair influence over trade.
Crypto Alternatives to Consider
Shitcoins are very risky, given most have no real value proposition.
For those looking for an even better probability of near-term gains, an alternative high-risk, high-reward investment strategy to consider is getting involved in crypto presales.
This is where investors buy the tokens of upstart crypto projects to help fund their development.
These tokens are nearly always sold cheaply, and there is a long history of presales delivering huge exponential gains to early investors.
Many of these projects have fantastic teams behind them and a great vision to deliver a revolutionary crypto application/platform.
If an investor can identify such projects, the risk/reward of their presale investment is very good.
The team at Cryptonews spends a lot of time combing through presale projects to help investors out.
Here is a list of 15 of what the project deems as the best crypto presales of 2023.
See the 15 Cryptocurrencies
Disclaimer: Crypto is a high-risk asset class. This article is provided for informational purposes and does not constitute investment advice. You could lose all of your capital.
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