Terra’s Anchor Protocol erases ‘crypto winter’ losses, ANC price rebounds 300% in a month

March 3, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Altcoin

ANC price risks becoming overheated, however, after a major rally.

Anchor Protocol (ANC), the decentralized finance (DeFi) platform built on the Terra blockchain protocol, rebounded nearly 300% in over a month after bottoming out near $1.26.

ANC price went as high as $4.97 on the Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange on March 3, 2022, breaking above the previous record peak near $4.50 established on Dec. 3 last year.

In doing so, the Anchor Protocol also erased all the losses it had incurred during what some called the "crypto winter" that started in Q4/2021 — against the prospects of the Federal Reserve's aggressive rate hikes.

*ANC/USD daily price chart featuring its recent bottom and top levels. Source; TradingView*

ANC is the governance token of the Anchor Protocol's decentralized money market that offers UST (Terra's dollar-pegged stablecoin) depositors a stable 20% annual percentage yield (APY). In addition, it enables borrowers to collateralize UST loans using bonded LUNA (bLUNA).

Funded. pic.twitter.com/NLvnSa0bBu
— Do Kwon (@stablekwon) February 18, 2022

As a result, the Anchor Protocol creates demand for UST, which, in turn, promises to remove more LUNA tokens out of circulation. That is due to Terra's economic model, which incentivizes users to mint UST when its value goes above $1 by burning LUNA supply.

Terra correlation

ANC's upside retracement in January 2022 started primarily in the wake of similar price recoveries across the crypto market but picked up momentum at the end of February while mirroring bullish moves in the Terra (LUNA) market.

Notably, the correlation coefficient between ANC and LUNA rose from zero on Feb. 23 to 0.91 on March 3, meaning Anchor Protocol's price has been more or less mirroring the moves of the Terra blockchain's native token.

*ANC/USD daily price chart featuring its correlation with LUNA/USD. Source: TradingView*

As Cointelegraph covered earlier, the upside boom in the Terra market emerged after Luna Foundation Guard (LFG) — a nonprofit organization supporting its blockchain ecosystem, raised $1 billion in a LUNA token sale round to create a so-called "UST Forex Reserve."

In response, LUNA's price rallied by nearly 90%. ANC also surged under LUNA's impression, mostly due to its involvement in the Terra ecosystem. The price of MIR, the native token of another Terra-based project, Mirror Protocol, was also up 30% on March 3 when measured from its Feb. 24 low of circa $1.

Is ANC overheated?

The latest period of buying in the Anchor Protocol market has made ANC excessively valued, according to a key momentum indicator.

The readings on the ANC's daily relative strength index (RSI) came out to be near 80, which makes the token technically "overbought." Traders typically find opening new upside positions extremely risky when the RSI crosses above 70. Conversely, they prefer to sell the asset to secure interim profits.

*ANC/USD daily price chart featuring RSI. Source: TradingView*

If a selloff ensues, the Anchor Protocol's next support level appears near $4, coinciding with the 1.0 Fib line of the Fibonacci retracement graph made from $1-swing high to $1.26-swing low. Meanwhile, an additional decline could bring ANC's 20-day exponential moving average (20-day EMA; the green wave) near $3.14 in focus as the next downside target.

More downside could bring ANC's 20-day exponential moving average (20-day EMA; the green wave) near $3.14 in focus as the next downside target.

Conversely, further upside could have ANC bulls target $5.50 as their next resistance level.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

Terra’s Mirror Protocol MIR rebounds 40% two days after crashing to record low

February 27, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Altcoin

The massive move upside had MIR form a golden cross

Mirror Protocol, a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol built on the Terra blockchain, was hit by one of the biggest collapses in financial history this week after Vladimir Putin ordered military strikes against Ukraine.

Terra tokens rally

Mirror Protocol's native token, MIR, dropped to $0.993 on Feb. 24, its worst level to date amid a selloff across the broader crypto market. But a sharp rebound ensued, taking the price to as high as $1.41 two days later, up more than 40% when measured from MIR's record low.

*MIR/USD four-hour price chart. Source: TradingView*

Just like the drop, MIR's upside retracement came in the wake of similar recoveries elsewhere in the crypto market. But interestingly, MIR/USD returns appeared larger than some of the highly valued digital assets, including Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH).

Notably, Bitcoin rallied up to 17% after bottoming out locally on Feb. 24, below $34,500. In contrast, Ether's gains in the same period came out to be a little over 25% after bouncing from $2,300.

On the other hand, Terra (LUNA), whose protocol hosts the Mirror Protocol's synthetic assets platform, rebounded by more than 50% in the same period.

Interestingly, another Terra blockchain-backed token, Anchor Protocol (ANC), jumped more than 45% from its Feb. 24 low of $2.64, reaching its best level to date just shy of $4.

MIR paints a "golden cross" but...

The recent upside boom in the Mirror Protocol market also resulted in the formation of a so-called golden cross pattern.

In detail, MIR's 20-4H exponential moving average (20-4H EMA; the green wave) surged above its 50-4H EMA (the red wave), a move that typically follows up with a short-term uptrend, as per the Mirror Protocol's recent market history.

Nonetheless, the readings on the MIR's four-hour relative strength index (RSI) — which went above 70 during the weekend — alerted about its "overbought" status. That has coincided with a correction in the Mirror Protocol market, with MIR now down over 10.5% from its retracement high near $1.41.

*MIR/USD four-hour price chart featuring golden cross and Fibonacci retracement levels. Source: TradingView*

The decline has had MIR break below $1.36, one of its previous support levels that also confluences with the 61.8 Fib line of a Fibonacci Retracement Graph made from $1.58-swing high to $1.00-swing low.

The price now eyes additional drops toward the next support levels near the 0.5 Fib line around $1.29, followed by the 0.236 Fib line at $1.13.

Conversely, if MIR holds above its 20-4H and 50-4H EMAs, its likelihood of retesting $1.58 might increase. Its bullish outlook also depends on how the ongoing geopolitical conflict in Eastern Europe plays out, and its impact on Bitcoin.

*MIR/USD four-hour price chart featuring correlation between Bitcoin and Mirror Protocol. Source: TradingView*

Notably, the correlation coefficient between Bitcoin and Mirror Protocol sits near 0.75 above zero, meaning MIR price is more or less mirroring the moves of the top digital asset for the time being.

Terra’s Mirror Protocol shows first signs of bottoming after price gains 30% in 48 hours

February 16, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Altcoin Analysis

The optimistic outlook emerges as Mirror's native token MIR bounces 30% in two days amid the formation of a classic bullish reversal pattern.

Mirror Protocol, a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol built atop the Terra blockchain, was among the biggest gainers in the last 48 hours, primarily as its native token MIR rallied by over 30% to $1.48, its highest level since Jan. 22.

Has Mirror Protocol bottomed out?

MIR price rose despite an absence of concrete fundamentals, a sight pretty common across crypto assets.

As a result, its rally may have been purely technically-driven, especially because it originated after MIR had dropped by more than 90% in value from its May 2021 high near $13, making the token extremely oversold.

IncomeSharks, an independent market analyst, called MIR's rebound move a "no brainer," noting that its multi-month drop had left bulls with "tighter stop-loss," i.e., a strategy that traders apply to limit losses when the price falls below a specific price target.

But the Mirror Protocol token could still be bottoming out, IncomeSharks added while citing MIR's on-balance volume (OBV).

In detail, OBV measures a running total of positive and negative volume. Therefore, the indicator rises when volume on up days is higher than the volume on down days. Conversely, OBV falls when volume on down days is higher. A rising OBV reflects positive volume pressure that can lead to higher prices.

"Large green volume candles coming in near the bottom, super trend 1/2 flipping bullish while OBV is breakout out and showing strength," tweeted IncomeSharks on Wednesday.

*MIR/USD four-hour price chart featuring OBV. Source: IncomeSharks, TradingView*

Double bottom

More cues for an extended rebound in the Mirror Protocol market came from a bullish reversal pattern.

Notably, MIR appeared to have been forming a double bottom, a technical setup that occurs at the end of a downtrend and signals that bears, who were in control of the market so far, have been losing momentum.

Notably, the pattern looks like the letter "W" due to its two-touched lows and a change in the direction from downtrend to uptrend.

*MIR/USD daily price chart featuring 'double bottom' setup. Source: TradingView*

A basic tenet of the double bottom pattern is that a successful break above its upper trendline tends to send the price further upward — by as much as the maximum distance between its upper and lower levels. Thus, applying the same definition to MIR's double bottom setup returns with $1.73 as its bullish target.

Additionally, MIR's daily relative strength index (RSI), a momentum oscillator indicator, shows that it has been treading inside a neutral territory — with a reading around 54. Therefore, the Mirror Protocol token still has room to grow unless its RSI reading reaches 70, a sell signal.

Polygon Acquires Mir Protocol in $400M Deal in Order to Bolster ‘Groundbreaking ZK Rollup Tech’

December 12, 2021 Bitcoin.com

Polygon to invest up to 250M MATIC into zero-knowledge tech

December 9, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

If fully vested, it would be a $627.5 million investment into zero-knowledge technology at today’s MATIC price.

Ethereum scaling solution Polygon has announced it will dedicate a maximum of 250 million MATIC tokens ($627.5 million) to a deal with zero-knowledge cryptography startup Mir.

Zero-knowledge algorithms enable external validators to verify encrypted transactions or documents without revealing the sensitive information hidden underneath. It is useful for complex decentralized finance applications, such as decentralized ride-share apps or decentralized health insurance, where nodes need to verify the personal data of blockchain participants without risking privacy leaks.

Mir specializes in developing two subcategories of zero-knowledge proofs: PLONK and Halo. Both represent advancements over previous SNARK and STARK cryptography techniques, allowing proofs to be generated in seconds.

While PLONK still requires a trusted setup for validation, Halo algorithms can accomplish the task in a decentralized manner. Speed is a core design consideration in zero-knowledge proofs. Complex information to be passed over blockchains, such as redacted photo IDs, can take up substantial size, thereby affecting the applicability of transactions.

“Polygon plans to focus on ZK cryptography as the end game for blockchain scaling,” said Sandeep Nailwal, co-founder of Polygon.

“We have made a strategic decision to explore and encourage all meaningful scaling approaches and technologies at this stage. We believe this is the way to establish Polygon as the leading force and contributor in the ZK field and onboard the first billion users to Ethereum.”

The acquisition of Mir is a part of a greater $1 billion commitment to developing zero-knowledge technology by Polygon.

Uniswap (UNI) price jumps by 15% in DeFi, cryptocurrency market rebound

September 15, 2021 Coin Telegraph

ADAUSD

The jump in UNI/USD rates has quickly met with sellers at local top levels.

Uniswap (UNI) was among the best performers among the top-cap cryptocurrency tokens in the previous 24 hours, logging better gains than some top cryptocurrencies, namely Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and Binance Coin (BNB).

On Sept. 15, the UNI/USD exchange rate jumped 13.26% to hit its seven-day high $25.68. Traders continued to bid higher on the pair entering Wednesday, pushing its value higher to $26.07 at one point in time, up more than 15% from the previous session's open of $22.66.

Market-wide recovery behind UNI gains?

A majority of Uniswap's gains in the previous 24 hours seems to have surfaced in the wake of a market-wide recovery.

For instance, the said timeframe witnessed Bitcoin, the benchmark cryptocurrency that enjoys heavy influence on the rest of the crypto tokens, climbed above $47,000 following a 4.85% upside move on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Ethereum saw its native asset ETH rallying toward $3,500 in a 4.57% price jump.

Elsewhere in the crypto market, Binance Coin, XRP, Dogecoin, Luna, and Chainlink also rose. In contrast, smart contracts platform Solana's native asset SOL fell 6.47% following a denial-of-service disruption on its network.

At the same time, Cardano (ADA), one of Solana's top rivals, dropped by more than 1%.

*The performance of the top 15 cryptocurrencies in the past 24 hours. Source: TradingView.com*

At first, the gains among the top tokens, including Uniswap, looked to have been helped by capital rotations out of SOL and ADA markets.

In detail, Solana's market cap surged by more than 400% quarter-to-date following its foray into the booming nonfungible token (NFT) sector, providing traders a decent opportunity to lock interim profits. Additionally, the network outage accelerated the profit-taking scenario.

Solana mainnet-beta is experiencing intermittent instability. This began approximately 45 minutes ago, and engineers are investigating the issue.
— Solana Status (@SolanaStatus) September 14, 2021

On the other hand, Cardano attracted speculation because of its Alonzo upgrade that made it a smart contracts platform for the first time since launch. In addition, it's 2,500% year-to-date performance gave traders adequate opportunities to "sell the news" and secure gains.

UNI holders are masters of 9.15M MIR tokens

Uniswap's superior performance in the previous 24 hours also took cues from speculation that holding UNI could grant them access to airdrop tokens.

In a recent note, Brendon Murray, content marketing manager at Boston-based blockchain analysis firm Flipside Crypto, cited Twitter user jr3225's research. The study cited many UNI holders failed to realize that they could claim 9.15 million of the synthetic asset platform Mirror Protocol's MIR tokens via a December 2020 airdrop.

In comparison, LUNA stakers could claim more free MIR tokens than UNI ones—MIR/USD has surged 200% this year.

*Total MIR claimed on the y-axis, airdrop-type on the x-axis. Source: @jr3225*

The report, published Tuesday, coincided with the UNI price pump.

Uniswap technical outlook

Uniswap's latest rally had it test a support confluence made up of falling trendline resistance and the 38.2% Fib line (~$26.093) of a Fibonacci retracement graph (drawn from a $42.89-swing high to $15.70-swing low).

*UNI/USD daily price chart. Source: TradingView.com*

Sellers took control near the confluence, prompting UNI/USD to correct by 4.59% to an intraday low of $24.50. Its next support target is—again—a confluence of 23.6% Fib line ($22.12) and the ascending trendline that overall constitutes a Rising Channel.

An interim bullish outlook entails UNI/USD breaking above $26.09 and step towards the next Fib levels ($29.30, $32.51, and so on) unless the pair reaches the Rising Channel's upper trendline near $42.89.

Meanwhile, a bearish setup could see UNI/USD break below $22.12 Fib line and the Channel support to target $15.70.

Mir