- Ethereum prices up 2.8 percent
- 30,789 ETHs transferred from Cryptopia’s wallet to an unknown address.
$4.2 million worth of Ethereum (ETH) from Cryptopia is now at an unknown address after Jan hack. At the same time, Ethereum prices are up but struggling to break above $150 and $170.
Ethereum Price Analysis
Fundamentals
There is a worrying trend in 2019. More exchanges are falling prey to hackers, and there should be averting steps. Aside from regulator involvement, exchange clients must take their security a notch higher. That means incorporating two-step verification in their login procedure and being extra vigilant to avoid phishing attacks.
Often, crypto attacks lead to losses and irreversible reputation damage to the affected exchange through client loss of confidence and made worse by an internet that never forgets. One of the many exchanges aside from BitHumb which is the latest is Cryptopia.
Their case was unique because it was sustained for several days but there was recovery. However, a majority did slide, and the community now notes that 30,789 ETHs moved from Cryptopia to an unknown wallet address. That amounts to roughly $4.2 million at spot rates. These funds, Elementus reports, were from the second breach. That’s when hackers had control of over 17k wallets. However, the damage was notably extensive for ETH holders.
“One possible explanation is that Cryptopia had their private keys stored in a single server with no redundancy. If the thieves managed to gain access to this server, they could have downloaded the private keys before wiping them from the server, leaving Cryptopia unable to access their wallets.”
Candlestick Arrangement
At the time of press, Ethereum (ETH) is up 2.8 percent in the last week. However, a noteworthy development is the failure of prices to close above the $150 level in a minor breakout trade.
Even so, our ETH/USD trade plan is valid, and bulls of Mar 5 are valid after Mar 27-29 expansions. Therefore, although we are net bullish expecting gains above $170 towards $200, participation level remains low.
Besides, there is this hang from Feb 24 losses that can trigger a sell-off towards $100 if there is a meltdown below $130 or Mar 5 lows. All the same, once there is a high volume drive above $150 then risk-off traders can ramp up on dips with targets at our Nov-2018 breakout level at $170.
Technical Indicators
By yesterday’s close, average volume stood at 116k. After Mar 29 gains we expected that prices would edge higher with high volumes exceeding Mar 5 of 302k. As a result, unless otherwise, these conditions are correct, we shall take a neutral but bullish stand on price action.
Chart courtesy of Trading View
