The Bitcoin Community, as a whole, is as intelligent as any I’ve come across in my three-decade career – and believe me, I’ve seen it all, having first owned BTC in late 2013, and actively participated since early 2016…at one point, in my World Crypto Network days, a relatively known well-known influencer.
Since then, the space has become so large, my era of influence has passed – which is fine, as I have improved the lives of those who listened to me, having fought all manner of social “wars” in the process. To that end, I no longer need to do anything, so anything I do contribute – at this point, principally Tweets – is my desire to remain engaged in the most exciting, and world-changing technology of all time, Bitcoin.
At this point, “precious” few realize that what is posted in my Twitter profile, “the FIRST well-known Gold advocate to switch to Bitcoin,” could not be truer – as from 2002-2016, I was one of THE most diehard, high profile members of the Precious Metals community. To that end, I became significantly famous for my work with GATA, the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee, starting in 2004. So much so, that at GATA’s most well-known conference, at the Savoy in London in August 2011 (the week S&P downgraded the U.S. credit rating), Eric Sprott personally thanked me during his keynote speech.
Following a long Wall Street career as a trader and analyst, which ended in 2005 when I decided to devote my full effort to Precious Metals, I wrote EVERY DAY about the manipulation of the gold and silver markets (downward) and stock market (upward), in greater detail than perhaps anyone EVER. So much so, I had names for each of the primary algorithms - which my daily readership, at its peak over 25,000 people in 2011-17, when I was Director of Marketing at Miles Franklin Precious Metals, could have easily profited from how regular they were…and still are, today!
Historically, Wall Street has a blind spot for acknowledging manipulative trading activity – even highly repetitive, “sixth sigma” probability algorithms - as their existence renders “analysis” useless; particularly “technicians,” whose cluelessness and ineffectiveness is bad enough in non-rigged markets. However, what has always puzzled me is why those most negatively impacted by such algorithms typically act equally oblivious, to the point of hostility when pointed out.
This is particularly so in Bitcoin, which has been suppressed by extremely blatant, 24/7 algorithms since at least 2017 – but PARTICULARLY since I first recognized what I call, for lack of a better description, the “ETH Cartel algos” in August 2020. The reason I gave them this name is because since (at least) then, they have acted to suppress Bitcoin RELATIVE TO Ethereum…as opposed to the pre-2020 algos, which simply sought to suppress Bitcoin ABSOLUTELY.
With that introduction, let’s discuss how they work – though long-time readers know well, that I have Tweeted about them for the past 18 months.
Before I get to specific “ETH Cartel algos,” consider the ABSOLUTE Bitcoin “suppression algos” (or as I call them, “demoralization algos”) witnessed 24/7 for as long as I can remember – with the ONLY exceptions being the rare times when a major BTC buyer emerges, taking offers on major exchanges…which typically lasts no more than 30 minutes, once a day.
The algos looked different before 2020, with each exchange listed on Bitcoin Wisdom having its own, unique suppression algorithms – but rest assured, unless a pump was in progress, the algos were set up; for example, with relentless, large spoof offers; to scare holders into believing a crash was imminent. Post 2020, they look much different – with Coinbase being by far, the most blatant. I call it the “herk jerk” – in which, unlike ETH (which trades smoothly and naturally), BTC essentially NEVER trades two straight upticks.
The herk jerk is now present 24/7, with no purpose other than to demoralize and frustrate BTC investors – and all you have to do to see is watch for five minutes. No complex skills are required to see it, or a “trained eye” as an “experienced trader.” Like all the algos I speak of here, as plain as the nose on your face, all day, every day.
Quite literally, I could write a book describing every aspect of the Bitcoin suppression algorithms, which precisely as I did about Precious Metals in the 2000s and 2010s. Back then, I noted several specific “Cartel Rules” overarching the suppression operation – then, by the (clearly, U.S. government led) “Gold Cartel” and “Plunge Protection Team”; and today, by (in my view, U.S. government led) “ETH Cartel.”
Admittedly, this time around, such leadership – i.e., motives, means, is a lot less clear. However, the fact that two of the biggest BTC plunges of the past five years; in December 2017, and November 2021, coincided nearly to the day with the launch of 1) CME futures trading; and 2) the Bitcoin “futures ETF” tells me all I need to know.
Not to mention, the fact that the BTC price, going back to 2017, tends to decline perhaps 90% of the time when CME futures trading closes at 5pm EST – in what I used to deem “Early Asians selling”; but now know to be, as has been the case with paper gold trading for the past two decades, “non-organic” (i.e., manipulative).
Regarding said “rules,” they couldn’t be easier to identify – and again, all it takes is watching for five minutes, on any exchange, to see them. But to best understand just how powerful the suppression is, recognize that what makes them so is algorithms that have been set up, 24/7 for the past 18+ months, to make sure that ALL BTC TICKS INSTANTANEOUSLY FOLLOW ETH, DIRECTIONALLY.
Yes, for anyone that believes BTC trades freely – which is easy to believe if you do NOT have an ETH window up simultaneously – you couldn’t be more incorrect. As quite literally, BTC NEVER, EVER, EVER trades up without ETH trading up first – and conversely, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS trades down, instantaneously, when ETH trades down. And by instantaneously, I quite literally mean that there is no delay – as computer algos are set up to simultaneously hit BTC EVERY time ETH declines.
Think about that. NO OTHER COIN follows ETH directly, including thousands that depend entirely on ETH to exist – but somehow, Bitcoin, which is more than twice ETH’s size, and isn’t even a direct competitor given that it’s primary use case is monetary, not transactional, is forced to follow EVERY ETH TICK. EVERY ONE, 24/7!
On the upside, BTC follows ETH directionally about 99% of the time – as opposed to 100% on the downside…which is part and parcel to the overarching strategy of relentlessly raising ETH/BTC over time, starting from the 1/1/21 “D-Day” date when this effort appeared to be launched.
At that time, for no particular reason – in fact, at a time when the initial “DeFi” wave was crashing – ETH/BTC suddenly jumped from .02 to .035 in less than a week. Thereafter, it has been steadily “stair-stepped” higher over time, with rising “floor” levels. This, as global BTC adoption has risen at least as fast, with a record hash rate today, amidst the most bullish fundamentals in BTC’s history.
You are welcome to speculate on other reasons (than manipulation) why this occurs – like say, the current NFT mania. But this just doesn’t make sense to me, especially when you watch the maniacal, instantaneous buying that occurs whenever said ETH/BTC floors are approached…so much so, that as opposed to the past, when ETH/BTC tended to plunge through all price corrections, it now only does so until such floors (recently, .07) are reached.
Back to said “rules,” they are quite simple, and essentially NEVER (as in, 99.9% of the time) violated. And BTW, the 0.1% of the time they are violated, it is typically by very small increments, in very small amounts of time…and are ALWAYS recouped shortly thereafter.
ETH Cartel Rule #1 – BTC is NEVER, EVER allowed to rise when ETH falls. Think about how insane that sounds, in two supposedly freely-traded markets, for two assets with completely different use cases, when the one HALF the other’s size is controlling ALL its moves.
ETH Cartel Rule #2 – ETH/BTC ALWAYS rises when ETH rises, ALWAYS! THIS is how ETH/BTC’s relentless rise is maintained, per above. In other words, the ONLY time ETH/BTC is allowed to fall is during major price plunges (with “floors” on how much it can fall); whilst EVERY time ETH rises, ETH/BTC rises along with it, INSTANTANEOUSLY. The degree of increase varies, but quite literally, if you see ETH/BTC is up, it 100% of the time means ETH is up, too. Trust me, you will NEVER see ETH/BTC fall when ETH rises, any more than you’d see ETH fall when BTC rises; or, for that matter, a unicorn or dragon.
I could go on forever writing about FAR more nuances of how the algos work to suppress BTC’s price and interest, but no longer NEED to do so. Nor do I expect them to change any time soon (though in Bitcoin, anything is possible); and fortunately, I am so confident in Bitcoin’s future, I have no doubt it will rise dramatically over time, irrespective of if and when said manipulation is broken.
Fortunately, the one thing Bitcoin has that gold and silver don’t, in terms of its ability to overcome “paper Bitcoin” related suppression, is on-chain metrics like illiquid supply…which this week, hit an ALL-TIME HIGH.
Andy Hoffman on Twitter: "#Bitcoin's secret weapon, which will ultimately destroy the suppression algorithms." / Twitter
Through such metrics, Bitcoin investors can clearly see how much “selling” has to do with ACTUAL physical selling, versus “paper Bitcoin” suppression schemes. In time, PARTICULARLY as we head into the 2024 halving; but likely, much sooner, as all it takes is one high-profile buyer to catalyze a renewed mania of physical buying; I expect a paper short squeeze unlike any seen in financial history, in BTC.
It is simply too valuable, and scarce, and NEEDED by the world, to not happen, sooner rather than later.
Nayib Bukele 🇸🇻 on Twitter: "There are more than 50 million millionaires in the world. Imagine when each one of them decides they should own at least ONE #Bitcoin But there will ever be only 21 million #Bitcoin No enough for even half of them. A gigantic price increase is just a matter of time." / Twitter
That said, if circulating this piece helps just a few of the millions of deep-pocketed BTC investors and potential investors to understand what is going on; and thus, facilitate their decision to buy more, sooner, it will have been worth writing. Which is EXACTLY what I expect to happen, as the BTC community, in time (hopefully sooner, rather than later) does what I KNOW it will!