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In financial markets, the best entry opportunity is often fleeting and easily missed. Now, Solana's SOL is flashing a timely second chance for those looking to trade bullish breakouts.The SOL price has surged over 7% this week to $193, rebounding off a former resistance-turned-support identified by the trendline connecting highs from March and July. This line, and the one joining April and August lows, define a large descending channel comprising prolonged range play from March to October.The prices broke out of the channel in early November, confirming a bullish bias. SOL quickly climbed to over $260 before retracing to the breakout point last week.The roundtrip is called a bullish "throwback pattern" by technical analysts."Throwbacks occur when prices break out upward...

The Russian government imposed a six-year ban on crypto mining in 10 regions due to the industry's high power consumption, Tass reported.The ban, which includes participation in a mining pool and temporary restrictions in other regions during periods of peak demand, takes effect Jan. 1 and ends March 15, 2031, Tass said, citing a decision by the Council of Ministers.The country legalized crypto mining in July, with the law taking effect last month. Russia bans the use of cryptocurrencies as legal tender for regular payments internally, but does allow cross-border payments with crypto in an attempt to evade sanctions imposed after it invaded Ukraine.The regions affected by the ban include Dagestan, North Ossetia and Chechnya, and can be altered depending...

Just when you thought the year-end couldn't get any more intriguing, a significant options expiry is set to shake things up in this highly levered-up market.Options are derivative contracts that give the purchaser the right to buy or sell the underlying asset at a preset price at a later date. A call gives the right to buy, and a put confers the right to sell.On Friday at 8:00 UTC, 146,000 bitcoin options contracts, valued at nearly $14 billion and sized at one BTC each, will expire on the crypto exchange Deribit. The notional amount represents 44% of the total open interest for all BTC options across different maturities, marking the largest expiry event ever on Deribit. ETH options worth $3.84...

Traders expect bitcoin (BTC) choppiness to continue with a possible rotation to altcoins, as a major options expiry weighs on market dynamics in the festive week ahead.“All eyes are on the massive expiry this Friday, where almost $20B notional across BTC and ETH options will expire,” Singapore-based QCP Capital said in a broadcast message early Tuesday. “This represents almost half the total OI on Deribit. We believe it's quite possible especially if spot continues to range here and as option sellers continue to roll their shorts out.”"Rolling" means that instead of letting their options expire, traders shift their positions to later expiration dates. This is often done to keep the trade active if they still believe in their market forecast....

Welcome to The Protocol, CoinDesk's weekly wrap-up of the most important stories in cryptocurrency tech development.In this week’s issue of the Protocol newsletter:Trump’s crypto teamAptos' leadership shake-upTikTok meets tokensKraken scales upThis article is featured in the latest issue of The Protocol, our weekly newsletter exploring the tech behind crypto, one block at a time. Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Wednesday.Network NewsTRUMP CRYPTO APPOINTMENTS: President-elect Donald Trump continues to make high-profile appointments embracing cryptocurrency and emerging technologies in his second term. 1) Stephen Miran, tapped as Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, is a pro-crypto advocate who aims to integrate blockchain and decentralized finance into the U.S. economy. 2) Bo Hines, a former college...