Siacoin saw an interesting year of trading during 2019. It opened the year at a price of around $0.0026 and went on to finish the year trading at a price of around $0.00129, causing around a 50% price reduction from open to close.
However, the cryptocurrency did manage to increase by a total of 86% throughout the year as it increased from the February low to the 2019 high of around $0.004.
Take a look at the performance below;
We can see that Siacoin created a fresh multi-year low during 2019 as it closed the year at a price of around $0.0012. Nevertheless, the cryptocurrency has started to increase in the short couple of months that 2020 has given so far as it rises by a solid 200% to reach the 2020 high of $0.00375 - almost beating the 2019 high.
Siacoin is back in action in 2020! The cryptocurrency is started to make headlines after the team releases some major features that should help to increase the use case of Sia - don’t worry, we will cover all of this below. More users are starting to rent their hard drive space to the Sia network as other users continue to use it as a cloud-based storage solution. Furthermore, the social buzz behind Siacoin is starting to gain some traction again, creating a fantastic scenario for Siacoin holders in 2020.
For the reasons stated above, and more discussed below, I believe that SIA has the potential to surge by a total of 330% in 2020 to reach my target price of $0.012 at some point during the year. Bear in mind that the cryptocurrency has already moved by a total of 200% this year already so the total price increase for 2020 would equate to around a whopping 850% if SIA does hit my 2020 target.
In this article, I’ll firstly cover a range of topics that I believe will influence SIA in reaching my $0.012 target during 2020 and then analyze SIA on the daily chart to highlight some areas of resistance on the way toward the target.
What Is Siacoin?
Siacoin is a leading decentralized cloud storage platform that requires no signups or trusted 3rd parties to store data.
The project aims to reinvent cloud storage through the power of blockchain technology as it competes against rivals such as Google Storage and DropBox.
It all started in 2014 when the company behind Siacoin, Nebulous Inc, was formed by founders David Vorick and Luke Champine. They did not have an ICO and, instead, raised money through funding rounds. Through three different funding rounds, the Siacoin team managed to raise a total of $1.7 million in funding.
To find out more information about the team, I recommend taking a look at this article.
The way the project works is that users come and rent their spare storage space on their network to the Siacoin network. They are repaid in Siacoin for any hard drive space they provide to the network.
The fact that it is users providing the space helps to create a decentralized peer-to-peer file storage network without the need for any centralized authority to host any data on the cloud.
This also means that your data is not subject to outside attack vectors in which hackers will be able to steal your data if they manage to break into the traditional cloud storage servers that are being used.
It basically works by encrypting any data you may want to upload and then splitting it into tiny pieces to be spread across hard drives within the network. This creates a scenario in which your data is never hosted in full on anyone’s hard drive allowing users to know that their private data cannot be accessed by the users renting out their spare hard drive space.
To retrieve your data, the Sia network will simply collect all the individual pieces and put them together - providing you still have the private keys to the data.
To find out more about Siacoin overall, take a look into this great in-depth guide.
Why Would Anybody Want To Use Siacoin?
Well, apart from the fact that the hosting is decentralized which prevents outside attack vectors mentioned above, using Siacoin is also private as they do not require any signup processes.
Furthermore, Siacoin is actually cheaper than traditional cloud-based hosting solutions. The team states that it is up to 90% less than traditional storage providers. For example, storing 1TB of data on Sia costs $1-$2 per month. On Amazon S3, this would cost around $23 per month.
Being open-source is extremely imperative to any cryptocurrency project to provide credibility. The code can be checked for users to be 100% certain there is no malicious threat to hosting private data on Sia network.
We can be sure that people are actually using Siacoin already. Just taking a look at the Sia Stats, we can see that there is already over 720 TB stored throughout 355 online hosts on the Sia network. The total network capacity is currently 2,279 TB and this will continue to increase as users share their spare hard drive space to the Sia network.
Data Shows A Spike In Social Volume
A good sign that a project is bubbling is looking at the social volume of the project. Data from Santiment shows that the social volume within Sia coin is really starting to bubble;
This is great news as it shows that more people are starting to talk about Sia coin again.
Skynet Brings Siacoin Back To Life
In February 2020, Siacoin released a brand new platform known as Skynet. This has been hailed to change the direction of Siacoin and bring the entire project back to life.
Skynet now makes it incredibly easy for users to upload files and deploy applications to the decentralized Sia network in seconds. Furthermore, it is immediately available to all users (that have the link) across the word without the need to run full nodes or even hold any Siacoin.
Sia Stream
Another fantastic product released by Sia is known as Sia Stream. It allows users to upload their media to stream it on their other devices at an extremely low cost. Judging by the direction they are heading, we could see the potential for a brand new Netflix type platform in which users can share their own media without the fear of being shut down.
Siacoin (SIA) Price Analysis
LONG TERM - DAILY CHART
What Has Been Going On?
Taking a look at the daily chart above, we can see the pretty depressing time that SIA has witnessed over the past 18 months. The cryptocurrency fell from a high above $0.01 all the way down to $0.00125 during December 2019.
During 2019, SIA was stalled by resistance at the 200-days EMA at around $0.004 and was unable to overcome this level, causing it to roll over and fall to create a fresh multi-year low price.
Despite this poor performance, Siacoin has started to pick up as 2020 started to trade. We can see that it rebounded from support at $0.00125 as it started to climb as high as $0.0037 before stalling - giving it a 200% price increase already!
It has since dropped, however, we can expect this bull run to continue, especially after the cryptocurrency made some movement above the 200-days EMA.
Are We Bullish Or Bearish (as of February 2020)?
As of late February 2020, Siacoin can be considered as bullish, especially after creating a fresh 7-month high in the year. It would need to fall back beneath $0.002 before we can start to consider the market as being bearish again.
If the sellers do push lower, the first level of support is located at $0.00279, provided by a short term .382 Fib Retracement. This is then followed up with support at $0.0025 (.5 Fib Retracement), $0.0022 (.618 Fib Retracement), and $0.0020 (200-days EMA).
If the sellers continue further lower, additional support can be found at $0.0015 and $0.00125.
Where Is The Resistance On The Way Up TO $0.012?
On the other hand, if the buyers can regroup and resume the bullish trend, the first level of resistance lies at $0.003861 which is provided by a long term bearish .236 Fibonacci Retracement level. This long term bearish Fib Retracement is measured from the July 2018 high to the December 2019 low.
If the buyers continue to crack $0.004, higher resistance is then expected at $0.0044 (1.272 Fib Extension), $0.00484 (1.414 Fib Extension), and $0.005. Above this, additional resistance can be expected at $0.00547 (bearish .382 Fib Retracement) and $0.006.
Beyond $0.006, resistance lies at $0.0067 (bearish .5 Fib Retracement), $0.00765, and $0.0080 (bearish .618 Fib Retracement). This is followed up with resistance at $0.0089 (longer termed 1.272 Fib Extension), $0.00927, $0.000949 (longer termed 1.414 Fib Extension), and $0.009944 (bearish .786 Fib Retracement).
If the bulls can break $0.01, they will only need to contest resistance at $0.010, $0.011, and $0.0115 before being clear to make an attempt at the $0.012 resistance level.
Conclusion
Siacoin has started to make its waves again, especially after the release of Skynet. The cloud-based storage solution that they offer is certainly an option for users who want to keep their privacy in a decentralized manner and the Sia network can easily offer this.
So long as Sia continue to market their product well and improve the performance and stability of the data transfer, I can easily see the Sia network growing exponentially in its userbase which should be able to translate into Siacoin hitting my 2020 price target!
