Remember this? I bet the first time you saw it in December you laughed this picture off, but it's okay so did I. And if this is the first time you're seeing this, don't dismiss it just yet!

Because, well, the harsh truth is that its all real. And this market cycle, believe it or not, is present in every market out there, including these Bitcoin & Altcoin markets.

All markets work the same way. Can you see it? @QTMHoldings #QTM #wallstcheatsheet pic.twitter.com/BXEUlu1NfQ
— Alvin Lee (@onemanatatime) April 17, 2014

If you haven't already, check out my previous posts earlier this year about trading Bitcoins and Altcoins, which highlight technical analysis basics, fundamental analysis frameworks, margin trading, and tips on developing a cryptocurrency trading strategy and TA. Here, I just want to point out the importance of understanding market structure, introduce you to market manipulation, and show you how technical analysis can be applied to your cryptocurrency trading.

As you read on, keep these following points in mind as these rules apply even more closely:

• What goes up must come down
• Buy on rumors, sell on news
• All markets are linked to everything else

To take this one step further and understand the markets from an even wider perspective, the next thing to do is to put on your market manipulator hat. Check out these 2 really good resources covering this topic for a deeper understanding of what I'm trying to get at:

• Wolong's Game of Deception PDF: http://cryptofrenzy.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/god.pdf
• Pumps, Dumps, and Manipulated Markets: http://altcoinnewsletter.com/pumps-dumps-and-manipulated-markets/

The whole point of learning about how market manipulators operate is not to actually manipulate the markets yourself or conduct pump and dumps, but to actually spot when others are trying to do so. This can help your trading strategy in various ways such as to:

• Have a better understanding of the ebbs and flows of the market
• Avoid getting caught in their squeezes
• Identify a suspicious (potentially profitable) market
• Know what the "smartest man in the room" is doing, and follow the "smart money"

From Wolong's ebook, he broke down the market cycle into 7 stages, namely:
If you compare the psychology chart above and the Pump & Dump cycle pointed out by Wolong, to the market structure chart below, you can see how they have very similar structures even though they use different terms to explain the phases.

Buy low sell high; easier said than done. Familiarize yourself with market structure. @QTMHoldings #QTM pic.twitter.com/DlOJ4yF6fE
— Alvin Lee (@onemanatatime) April 18, 2014

And from this market structure chart, you can see that the stages can be further simplified to 4 phases:

1. Accumulation
2. Markup (Pump)
3. Distribution
4. Decline (Dump)

So why is this important, or how does it apply to the cryptocurrency markets? By understanding the market cycle chart, you will be able to better pick altcoins by spotting accumulation zones to join the breakout and profit, and to make your exit when you reach distribution zones. For example:

Hope you managed to get some #MYR at that 350-400 floor I mentioned #crystalball #QTM pic.twitter.com/W6NOjRFiBk
— Alvin Lee (@onemanatatime) May 2, 2014

Although many people disregard the profitability (or possibility) of using technical analysis to trade the Bitcoin and especially Altcoins markets, it is most definitely possible. I think the problem lies predominantly in the limitation that some of you have put on the term 'technical analysis'.

If Technical Analysis to you means chart patterns, candles, and indicators; you're missing the big picture. #QTM
— Alvin Lee (@onemanatatime) April 23, 2014

Every piece of information on that chart you use is part of technical analysis; but the bigger question is how to make sense of it all. To better understand TA, we should think of the price charts as simply a graph of human behaviour.

Although the tools to do so efficiently are sorely lacking at this point in time, here's just a few examples of TA used on Altcoins and Bitcoin.

If you still don't know what Quarkcoin (QRK) is, Jason explains it pretty well in his recent video below.

Since Bill Still talked about Quark in his recent video, it has exploded within the Bitcoin community and has received huge critism, with many dismissing it as a "scamcoin" or a "pump and dump" scheme. See the Reddit discussions below for more information.

Reddit: Are we being mislead by Quarkcoin Propaganda? 
Reddit: Pump and Dump scheme

nice to see someone else hasn't lost their fucking mind. http://t.co/IrMJjUG094 attacking #quark and the fraud it's built on. #nicejob
— BitcoinSachs (@BitcoinSachs) December 2, 2013

Apart from Quark being more secure by using 6 different hashing algorithms, I have yet to be able to find any substantial evidence that this coin is "not a scam" or "better" than most other alts out there. The conversations about Quark have exploded in Reddit over the last few days, and the most asked question is regarding the issue of 98.9% of the Quarks being already mined out.

In fact, almost everyone in the Bitcoin community has been calling Quark a scam, and saying that the heavily vested (Max Keiser & Bill Still) are overhyping a premined coin for their own profits. However, someone like Bill Still or Max Keiser pumping a "useless" coin solely for their own benefits seems like a stupid thing to do. In my opinion, there has to be a better reason as to why they really believe so!

Also, I want to emphasize that Quarks were NOT pre-mined! Instead, the 98% of Quarks that have already been mined were mined by a community of ~100 or so people, who in the case of Quark, will be the central nodes of distribution for Quarks. This then leads to the more important question, how can the Quarks held by 100 people be fairly distributed among the rest of the new adopters?

This was covered in depth in a few discussions that I found, but there is still no concrete answer to the question posed.

1. Quark Forum: Decentralization and Supply of Quark
2. Reddit Discussion: How to answer the Premining question
3. Quark Forum: Question Pre-Mining

The closest answer we have lies in Quark's design. QRK is designed in a way that only CPU mining is efficient. Quark is being mined during a short period of time, which discourages GPU or ASIC miners and keeps the coin fair since Developing ASIC miners takes considerable time and man power. Quarks are mostly mined by early miners, and have been well distributed before the value of this coin goes high like Bitcoin. So there are no ASIC miners and hence we don't have a case where a minority of privileged people mining using specialized hardware gain big profits. From this point of view, Quark is more decentralized since virtually everyone (rather than certain groups of people with special hardware) can mine it; the likelihood of monopolization is smaller.

[Source: Quark Forum: Decentralization and Supply of Quark, Quark Forum: Question Pre-Mining]

Secondly, from the official information posted on Cryptocointalk, it is interesting to note that the supply of QRK is inflationary, wtih a total of 247 million QRK will be mined in ~ 6 months, after that ~ 1 million QRK p.a. (~ 0.5% p.a inflation). This is interesting because it is a completely opposite take on Bitcoin's limited supply. And this means that the value of QRK is deflationary.

Thirdly, Quarkcoin also brings with it several technical benefits when you compare it to Bitcoin, as pointed out by user majormax (see the discussion here). Some of them are listed below:

1. Secure and different Hashing algorithm. 9 rounds of hashing from 6 hashing functions, rather than a single Hash function, which most coins use. Although the single hash function is considered sufficient at present, the multiple hash gives a further layer of security against future unknowns.
2. Rapid block generation times. The block generation time for QRK is 30 seconds against 10 minutes for BTC.
3. A rapid decrease in the Mining Subsidy. This increases scarcity at a greater rate: the newly mined coins available for sale do not affect market price as much as other alternative currencies.

I have also compiled some Quarkcoin related news, which I recommed you watch/read before investing in Quark.

1. http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1rvcpd/bill_still_to_talk_about_cryptos_on_the_max/
2. http://dailysilverupdate.com/blog/2013/12/max-keiser-bill-still-on-bitcoin-litecoin-quarkcoin-prices/
3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7daKwO3cgiU
4. http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1rwfni/shame_on_you_bill_still_you_hate_on_bitcoin_for_2/
5. http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1rr4eg/keiser_promoting_another_scamcoin_pump_and_dump/
6. http://www.reddit.com/r/QuarkCoin/comments/1rxcs4/stop_pulling_out_of_quark_there_is_nothing_to/

After doing this preliminary research, I still have no clue as to whether or not Quark will be here to stay. On the other hand, Quarks will soon experience the Keiser Effect, and I'm not going to miss this boat. I will continue to research into Quark, and buy more (as the price decreases, just my prediction) until it rises after the 19th of December, when Keiser Report airs. Don't forget to vote on my Quark poll on the right column! Also, please tell me what you think in the comments section. Whether not you agree or disagree with me, I just want to know what you think, so shoot me!

Another coin to watch is Zetacoin, which also has an infinitely inflationary supply. Read up more about Zetacoin by clicking here. Also, watch out for Bitcoinsachs' upcoming blog post or follow his Twitter account @BitcoinSachs. Might cover that over the weekend. Stay tuned!