Capital.com Research TeamStellar (XLM) was first developed back in 2014 as a hybrid blockchain platform. This means that it’s both a distributed payments network facilitated by the XLM cryptocurrency and a platform that allows the Horizon API to interact with the Stellar network to build new applications on top of it.
Stellar’s primary focus however, is to use the XLM cryptocurrency to seamlessly connect the traditional financial system across borders. The aim is to provide low cost financial services to people, independent of location and income level.
By creating a bridge between current banking systems and the decentralised crypto world, Stellar has a clear use case and an important problem to solve. Competing with Ripple (XRP), Stellar works on bringing individuals, banks and payment systems together and moving money faster at lower cost.
The latest Stellar (XLM) news – including partnerships, a war-chest of money to spend and an industry keen to work with them rather than against them – makes the Stellar Lumen one of the most favoured cryptos among traders.
Stellar news and analysis
There is a lot of fundamental Stellar crypto news, which should inspire traders and excite holders alike. They have the potential to move prices in either direction, providing attractive trading opportunities.
Key partnership with IBM
The biggest price-driving Stellar news is the key partnership developed with tech giant IBM.
IBM is using the Stellar decentralised network to create what could become a primary international payment structure hub – the World Wire – a global payments system that connects banks via the Stellar digital-asset network.
With the SWIFT/IBAN system that banks currently use taking days to complete an international money transfer, it’s believed that this IBM and Stellar partnership could catapult their system to become the leading solution to replace the old technology.
The main aspect of Stellar’s partnership with IBM is the development of a payment platform built on the Stellar blockchain. This new payment platform will replace SWIFT by speeding up the process through the issuing and use of the XLM token to transfer funds quickly through the Stellar network.
Bridget van Kralingen, senior vice president of IBM Industry Platforms comments on the IBM and Stellar partnership: “With the guidance of some of the world’s leading financial institutions, IBM is working to explore new ways to make payment networks more efficient and transparent so that banking can happen in real-time, even in the most remote parts of the world.”
While Stellar’s main competitor Ripple continues to compete in the space through key partnerships of its own, the less corporate nature of Stellar is an interesting point of difference.
Funding from the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF)
Another important piece of Stellar (XLM) news came out at the tail-end of 2019. The Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) published a mandate for how the Stellar project will be funded going forward. The SDF is responsible for developing the code base and performs all the business operations required to promote the XLM ecosystem.
Coronavirus affects markets
Holding 30 billion XLM tokens alone, how the SDF uses these funds to move the project forward will be a key factor in whether it’s a success. With a goal to make Stellar the global payment standard, the SDF plans to release 3 billion XLM tokens every year until 2023 for things such as technical development, marketing, politics and trade relations.
The remaining 18 billion XLM tokens will then be left in reserve for the years to come.
With sufficient project funding within a bearish crypto market, the SDF’s plan is going to be vital to Stellar’s overall success going forward.
Stellar (XLM) technical analysis
While fundamental Stellar news is highly important, technical analysis of the XLM cryptocurrency can also help you decide whether it is the right time to invest in Stellar.
Trade Stellar to US Dollar - XLM/USD CFD
Considering the daily price action, you could see a prominent descending triangle pattern dominating the chart. The XLM price has been steadily trending downward throughout 2019 with the last glimpse of bullish hope in February 2020 before the price crashed through the triangle base.
While not specifically Stellar crypto news, fears of a Coronavirus-led global recession and an all-out price war in oil markets, have absolutely battered technical support levels no matter where you look.
Now zooming into an hourly XML/USD chart to take a look at the intraday price action, we can see that the picture remains bearish. Still, according to the latest news on Stellar, XLM was the 2nd best performing cryptocurrency as of March 15, even though it lost 31 per cent during a week.
The XLM to USD pair had been trading in a range from $0.0421 to $0.0887 for the past couple of months. However, the sharp crypto selling last week broke the XML critical support level at $0.0421 and the Stellar price dropped to $0.0260.
While the breakdown to yearly lows can be considered as a negative sign, Stellar has strength to bounce off, showing strong demand on lower levels. If the bulls will manage to push the price back to $0.0421 and keep this level for a few days, the current bearish trend may reverse.
Stellar (XLM) predictions for 2020
With an unprecedented volatility on traditional as well as cryptocurrency markets, it’s hard to make a reliable 2020 Stellar (XLM) prediction to confidently stand by. While Stellar’s future remains unpredictable, it successfully positions itself as a perfect network for exchanging money across borders.
Having implemented Lightning Network for atomic exchanges, Stellar has managed to prove itself as a high-speed processing crypto network. Today Stellar is ranked 11th largest cryptocurrency gaining more and more traders’ attention. This can serve as a sign of a good growth potential.
Stay tuned to the latest Stellar news, which can drive XLM price movement. Track the performance of the top-20 cryptocurrencies live and trade Stellar CFDs with Capital.com.
