Nvidia, a graphics chip manufacturer, recorded huge increases at the end of 2017 and for most of 2018, when the demand for advanced graphics processors used to extract cryptocurrencies increased sharply. The recent drops in the market caused a drop in demand, which forced Nvidia to change its strategy.
Nvidia's largest rival, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), also reached record levels, gaining more than 100% in the last quarter. Nvidia was particularly good with the waves of the huge cryptocurrency boom in November and December, when it reached an impressive 42% from November 2017 to a record level of $ 267 per share in June 2018.
Demand for top-class GeForce graphics processors grew sharply when Bitcoin's price rose from $ 5,800 to almost $ 20,000 in one month - creating a shopping spree for miners wanting to earn crypt-madness.
However, the recent slowdown in the market has left Nvidia a large amount of unsold equipment due to weakening interest rates and market sentiment. The company expected around $ 100 million in the second fiscal quarter from the sale of chips used for miners. Instead, sales in this period amounted to 18 million dollars, and in the future revenues will probably disappear completely. Nvidia's CEO, Jensen Huang, plans to exclude from the budget production directed at mining cryptocurrencies. Yesterday during a conference call Huang talked about entering new roads and focusing on the strengths of Nvidia: "Our basic platforms have exceeded our expectations, even when the crypto has largely disappeared. We do not plan to develop cryptographic mining " - he said.
Although the extraction of cryptocurrencies enabled Nvidia to increase revenue and market value in the short term, the company can no longer compete with gaming miners such as the Chinese company Bitmain. The company manufactures and uses ASIC excavators that are able to extract cryptocurrencies much more efficiently than the best Nvidia cards. Instead, Nvidia will focus on its strengths, especially in the computer games industry, artificial intelligence and data processing.
Let's now take a look at the Bitcoin technical picture at the H4 time frame. The market remains inside of the horizontal consolidation between the levels of $5,846 - $6,597. Currently, the price is just above the weekly pivot at the level of $6,359 and just above the internal trend line support marked in blue. The key level to the upside is seen at $6,597 and in a case of a breakout higher, the next target for bulls is seen at $6,752. On the other hand, the intraday supports are seen at the levels of $6,179, $6,134, $6,083 and $6,034.
