Bitcoin is up another $1,100 plus this week [over $3,500 USD for the month] and the world is again buzzing with Bitcoin and cryptocurrency fever. At press, Bitcoin price is [$8,700]. Many exchanges are reporting record volume and we aren’t even halfway back to the former BTC all time high of nearly $20,000 USD. Most are finally admitting we are out of the bear market abyss known as ‘crypto winter’.
It is indeed appearing contrarians are again going to reap vast reward for being in the minority of believers. Traders and market veterans know this is not atypical in the financial realm, taking a contrarian position to mass sentiment is often where the gains are to be made. Over the past decade, Bitcoin & other cryptocurrency obituaries have been written over and over again. Much ink has been wasted on writing off the genesis blockchain.
The last 18 months were no different. Despite institution after institution on-boarding some form of blockchain into their corporate model, many outside of the space were ready to bury the tech.
As always in markets, tides and sentiment change quickly. In the last week alone, AT&T announced they’re preparing to accept Bitcoin for payments and Facebook released more information on their attempt to create a centralized cryptocurrency of their own.
To say the markets have reacted positively to all of the corporate love would be quite the understatement.
BTC is now up over 165% from the bottom of $3,100 which it hit just over 3 months ago and it looks as alive as ever. Two separate days this month alone saw the world’s foremost cryptocurrency and best performing asset in the world over the last decade reach over $1,000 plus gains per unit for 24 hours. Holders or ‘hodlrs’ as they’re commonly referred to in the space were again rewarded for hands of steel.
Comparing cryptocurrency returns to the stock market really illuminates just how well this new asset class is performing. Currently it is outperforming the stock market by 10x five months into 2019.
It is a typical misunderstanding by the novice that Bitcoin is only a digital ledger or a cryptocurrency; moreover, it is also actually an emerging asset class as well. The use case today for blockchains and their applications are determinate on where individual users reside throughout the world.
EOS which is a top five market cap performer currently is on the brink of a major announcement this week. Rumors have varied but many believe they’re going to add a decentralized social network to their long list of dApps [decentralized applications] which already exist on their protocol. Their creator, Dan Larimer, has been involved in numerous blockchain projects which include, BitShares [a Dex, decentralized exchange], Steem blockchain and its dApp, Steemit [which is another decentralized social media platform]. EOS has been a top performer since the market correction and is up over 200% this year. The announcement may send it back into double digits per unit. Steemit, Larimer’s past creation, may have more utility than any other dApp currently in use across the blockchain realm. Steem Blockchain provides real world utility to people the world over. Furthermore, users are rewarded for upvotes in Steem’s native currency's, Steem/SBD [Steem Backed Dollars] and people are already feeding their families with this medium via content creation and curation.
While some in the United States may be speculating only with cryptocurrencies, those in places suffering from hyperinflation are using them primarily as a medium of exchange or store of value. Argentina is a perfect example of how important this tech is to many suffering from central banking ills. If an Argentinian had bought Bitcoin with the Argentine Peso at the top of the cryptocurrency market in late 2017, they’d still be up against their national currency. Even despite the trend reversal just beginning from bearish to bullish again they would be ahead. Even after an 85% market correction and capitulation for 15 months, Argentinians would still be better off if they had invested their pesos in BTC than held onto their nation state fiat at the top of the last market cycle.
The coming week will be very interesting. On the charts Bitcoin is forming a bull flag. This bullish pattern forming looks great but nothing is certain in markets and investing. I could easily see us reaching $9,600 by next Thursday and a retracement and capitulation before eventually heading back to five digits per Bitcoin again. Nonetheless, a five digit Bitcoin is again in sight. This isn't investment advice but purely entertainment, always do your own research. Regardless of use case, this is a remarkably exciting time to be in the blockchain space and a part of the world’s greatest socio-economic experiment of record.
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All BS manipulation from China.