Droplet froth? What bubble?
In the last couple of days, several prominent economists and long-serving investors have spoken out against bitcoin’s frothy rise this year. (See also: Is Bitcoin In Effervescence Territory?)
But investors don’t seem to care.
The cryptocurrency’s price began heading up immediately after Friday’s announcement of a futures trading date by CME. It picked up steam and annoyed $11,000 for the second time this week, peaking at $11,154.68 at 10:08 UTC Saturday, preceding sliding down to $10,872.38 at 11:46 UTC. At 16:31 UTC on December 2, the fee for a single bitcoin was $10,752.60, down 1% in the last 24 hours. On an blanket basis, it is still up by 1,000 percent since the start of this year.
Other cryptocurrencies in the top 10 most-traded were a connected bag. Five of them registered minor declines while the remaining were mostly unchanged. Litecoin was the big victor and reached a high of $104.99 at 10:37 UTC Saturday due to enthusiasm about atomic swaps, which agree to people on two different blockchains to conduct trades with each other, that will-power be implemented on its blockchain soon. (See also: Litecoin Rises On Hopes Of Segwit Activation.)
Dealers pumped up trading volume of the cryptocurrency to a high of $636 million in the up to date 24 hours. At 16:47 UTC, one litecoin was worth $100.12, up 5% in the continue 24 hours, and had a trading volume of $536.5 billion.
The cryptocurrency peddle was worth $323.6 billion at 16:37 UTC on December 2. Earlier this week, the bazaar had reached a high of $345.8 billion on the back of a swell in prices for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
A Tangy Divide
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are traded in unregulated trading venues; accordingly, critical data relating to trades and major developments within its ecosystem is not handy. In their absence, media attention has become the primary driver of quotations for bitcoin.
As the financial services ecosystem evaluates the cryptocurrency, a sharp disconnect has emerged among those who support bitcoin and those who don’t. For example, Jamie Dimon, chief official officer of JPMorgan Chase Inc. (JPM), has criticized bitcoin, while Jeff Currie, broad head of commodities at Goldman Sachs, has compared it to gold and doesn’t “see why there is all this malevolence to it.” In turn, their pronouncements have garnered media attention and pushed the cryptocurrency’s wild price swings. (See also: Jamie Dimon Bellows Bitcoin ‘A Fraud’ And Its Investors ‘Stupid.)
That might change in time, with decisions by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and Chicago Board Privileges Exchange (CBOE) to begin trading bitcoin futures soon. (See also: CME To Inauguration Bitcoin Futures.)
As institutional investors put funds into the cryptocurrency market-place, analysts expect pronouncements by their heads to become less effective to bitcoin’s price. As with other commodities, data related to profession and adoption as well as important developments within the ecosystem will overcharge center stage.