This is proving to be another interesting week for Bitcoin as the cryptocurrency is seeing a strong revival of interest like it hasn’t had for months. After trading volume exploded last week, Bitcoin was not only able to break past $5,000 but it also set a new support level with the help of even higher interest. And as current market indicators suggest, the rally is not stopping today.
But while Bitcoin is definitely marking a successful turn, its success is still not as big as the sucess of its offshoot cryptocurrency Bitcoin Cash. As Forbes noted, Bitcoin Cash (BCH) has had an impressive surge in 2019, achieving double its price since the start of the year. Beginning 2019 with a price point of $160.53, BCH was able to reach $329.85 last Wednesday as a new rally swept over the overall crypto-market.
Still, Bitcoin’s own performance is not to be overlooked as the coin was able to pull a similar feat, rising around 45% since the start of the year. At January 1st, Bitcoin was estimated at $3,690.19 per coin while its last week highs placed it closer to $5,300.
Trading Volume Still Looking Good
Since last Wednesday, Bitcoin’s USD price went through several changes as more traders flocked to the market looking for fast profits. The lowest the price reached was on Thursday evening, when Bitcoin hit a point of $4,837.21, while the highest price was hit on Monday, when Bitcoin briefly sold for $5,310.98. Again, the 24-h trading volume was high during this period, reaching a value of over $17 billion as Bitcoin’s price reached its highest point. However, since early morning the volume has been subsiding, currently sitting at $14.35 billion, while the market capitalization is at a much healthier $92.7 billion.
Our technical analysis shows that the market is still very bullish, with 8 out of 12 technical oscillators and all 12 moving averages sending green signals, suggesting that buyers have the upper hand. The SMA 100 is over the SMA 200, indicating that the path of less resistance is to the upside. With similar signals coming from the short-term charts and the high trading volume, we could be looking at another price increase over the course of the week.
China’s Mining Dominance Challenged
One of the most interesting news updates from this week was the decision of China’s government to officially ban BTC mining, Wired reports. For some time now, a number of cryptocurrency-related activities have been illegal in China, including trading coins, setting up ICOs, and banks processing transactions related to crypto. Yet, this hasn’t stopped local businesses to continue mining on a scale so large that China remained a dominant source of mining computer power. However, that might change over the next two months.
Reportedly, this Monday China’s National Development and Reform Commission added crypto mining to a list of 450 activities that are considered hazardous and wasteful and are scheduled for elimination. The official date when the ban could come into effect is May 7th, but local industry experts say it would take longer than that to completely eliminate local mining. As previous examples show, China puts most industries on this list and many of them continue operating for years afterwards before the government officially closes their operations.
Yet, this is not news that should be taken lightly, considering the country’s dominance over the global mining network. For now, there are reports that some of the biggest miner collectives like Bitmain have already started making plans, even before the government’s announcement, to relocate their operations elsewhere.