Weekend trading has taken another hit at the price of Bitcoin, which already suffered a $150+ loss in the course of two days. Just like we predicted in our last update, the price was headed for further drops with unpredictable volatility from one hour to the next. With this happening in a time where hopes of stability were going strong, many have turned to once again questioning the true nature of the cryptocurrency.
Olaf Carlson-Wee, the first employee of one of the biggest US Bitcoin exchanges, Coinbase, is one of the few Bitcoin experts who believes that Bitcoins should no longer be considered a currency, according to the Wired. Namely, the Bitcoin employee turned entrepreneur now thinks that Bitcoin will never fully achieve the status of the currency, despite all hopes, since it faces many regulatory issues, among other things.
So, instead of being used as traditional money, Carlson-Wee sees Bitcoin as a digital gold, sort to speak, which people can invest in instead of other precious metals. He also sees it as a safe way to transporting money across borders and a technology that would allow businesses to power themselves and create other decentralized technological projects, like a new decentralized World Wide Web.
Bears Take Over Trading Market
The price of Bitcoin was once again taken down during weekend trading on the back of strong seller pressure on the market. The biggest drop was recordered early Saturday morning when the price took a gradual but steep fall to $806.87, noting a $250+ difference in the course of only 5 days. But luckily, things have picked up since and the price is now fluctuating mildly around $880.
The trading volume is once again back to normal levels and is currently at $148,651,000. But this is only a third of what it was three days ago when the price took a dive on mass panic, which means that hopes of any major upticks are a bit far-fetched, at this moment. The market cap, on the other hand, is at $14.3 billion.
Our technical analysis shows that Bears have a strong grip on the market, with 10 of 12 moving averages and 4 out of 12 oscillators being in the sell zone. However, there are still hopes of bulls returning, as the Stochastic is already showing buyer pressure and the SMA 100 is still over the SMA 200 on a long frame.
The market analysis suggests that if the bears keep pushing, we are likely to see a break of support below $870, unless the winds change, which at this time there’s a small hope for, as the buyer pressure on the market is relatively small.
Is Bitcoin No Longer Free?
One of the most interesting retrospectives on the past several days came from Bloomberg, who tried to shed a new light on the nature of Bitcoins in their latest article, questioning the “free” aspect of the cryptocurrency and its veil of anonymity.
Namely, according to the article, Bitcoin can no longer be perceived as free from any authority, as Beijing’s regulations have proven to be heavily influential over its price and stability. And secondly, China’s interference with Bitcoin exchanges also tests its image as an anonymous currency, since the Chinese authorities can easily trace the digital data back to the buyer’s/sellers they are bent on catching siphoning money out of the country.
This gives a new certified focal area to Bitcoin traders, who thus far have learned the hard or the easy way that China’s involvement with the cryptocurrency can make or break their investments.