03
May

Bitcoin Price Near $1,460 on Strong Demand in Japan

Bitcoin is once again breaking record after record, thanks to an uninterrupted streak of acceptance from several major markets in the world. After hitting $1,300 for the first time ever last week, the price didn’t take a pause but kept moving forward while the trading market saw an amount of traffic that has never been seen before.  The price is now moving around $1,450, with the future course a bit hard to predict at this moment.

And just like it’s been happening in the past months, the surge in Bitcoin price had a stimulating influence on altcoins (alternative coins) as well. The main beneficiaries this time are Ether and Litecoin, which saw a major uptick during last week. Namely, Ether hit the $80 range, only two months after trading near $18, while Litecoin more than doubled in size and hit the $15 range near the end of April.

One of the reasons for this uptick, according to Nasdaq’s media portal, is not that people are looking for the next Bitcoin, but quite the opposite – people wanting to move away from Bitcoin. As the stock market’s analyst says, with all the talks about Bitcoin being regulated and monitored, people want the next anonymous cryptocurrency.

High Volume and Record Market Cap

During the past week since our last update, the price of Bitcoin nearly hit the $1,500 mark after the trading volume skyrocketed yesterday. The highest point was reached yesterday afternoon, when 1 BTC briefly traded for $1,495.86, while the lowest point of $1,319.33 was reached Sunday evening.

Our market stats are showing that the highest price point also coincided with the highest amount of trading volume of $722,648,000, which has since subsided to the current $451,819,000. The market cap, on the other hand, is still at a record high of $23.6 billion.

Our technical analysis shows that the market is at a stale mate, with the overall signal being neutral. Out of 12 moving averages, 6 are sending a buying signal and 6 a selling one, while 4 out of 12 technical oscillators are pro-sell, with only 3 being pro-buy. However, the SMA 100 is still over the SMA 200 on this time-frame, so there is less resistance to the upside.

From the current stance, it seems the price is headed for consolidation around the $1,450 range, with the next direction up to the market trends. There is also a strong selling pressure forming on the short-term charts, so keep your eyes out for changes.

Japanese Demand Drives Bitcoin Price

Less than a month after the Japanese government liberalized the use of Bitcoins in the country and two large retailers decided to jump on the BTC bandwagon, Bitcoin is seeing an unprecedented surge in interest and value. According to recent reports, around 50% of Bitcoin trading over this Monday was at a BTC/Japanese Yen exchange rate.

If you remember from our previous updates, the Japanese government decided to take a different stance on Bitcoin and proclaim it a legally accepted, asset-like, payment method, which some saw as a move to remedy the damage to the market caused by the Japanese Mt.Gox exchange. But whatever the cause, the end result was that Bitcoin ended up being more than 200% higher than what it was last May.

At the same time, news reports came coming in about Russia also warming up to the idea of legalizing Bitcoin as a way to battle money laundering and illegal money transfers in the country. This, together with Japan’s legalization, is seen as the main driving force behind the recent price surge.

Share this

Share This