If you’ve thought about starting on the path of cryptocurrency trading, you’re not alone. An ever-growing number of traders have begun approaching it. Even some of those that used to see crypto as a holding entirely too volatile ever to be part of the portfolio of any sensible investor has had a change of heart after Bitcoin recorded some of its highest increases even in the last months of 2021.
photo credit: Austin Distel / Unsplash
However, the situation has changed a little since then, and in 2022 the digital asset ecosystem has frozen under the influence of crypto winter. The market is still reeling from it, and the dipping prices have indicated that the situation won’t change very soon.
Some traders have pointed out that this isn’t the first time that Bitcoin has undergone drastic changes. This comes as no surprise given the infamous volatility of cryptocurrencies, but it’s still crucial to analyze these trends when navigating a particularly troublesome period. So, while Bitcoin prices change regularly, a few events stand out a little bit more and whose outcomes can potentially indicate where the market is currently headed.
2009-2015
Bitcoin has had a somewhat choppy history since its introduction back in 2009. While initially designed with daily transactions in mind, this has become its use case only recently. Nowadays, a significant number of sellers and companies have begun accepting Bitcoin payments, and there’s also the option of converting digital currency into fiat money. Investors have also used it as a hedge to stave off the detrimental effects of inflation and market uncertainty. Its influence was so significant that in the following years, a large number of altcoins emerged on the market. There are tens of thousands you can choose from, and this number is expected to rise in the upcoming years.
Bitcoin itself was created in the wake of the 2008 financial collapse by an anonymous inventor, or group of inventors, known as Satoshi Sakamoto. When it was first introduced, the price was zero. But between April and June 2011, the price rose from $1 to nearly $30, an incredibly steep increase in only a few months. While at the time viewed positively by investors, this trend will become an indicator of future volatility within the Bitcoin world.
2012 was relatively uneventful for the digital asset, but in 2013 the price rose to $230. However, only four months later, the price dropped quite dramatically, with values plummeting under 70 dollars. Incredibly, between October and December, the values fluctuated between 123 and nearly 1300 US dollars. However, by 2014 the coin entered another period of devaluation, only to bounce back in 2015 and return with values in the range of $300.
2016-2020
When looking at the BTC coin price, you’ll notice that it changes rapidly, so before starting an investment, you need to do a little bit of research on historic price fluctuations. If you perform this assessment, you’ll discover that by the end of 2016, Bitcoin had nearly regained the values it had seen back in December 2013. Situations such as this one are what make traders optimistic that the price drop of 2022 won’t be forever either and that the digital asset market will bounce back stronger than ever.
By May 2017, the Bitcoin price had reached a new height of $2000. However, by the end of the year, BTC saw its fastest and highest increase as of yet, climbing to a whopping $19,345.49 exactly ten days before Christmas. This is the exact time that Bitcoin stopped being the fringe interest of a few tech-savvy groups, and gained the attention of mass media, economists, governments, established investors and the general public.
However, over the next two years, the price dropped significantly on a downside trajectory. There were a few increases, such as in June 2019, when the price surpassed 10,000 dollars. But only six months later, this value had been nearly halved. This is another episode traders take as proof that periods of sharpened increases are bound to be followed by marked decreases. The bubble bursts sooner or later, but while some are comfortable with this reality, others view it as further indication that the trading world should collectively abandon dealing with cyber assets.
But nothing could prepare the trading world for what followed. In 2020, the world was shaken from its core by the COVID-19 pandemic, which swept the world, affecting millions of lives and leaving economies worldwide in shambles. As the world was hobbling through the aftershocks, Bitcoin’s price climbed again. This increase can largely be attributed to the financial discussions that predominated the world at the time. Government policies only stoked the flames and fueled traders’ fears that the economy was about to go down the drain dramatically.
While Bitcoin started the year at roughly $7,000, by December, it was just under $29,000. This is an increase of nearly 420%, an absolutely astounding feat for an asset that had been around for only 11 years and that was still controversial among many.
2021-present
After securing its ascension at the end of 2020, Bitcoin showed no signs of stopping and nearly doubled its value by the 7th of January. The trend continued, and by April, Bitcoin stood at $60,000. Around this time, businesses began to show genuine interest in digital assets, which propelled the price even further, and by the middle of April, the values had reached an ultimate peak of almost $64,000. This was on the 12th of April, 2021.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to last. The summer of 2021 saw prices plummet by an unnerving 50%. And while by September, the price went up again, reaching values as high as $52,693, after only two weeks, the values had dropped by over 12 thousand dollars. Showing a precedent for major increases in November, values ascended to nearly $70,000, $68,789 to be exact, only to sink back to $46,164 in December. Investors were deterred by the continuing pandemic, which brought increasing inflation rates as well as higher economic uncertainty.
So, what does the future hold for crypto? It is difficult to say, given the speculative nature of the asset, but so far, 2022 has been rather unforgiving towards Bitcoin. Prices nearly halved between March and May, reaching the lowest levels since July 2021. In June, the prices fell below $23,000, the lowest figures since the final months of 2020. However, if there’s anything to gather from the historic fluctuations in Bitcoin price, it is that it always bounces back sooner or later.