It’s looking to be a joyous Christmas this year for Bitcoinists as the bullish price run is shocking the world for the holidays.
Bitcoin Demand Tsunami
We here at Bitcoinist are wishing you a very Merry Christmas and that seems to be working out just fine, as Bitcoin is shocking the world. The last 48 hours has been a tsunami of Bitcoin demand, activity, and trading that may be unprecedented in Bitcoin history, given the millions of people who have joined the Bitcoin ecosystem since the rise and fall of Mt. Gox.
According to coinhills.com, the sheer volume of Bitcoin trades and the amount transacted over the last 24 hours alone may have been an all-time record. Their numbers show over 22,500,000 BTCs were traded in the last 24 hours, which is equivalent to almost $20 billion USD worth, with 98.48% of all Bitcoin trading done in Chinese Yuan. Considering the fact that there are only 16 million BTC in circulation, this may indicate a good amount of arbitrage in the system.
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“The rally is difficult to pin down as there are a number of contributing factors that include the global economic and political shifts underway with (President-elect Donald) Trump and the Eurozone with Bitcoin becoming a digital hedge and flight to safety,” Charles Hayter, chief executive and founder of digital currency comparison website CryptoCompare, told CNBC. Hayter also notes that,
[Bitcoin has broken a] definite psychological barrier.
Bitcoin Trading Bigger Than Ever
Clearly the Federal Reserve rate hike of 25 basis points last week is also starting to have an effect on the Chinese market. By percentage, this is the highest daily price gain since June 16th, at 9.23%. Over the last three years, only that day, November 4th, 2015 and New Year’s Day, 2014 have surpassed yesterday’s price spike.
The rampant changes in price and demand during the Mt. Gox exchange collapse were much more severe, but there were fewer Bitcoins in circulation and millions fewer people in the Bitcoin global economy three years ago as well.
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Next Stop $900?
Prices have leveled off in the $860 USD range, so another big day of trading on Friday in China could easily send Bitcoin over $900 USD. With all the new value Bitcoin is providing, this could create a feeding frenzy mentality from investors around the world, and this could snowball in other markets, like the United States.
Bitcoin reached a $14 billion dollar market cap with over 100,000 BTC traded yesterday in USD. However, trading in the Chinese Yuan moved over 200 times that amount with prices exceeding 6,000 CNY.
Bitcoin price just broke 6000 Yuan in China! pic.twitter.com/W7SotzdIYR
— cnLedger (@cnLedger) December 22, 2016
When will BTC hit $900? Do you expect the rally to last? Let us know your predictions below!
Images courtesy of Coinhills, BitcoinAverage, shutterstock