The moment we’ve all been waiting for finally arrived this week. It may have been almost three years in the making, but bitcoin finally hit a new all-time high in style on Monday.
The past few months has seen the bitcoin price increase dramatically. It’s now been months since we last saw the price in four figures, although a drop in the price over the weekend seemed to suggest that the recent momentum was slowing down. However, bitcoin came roaring back on Monday and punched its way up to over $19,900 on some exchanges. The world’s leading cryptocurrency by market cap ended November up 37% – one of its best months in recent memory. Will December see similar gains?
A note of caution: A new all-time high puts the bitcoin price in uncharted territory and price discovery. This will almost certainly lead to volatility and you should act cautiously in the current market environment. Always do your own research and never invest more than you can afford.
It’s been a bullish month in the crypto market. This can clearly be seen in the BTC/USD chart, with bitcoin just closing its highest monthly close ever. The month of November saw the bitcoin price touching the all-time high from December 2017 and closed out just above $19,700 yesterday. Bitcoin is looking more bullish than ever, both technically and fundamentally, and a break above $20,000 in December is surely on the line.
We are expecting some volatile, large moves over the next months, especially if we enter new uncharted territory above $20,000. Bears are looking for a retrace down to the $14,000 area on the monthly chart, and bulls are hoping to turn the $20,000 level into support. This will be a classic example of support/resistance flip – a very bullish indication, technically speaking.
Extreme Greed in the market
The Fear and Greed Index is back at the highest level ever recorded, after pushing all the way to 95 yesterday. A small pullback was seen last week when BTC corrected, which can be taken as a healthy move for the overall sentiment. However, with the new price record for bitcoin yesterday, the sentiment bounced back to top levels. With mainstream media covering the new bitcoin top, new investors and retail FOMO could potentially push the sentiment even higher in the next couple of weeks.
Highest bitcoin volume in history
It was an incredible week for most spot exchanges last week, with Thursday registering the highest daily spot volume in history. More than $7.5 billion changed hands – over $2 billion more than the record two weeks ago. The 7-day average daily volume is at $4 billion, which is the highest ever seen in bitcoin’s history.
Volatility keeps climbing
It’s been a rollercoaster of a week, with bitcoin seeing a heavy correction and a sharp recovery in just a few days. The volatility has kept climbing over the past week, and the 7-day volatility is now back at levels not seen since May this year.
Are new retail investors finally entering the crypto market?
Many have commented on the fact that Google searches for bitcoin have been low this year at just 24% of December 2017’s top. This could mean there’s less hype now, or that there’s simply more knowledge out there around bitcoin?
Another interesting measure of retail interest is the number of searches for Coinbase, the most popular retail exchange and a common starting point for new entrants into crypto. The search interest for Coinbase just surpassed the highs from 2019 and is now back at the levels from February 2018. This is perhaps a better indication of new entrants into the crypto market, and could be a sign that we’re just getting started with a new inflow of retail investors.
Nice one