Why Has Bitcoin Price Rise Stopped?

By Prashant Jha

If you’ve taken a look at the Bitcoin price history, you know exactly how volatile the crypto market is. The highest price of Bitcoin was attained in December last year and it had been a culmination of a long year of positive triggers hauling the Bitcoin price up to a high. However, come 2018, Bitcoin’s price game has fallen to become a mere shadow of its former glory. Although it showed promises around the middle of September this year, the rise has not been sustained adequately. To anyone but a rosy-eyed optimist, it would seem that the Bitcoin price has really stopped rising altogether, that the days of its glory are nothing but a thing of the past. Why is that? What is making Bitcoin lose its steam within just a year of its dream run that saw prices shoot through the roof and bring a windfall to investors? Here’s a look at the probably reasons why Bitcoin’s price has stopped rising.

FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt)

FUD is one of the most commonly used acronyms in the world of crypto and it refers to the three allied emotions that can have quite drastic impacts on the rather high volatility levels that affect the crypto market. Usually, FUD can lead to a negative sentiment of one particular cryptocurrency but sometimes it also grips the entire spectrum of digital currencies. When that happens, given that Bitcoin is the best-known crypto out there, the coin’s price goes through an uncertain phase. Being the pioneering cryptocurrency that inaugurated the coming of this new-age currency system, Bitcoin is frequently affected by incidents that intensify FUD. There have many triggers for FUD this year. What have been the main reasons behind increasing FUD in 2018?

“Bitcoin Death” Headlines

This year has seen hundreds of obituary-like articles published, signalling the demise of Bitcoin based on its falling prices. Since the crypto market is a volatile one, nobody can know for sure, and give a 100% guarantee that the price movements will work in a particular way. Even so, self-fulfilling prophecies of doom are often realized when the media coverage worsens the downward spiral.

Widely Covered Comments by Anti-Crypto Commentators

A large number of greatly respected experts in various fields have put forward anti-crypto views that have served to increase the existing FUD in the minds of investors. For example, in October we heard “Roubini Calls Buterin a Dictator and Decentralization A Myth“. For an ordinary crypto investor, such a comment by a notable economist would definitely lead to a dampening of spirits. Moreover, comments by the Russian Central Bank head, saying the crypto craze is falling, has not helped either.

Lack of Regulatory Restrictions

Much of this year’s crypto headlines have been about the US Securities and Exchange Commission refusing to grant approval to a series of Bitcoin ETFs, including those proposed by the owners of the Gemini Exchange, or the Winklevoss brothers. Even as many countries have opened up to the possibility of accepting crypto, the stance taken by a leading regulatory authority like the US SEC has also hurt Bitcoin’s chances. The French government has also tightened regulations regarding crypto, which has resulted in a drastic fall in the percentage of crypto headlines and CFD adverts in France.

Emergence of A Large Number of Altcoins

Crypto’s bear market has not entirely dampened the price rise of Ripple. This leads us to suggest that all coins are not necessarily suffering. Bitcoin’s price seems to have stopped rising also because so many alternatives to it have become available in the market, ranging from an increasingly popular one like Ripple, to altcoins such Bitcoin Cash or Litecoin that seek to improve upon Bitcoin’s many flaws.

Since Bitcoin has an extremely volatile market, it is natural that a multitude of factors, even ones that lie beyond the ambit of the crypto world (for example Ellen Degeneres’ widely telecast satirical comments on crypto, which she made on her wildly popular show). Why does the Bitcoin price move so much? There are many ways to answer that question. Why has the price rise of Bitcoin steadied to a halt? The answer, my friend, is blowin in the wind of change.

Prashant Jha

As a content writer Prashant believes in presenting complex topics in simple laymen terms. He is a tech enthusiast and an avid reader.

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