Bitcoin price could rise in weekend markets
Bitcoin prices have traded in a tight range for weeks after a wild plunge and recovery. But the all-important halving could see prices rally further.
Bitcoin’s modest finish hides mid-week bull-bear battle
Bitcoin could be set for a breakout in either direction in the coming weeks as traders stake out their position ahead of the scheduled halving.
The BTC/USD cryptocurrency finished the week’s trading around $7063.12, which was only 0.4% above its opening price on Monday of $7034.78.
While Bitcoin has been trading in a tight range lately, by its standards, this doesn’t tell the full story.
The leading cryptocurrency was on a downward trajectory throughout the beginning of the week until Thursday’s session. Bitcoin touched an intra-session low of $6485.28, a 7.8% dip for the week.
That’s when the cryptocurrency started to rally, ending the session at $7164.11 before giving up a little ground on Friday.
Since then, Bitcoin has jumped around between its Thursday and Friday closing prices in early weekend trading, suggesting the bulls have the ascendency going into weekend trading with IG.
Outside of bitcoin, the broader cryptocurrency market was mixed this week. Rival coins like Ethereum jumped 5.4% this week to $170.83, while Ripple shed 1.2% to $0.1897.
Halving looms for Bitcoin traders
Since its creation, advocates of Bitcoin have compared the cryptocurrency to ‘digital gold’, with some investors viewing it as a safe haven asset during times of market instability.
Except it’s more volatile than gold and during a market route, that’s doubly so.
While Bitcoin has been trading in a relatively tight range – between $6000 and $7000 – since March 20, very much in keeping with this week’s session, it was a wild ride the week before.
Bitcoin finished 12 March around $7938. The cryptocurrency touched $3908 in the next session before finishing at $5446. That’s a 50% dive, backed up by a 39% recovery rally in a single session.
But the upcoming Bitcoin ‘halving’ mean traders will likely be anticipating a surge in the price.
A Bitcoin halving is when the reward for mining new blocks is halved, which means miners receive 50% fewer bitcoins for verifying transactions. Bitcoin halvings are set to happen every 210,000 blocks – about every four years – until the maximum supply of 21 million Bitcoins has been generated by the network.
While Bitcoin confounds a lot of traders in the same way that gold does, lower supply means higher prices in any market. For reference, the next Bitcoin halving event is scheduled to take place around 18 May.
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