The price of Bitcoin has recently soared above $8,000, the highest it has been since 2017. This recent bull run is grabbing the attention analysts and financial experts who believe that the current bull run could ultimately result in Bitcoin surpassing its previous peak record. In 2017, the highest price fell just short of $20,000.
Before going any further, let’s make sure we understand what bubbles and bull runs are.
What is Bitcoin?
Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency, a form of digital currency or electronic cash. It is a decentralized digital currency without a central bank or single administrator that can be sent from user to user on the peer-to-peer bitcoin network without the need for intermediaries. This network is built on blockchain technology which is a form of a distributed ledger.
What is a bubble?
Bubbles, at least as far as the worlds of economics and finance are concerned, are cycles in which the prices of a single asset, a class of assets, or multiple assets or classes of assets rise rapidly over a relatively short time period. After these bubbles’ growth cycles plateau, the prices of such assets drops dramatically.
These cycles are named after bubbles, such as those made out of soap using bubble-blowing wands that we all played with in our childhoods, which quickly grow to potentially huge sizes before bursting, essentially disappearing.
Bubbles are caused by widespread investor speculation that the price of affected assets will rise substantially. As people continue to hop on board and gobble these assets up, the price of such assets continues to rise. Once investors lose interest in such assets upon them reaching a certain price that nobody is or very few investors are willing to pay, investors sell their investments in widespread fashion.
What is a bull run?
Bull runs, which are formally known as bull markets, are market conditions in which a select class or group of securities, commodities, real estate offerings, bonds, or other financial instruments either grow considerably or are simply expected to grow considerably.
In most cases, bull markets go on for several months, if not for a few years.
The opposite of a bull market is that of a bear market.
Here’s why the next Bitcoin bull run could exceed the most recent cryptocurrency bubble in size
At the beginning of 2017, the price of bitcoin was roughly $1,000. Over the course of 2017, the price of bitcoin hit an all-time high of about $19,600.
After bitcoin peaked, its market value dropped some 85 percent. Even though the bear run seemed like it would never end, the price of bitcoin finally started to rise in the last few months.
Now, market experts and Bitcoin investors widely have faith in the future performance of the cryptocurrency. Tons of investors are betting on BTC futures, which are securities that rise in value if the price of Bitcoin jumps above the forecasted levels that each of these BTC futures prescribes.
In the past few weeks, specifically, the price of Bitcoin has risen significantly. Experts believe that this growth spurt is the direct result of FOMO, or the fear of missing out on further potential growth.
To be specific, the price of Bitcoin rose roughly $3,900 in the past six weeks, growing from just $4,200 six weeks ago to its current size of roughly $8,100.
At the time of the last bull run in the world of Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency market didn’t have as nearly as much interest as it currently does. For example, the Cash App didn’t support Bitcoin prior to its first bull run, though it currently supports the 10-year-old cryptocurrency.
Further, major mainstream financial instrument exchanges such as Etrade and Fidelity offer Bitcoin trading services, which they just began offering a little less than a year-and-a-half ago.
TD Ameritrade also offers Bitcoin trading services. Further, keep an eye on the trade relations between China and the United States. The worse they are, the higher price Bitcoin could soon achieve.
