Although weekends are notorious for their bearish trading activity, there is still a strong focus on Bitcoin and altcoins. For the time being, things are still looking rather bleak for Bitcoin, as the Bitcoin price is going down ever so slightly again. Moreover, its trading volume hasn’t surpassed US$1 billion over the past 24 hours, which is never a good sign.
Bitcoin Price Slump Continues
No one really expected a major Bitcoin price change over the weekend. Although it is good that things never went as low as US$2,800 this week, the overall trend is still rather bearish. Right now, one Bitcoin is valued at US$3,700, which is not even close to what most enthusiasts would have hoped to see by now. Then again, there has been some positive momentum, even though it remains a significant struggle to maintain US$4,000 for an extended period of time these days.
While some people will be pleased with the way things have gone this week, there is nothing to get terribly excited about whatsoever. This week has been pretty profitable for speculators and margin traders, as there have been highs, lows, dips, and temporary pumps. All these elements combined to help some people make a lot of money pretty quickly. Unfortunately, it is also Bitcoin price volatility which is holding the cryptocurrency back right now.
The bigger concern is how there is still a lack of Bitcoin trading volume right now. Although not every day needs to have over US$2 billion in trading volume by any means, seeing the numbers move below 7 digits is still a bit worrisome. This is not entirely uncommon in the world of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency, but combined with the current bearish trend, it paints a worrisome picture for the time being.
As one would expect, there is little to no news related to Bitcoin capable of turning this ship around whatsoever. Then again, Bitcoin markets rarely respond to actual news. There is a lot of hype making the rounds, which itself influences the price. Rumors also tend to wreak havoc on the Bitcoin price more than anything else. Right now, there is no logical explanation for the lower Bitcoin price whatsoever.
Due to the low trading volume, the markets have undergone some interesting changes. While Bitfinex is still clearly leading the pack in terms of volume, its leg up over the other exchanges has shrunk in volume by quite a margin. Considering how this exchange processes around US$500 million on a typical day, seeing it generating just over US$80 million right now is pretty staggering. bitFlyer and Bitstamp are also present in the top 3, as they have virtually all week so far. No markets are really standing out right now, as the prices are pretty much the same everywhere you look, minus the Chinese trading platforms.
It will be interesting to see how the Bitcoin price evolves over the next few days. It is possible we will see a new uptrend toward US$4,000 in the next few days, but it might drop to US$3,500 or lower as well. There is no real certainty in the Bitcoin markets right now, which leaves plenty of room for speculation and manipulation. The overall upward trend for 2017 is still intact for Bitcoin, but the final few months of 2017 may throw up some additional roadblocks.
