BTC has rallied ahead of the Bitcoin Gold situation. An interesting result of this hard fork scenario with Bitcoin, is that in order to ensure you get these coins, you must keep your BTC off of non-participating exchanges.
This means, that as 10/25/17 approaches, exchanges should be less liquid, all the while we have increased demand for BTC leading up to that event. This would usually favor increased pricing for Bitcoin.
If BTC Rallies too far
If leading up to 10/25, we have had a very significant Bitcoin rally above 5k, then I would actually anticipate a BTC decline as the days approach 10/25. In other words, if those who have already bought BTC just to have Bitcoin Gold are sitting on large enough gains going into the hard fork, they may decide that they would rather take profits than hold into a hard fork situation.
Positive outcome from 10/25 Fork
In the case of Bitcoin Cash, so much BTC was off of exchanges in order to profit from that situation, that the BTC price continued to rally after the fork which was very interesting. The hype Bitcoin Cash created, as well as the positive market momentum ,helped propel that situation into new all-time highs for Bitcoin.
Bitcoin Gold could have a similar affect, but perhaps more muted than Bitcoin Cash.
Future of Bitcoin is Bright despite shortcomings
Bitcoin still functions as a reserve currency for all of cryptocurrency. The main reason we have not all been able to switch to straight national currency transactions is that often, such transactions require more KYC than trading crypto against crypto. Also, for many alt-coins, the markets are simply less liquid unless you are exchanging those coins with BTC.
For these reasons, I anticipate that BTC should be $9,900+ USD next year sometime. This Bitcoin Gold movement, could be one step in the stairway along that path toward 10k for Bitcoin.
If you missed my Nav Coin call...
For regular viewers who saw my last post on Nav Coin, just be aware we had two price spikes to sell into within the last day. Some of you may have caught a bigger gain on it than me, but I was able to get 16% in a day on that trade. As for a trade, I consider it over. Nav Coin may progress lower before it goes higher. I hope it does not, but I am also still invested in this coin and plan on holding it into 2018 to see their continued development of the project.