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Volatility, volatility, volatility. Traders certainly love it. But the volatility witnessed of late among many leading cryptocurrencies - including the ‘Big Daddy’ of them all in the shape of Bitcoin as well as Ethereum - has been a "double-edged sword" according to some pundits. Price swings can occur dramatically and result in big profits, should you catch it right.
Equally, significant losses can be sustained should your timing be all awry, there is negative newsflow around the crypto space and/or particular digital currencies.
Bitcoin’s Halcyon Days?
One might say you pays your money and takes your chances in the “Wild West” of crypto land. More succinctly, caveat emptor (buyer beware). And, according to Jordan Hiscott, chief trader at ayondo markets, a brokerage in The City of London, in a note from last week (March 27) said: “Certainly the halcyon days of performance gains [for Bitcoin] from 2017 seem long gone.”
Bitcoin moved lower early last week on Tuesday and was trading at around the $7,900 mark. However, this was in stark contrast to the level of $13,275 at the start of 2018. Hiscott’s view expressed at the time in late March was that the situation around the current soggy price level could persist for “at least six months.”
He added: “My theory is based around the situation regarding the liquidation of the Mt Gox Exchange, and the appointed trustee to handle the bankruptcy. Colloquially, this individual is known at the "Tokyo Whale", and having already sold around $400 million worth of both Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash, he is likely the main catalyst for this year’s move down.”
Interestingly, there still remains around three times that amount of Bitcoin to potentially to hit the market. “With this kind of volume yet to surface, in my view, prices on Bitcoin will remain depressed until this situation has been resolved,” ayondo’s Hiscott posited.