$19,000: Bitcoin Hits New All Time High After Burst Of Asian Buying; Bigger Than Wells, Wal-Mart
Content adapted from this Zerohedge.com article : Source
Having traded in a relatively narrow - for bitcoin - range of $16,500-$17,500 over the past week, the world's most popular cryptocurrency jumped to new all time highs following the latest (unexplained) burst of buying out of Asia, with another Saturday surge in volumes emerging out of Japan and Korea.
Bitcoin is now up over $1,200, or 7%, in the past 24 hours, last trading at a new all time high of $19,000 on the coinbase exchange.
As a result of the latest push higher, the market cap of bitcoin is now over $318 Billion; to fund the bitcoin spree, Ethereum, Litcoin and various other cryptos have seen some modest liquidation, and have not enjoyed Bitcoin's latest dramatic ascent.
As of Saturday morning, the total crypto space market cap surpassed half a trillion, and was above $560 billion at last check.
Following Saturday's surge, Bitcoin's YTD return is approaching 20x, while ethereum remains the best performing major crypto, up more than 70-fold YTD.
Also, for those keeping track, Bitcoin's market cap is now greater than Bank of America at $302 billion, as well as Wells Fargo ($295BN), Wal-Mart ($288BN), and Visa ($257BN). It is rapidly approaching Exxon at $352BN, but the real target is JPMorgan, whose $368BN market cap is now less than $50BN away.
While bitcoin has added more 30% to its value in the past week, trading has been slightly calmer than the wild price swings the market has seen in recent weeks, with volatility lower since the launch of bitcoin futures from Cboe Global Markets on Sunday. Market-watchers said bitcoin's price was being lifted by the launch of rival CME Group's bitcoin futures contracts on Sunday.
"The hope (is) that futures signal the unlocking of institutional money into the digital arena and (that there will be) a rapid demand increase and ratification of the technology and its principles," said Charles Hayter, founder of industry website Cryptocompare.
Still, outside of the crypto market, worries continue to grow about the amount of money piling into the space with the most vocal critics being those who have so far missed the entire move. Chief among them is A study by Anglia Ruskin University, Trinity College Dublin and Dublin City University released on Friday said bitcoin could pose a threat to the financial stability of traditional currencies and markets, something which Janet Yellen denied earlier this week.
"Our evidence finds that the price of Bitcoin has been artificially inflated by speculative investment, putting it in a bubble," said Larisa Yarovaya, one of the report's authors and a lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University. "Although bitcoin is not regulated by governments, it could still have a knock-on effect on traditional markets due to the interconnectedness of cryptocurrency markets with other financial assets."
Well, of course bitcoin is a bubble: as we first showed last week, it's now officially the biggest bubble in history, surpassing the "Tulip Mania" of the 17th century:
The problem is that everything else is also a bubble. And as Stanely Druckenmiller said last week, until the "everything bubble" bursts, bitcoin is safe. The problem is that if and when the "everything bubble" does burst, it would most likely result in war as trillions in artificial "wealth effect" are wiped out; in this context what happens to bitcoin would be irrelevant.
Meanwhile, for those who missed it, last week Deutsche Bank laid out who it believes is behind the relentless and dramatic surge in bitcoin:
An 11 December Nikkei report stated that 40% of cryptocurrency trading in Oct-Nov was yen-denominated. Japanese traders have reportedly come to account for nearly half of cryptocurrency trading since China started to shut down cryptocurrency exchanges, and this is said to be widely known among industry insiders (various estimates exist). Japanese men in their 30s and 40s who are engaged in leveraged FX trading (or who used to trade but have stopped) are driving the cryptocurrency market.
So is "Mr. Watanabe' proving more powerful than all the world's central and commercial banks, and most of the world's establishment economists, all soo desperate to shut down the "bitcoin bubble" to preserve faith in fiat currencies and traditional equity investments? Juding by the now daily record highs in the cryptocurrency, the answer - for now - is a resounding yes, which is clearly a benefit for all those who are still long the crypto such as these guy...
This may be the most San Francisco thing I have ever seen. pic.twitter.com/rU4RYNuTVg
— ??Michelle Tandler???? (@michelletandler) December 16, 2017
San Diego has one too ???? pic.twitter.com/ZmAlRECF2w
— Cody Barbo (@codybarbo) December 16, 2017
— [??]?itcoin (@SatoshMe) December 16, 2017
Is bitcoin a bubble? In my opinion, we have to wait and see.
Consider that we are in a world were all financial markets are flooded of liquidity pumped by central markets. What will happen when stock market bubble will touch his peak, when bond returns will decrease because of huge demand pumped by central banks?
Then, in my opinion, we will see a huge capital inflow into cryptos. Simply, big funds and investor will look for higher return to escape a frozen market.
This will be the time of BTC and crypto economy to moon and reach new unexpectable milestones.
Anyway, consider also that 500 bilion $ of total market cap is a very small value, if compared with all financial economy. There are still a lot of growth margins for all cryptos as liquidity inflows on exchanges
So yes, maybe this is a bubble.. But we are still in the formation phase. Wait for a really bigger growth..
I agree completely with your assessment.
$500B is still small when you consider that the gold market cap is $8.5T and there is over $5T traded in the Forex markets each day.
The stock market run has been going on for 8 years...at some point it will end and I agree, a 25% to 30% pullback will shake a lot out. Crypto is only just beginning. The blockchain technology is revolutionizing the world. Ultimately, almost everything will end up on the blockchain. We will see values go through the roof over time.
BiTCoiN | Who's callin' a Bubble?
I've seen several:
-Tech blockchain specialists spittin' on this idea
-Financial specialists being spat on the face at the slightest signal of this insinuation
-Lego newcomers scandalized by this idea because of the fear of losing the recently invested or -even worse- borrowed money.
The bottom line I consider is this:
-The least you get married to a position or ideology the more problems you might avoid because you will be able to adapt faster.
So whether we are or not in a bubble, about to burst or no,t it is ALWAYS a good idea to keep an OPENED mind to even the scenarios we fear and dislike since that might help us to avoid to get into bigger problems by adapting faster and better.
Regards.
Alberto Alvarado
More of the bitcoin is a bubble stuff.
It is amazing how the financial people are all trying to kill bitcoin, the biggest of the crypto.....
This is evidence of how much they are threatened. Bitcoin is not in a bubble...it is a technology that is changing the nature of how financial business is done. It is that simple. We are at the first stage of this process. In time, bitcoin might fizzle out but cryptocurrencies will not.
In the end, the financial sector is going to be obliterated by the blockchain. There is nothing they can do to stop it either.
TD Ameritrade announced yesterday that it is going to allow its customers to trade bitcoin futures starting this Monday. That will make it substantially more convenient for the typical investor who already has a brokerage account to trade bitcoin if the investor so chooses. That could be part of the reason bitcoin has gone up so much today.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bitcoin-futures-td-ameritrade/td-ameritrade-to-start-bitcoin-futures-trading-on-monday-idUSKBN1E92YJ
30% per week sounds perfect to me!
High after high. I would prefer to see some sideways action. The upward trend is too steep to be sustainable. I would like to see a range around 20k for few months.
Bitcoin hits $19000 and really its a historical record ever.do u think the price of this cryptocurrency will be more increased in future and if it will what will be the amount??
I dont understand how it's growing so fast. Fortunately I do not have much money:)
yes that's impressive!
Thanks for your news of Cryptocurrency @zer0hedge