Q1 Second Worst Quarter for Bitcoin
Quarter 1 2018 has been Bitcoin’s worst performing Q1 on record and also the cryptocurrency’s second worst performing quarter in its history. Data shows that the more than 50% drop in the world’s number one cryptocurrency makes it one of the worst quarters for it so far.
According to that data, the worst quarter in its history was Quarter 3 in 2011, when Bitcoin’s price dropped 68% from its high of $16.1 to $5.14. However, when the cryptocurrency’s price data is analyzed, it shows clearly that Bitcoin has traditionally not done well in the first quarter of the year.
Pullback Turns Ugly
While people are concerned about the magnitude of Bitcoin’s drop so far this year, it must also be kept in mind that the cryptocurrency had witnessed an unrealistic rally to a massively huge high of $20,000 in December last year. A correction was required to normalize the crypto’s price.
Which is what happened in the beginning of January. The price correction was initially a healthy one – one that was needed to stabilize the extreme volatility of the market.
However, the extreme highs witnessed by the cryptocurrency market at the end of 2017 also had consequences for the entire industry. Governments were worried about the impact of such frenzied market activity, which made them put the brakes on the cryptocurrency market.
It started with the Chinese and South Korean governments threatening stricter regulations for the cryptocurrency market, causing a drop in Bitcoin’s – and other crypto’s prices. Other events, such as Facebook banning crypto-related ads on its platform, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency heist worth $530 million dollars in Japan’s crypto-exchange Coincheck and the US SEC announcing investigations against ICOs all worked towards pushing down the prices of cryptocurrencies across the board.
Hopes of a Recovery Dashed
February saw hopes in the cryptocurrency markets revive as Bitcoin rallied to $11,700 on February 20. Unfortunately, those hopes were not realized as that rally could not break the technical resistance barrier and the price of Bitcoin slowly starting sliding back again.
And March saw the cryptocurrency’s worst month yet in 2018, with the price of Bitcoin dropping 30%. Things got worse for the crypto after Google and Twitter followed in the footsteps of Facebook and banned crypto-related ads.
Another interesting point that was highlighted through this time is that the correlation between Bitcoin and the traditional stock market has only strengthened, which means that the cryptocurrency is being perceived as a risk asset versus a safe haven asset like gold.
Overall, it looks like that the first quarter, while disastrous for Bitcoin, has normalized markets following regulatory changes that are in progress across the various nations of the world. The question now remains – will Bitcoin rally now that its worst quarter for the year is over?