Bitcoin’s Price Stabilizes After Wall Street Blowout

Bitcoin go up, den go down, den up! The latest? Bitcoin stays about the same, just as stocks are up and the US elections are (still) in full swing. 

Right now, Bitcoin’s about $15,500, up $2,252 since the start of the week. Bitcoin’s price hit $15,903 yesterday, its highest price since January 2017, when Bitcoin was spiralling downward into the floor following its all-time high of not-quite $20,000. 

Its rise this week appeared unstoppable—according to the pundits—but growth tapered off yesterday.

Bitcoin’s price hasn’t budged a whole lot since, when compared to the massive price jumps earlier this week and over the past few months. Bitcoin’s risen by 48% from early October, up from $10,500 to today’s $15,500.

Coinciding with the stabilization is the rise of the US stock market on Friday. Major stock indices finished the week at their best levels since April, beating previous pessimistic projections in the case of a presidential race too close to call. Bitcoin often tracks the stock market—when the markets crashed in mid-March, so did Bitcoin. 

Why Did Number Go Up?

Bitcoin was stable at around $10,000 all throughout the summer—decentralized finance stole the show. But starting in October, Bitcoin’s price started to rise.

By last Sunday it had hit about $13,500 and by Wednesday $14,000. Traders’ excitement turned to frenzy when Bitcoin hit $15,000 on Thursday, then ecstasy when it hit highs of $15,903 on Friday. All this pushed the Bitcoin market cap to just over $288 billion.

Why number go up? The most obvious global event right now is the US election. The election’s gone down to the wire, but bitcoin traders don’t really mind either way.

But chalking it all up to the US elections might miss other potential contributing factors to that recent rise. As reported by Decrypt, the recent rise of the market cap of Tether, the US dollar-pegged stablecoin, could also be behind Bitcoin’s rise. Volume spiked yesterday, around the time Tether closed in on a $17 billion market cap. 

Bitcoin’s price rise could be down to Chinese crypto investors. In China, Tether is a gateway to Bitcoin trading, a way to get around the government’s blanket ban on crypto. So more Tether equals more activity from Bitcoin investors. But others think that Tether benefits from Bitcoin, not the other way around.

So is it the election, Tether or perhaps something else? Anyone’s guess, and probably a bit of everything.