Following bitcoin’s 10th anniversary, the cryptocurrency is now seemingly starting to slowly recover from its worst day in nearly three weeks, that saw it lose about $150 in a few hours, breaking the range it was in.
Looking at available price data shows the flagship cryptocurrency had been trading within the $6,600 and $6,400 range since about October 16, as its volatility kept on declining. Earlier, its 30-day volatility index even hit levels it hadn’t seen since December of 2016, before last year’s bull run that took it to a near $20,000 all-time high.
Bitcoin’s range was broken on October 29 when its price dropped from about $6,440 to roughly $6,280. Since then, the cryptocurrency has recovered to $6,335 at press time, as it’s up 0.62% in the last 24 hours.
Bitcoin’s declining volatility is seen by some as a bullish sign, as a study conducted by researchers from the Polish Academy of Sciences and Cracow University of Technology found it’s a sign it is slowly maturing.
The CEO of the largest cryptocurrency derivatives exchange BitMEX, Arthur Hayes, has noted, however, he belies the current bear market could last another year and a half, based on his experience form the last bear market BTC went through. Per his words, things can get worse than they are now.
Nevertheless some are still bullish. Speaking to MarketWatch Adam Jiwan, the CEO and co-founder of blockchain-based data sharing network Spring Labs, was quoted as saying:
Regardless of how one feels about cryptocurrencies, bitcoin has ushered in a technological revolution that will have profound implications for how information is shared, consumed, and protected.
Jiwan added that “blockchain will be ubiquitous and the world will have to adjust.” Financial institutions have been increasingly adopting blockchain tech and cryptocurrencies. Goldman Sachs recently revealed it’s now offering bitcoin “non-deliverable forward contracts” to a select few clients, although it isn’t yet planning to launch ether-based products.
Despite these developments, some believe bitcoin is set to become a store of value, and that “smaller-cap altcoins have the largest potential.” This, according to crypto investment firm New Wave Capital, as during the bear market everyone flocks to bitcoin, but people will start buying altcoins as soon as the bulls come back.
Most top altcoins are currently in the green, with Ethereum’s ether, Ethereum Classic (ETC), and zcash being among the few that have risen less than 1% in the last 24 hours. Bitcoin Cash, EOS, and XRP are up by 1.49%, 1.74%, and 1.76% respectively.
Litecoin, NEO and TRON have seen slightly more modest gains of 1.32%, 1.11%, and 1.54%. Monero and dash are the only two top altcoins currently down in said period, by 0.6% and 1.1% respectively.
