Bitcoin (BTC) has started 2020 in fine style. Based on a numerous different factors, analysts believe these gains will continue too.
The leading crypto asset by market capitalisation traded at around $7,250 at the start of the year. Just 30 days later, a single Bitcoin costs more than $9,300.
Bitcoin Trumps S&P 500’s 2019 Gains in Just 30 Days
After being crowned the most profitable investment of last decade, Bitcoin has continued to please investors going into 2020. The market capitalisation of the digital asset has increased by around 30 percent in last 30 days alone.
To put that into perspective, the S&P 500 achieved 29 percent gains over all of 2019. According to a report in the New York Times, last year was also one of the best ever years for the US stock market.
Cryptocurrency podcaster and partner at Morgan Creek Digital Assets Anthony Pompliano pointed out the comparable gains of the two markets over the vastly different time periods:
The S&P 500 was up 29% in 2019, which marked one of the best years ever for the stock market.
Bitcoin is already up more than that just in the month of January.
— Pomp 🌪 (@APompliano) January 30, 2020
Can BTC Gains Continue?
With Bitcoin posting such impressive numbers to start the year, a sense of bullishness has returned to the crypto asset industry. Discourse has largely shifted from “finding bottoms” to “high how can this thing go”.
Much of the excitement revolves around the upcoming Bitcoin halving. The supply of new coins hitting the market will drop from 12.5 to 6.25 this May.
Many industry analysts are looking at the upcoming halving as a driver for higher prices. Previous Bitcoin halving events have indeed seen dramatic price gains.
As NewsBTC has reported previously, gains have typically occurred both before and after the event itself. A popularly-cited study into the impact of halving on scarcity and price puts the next bull cycle’s top as high as $400,000 per Bitcoin. Analyst Plan B bases these findings on previous price action surrounding past halvings.
Various metrics appear to be lining up that suggest its more than just those on Twitter that are bullish. Google searches for the terms “buy Bitcoin” and “Bitcoin halving” are spiking. This has typically occurred during previous large bull markets too.
DATA: Could Bitcoin be about to go parabolic?
“Buy Bitcoin” just reached a 7 month high, a score of 9 on Google searches.
Last time it reached this score:
Nov 2013 – Bull Top
May 2017 – Parabolic Run Up
June 2019 – Medium Term TopCould there be a parabolic run-up next month? pic.twitter.com/zc47mLaZXH
— Bloqport (@Bloqport) January 24, 2020
Similarly, corporations are investing heavily in mining infrastructure. The Bitcoin hash rate, a measure of computing power supporting the network, reached a new all-time high today.
With mining equipment being expensive to buy, operate, and maintain, the deployment of such hashing power shows clear optimism from the mining industry.
The #Bitcoin hash rate JUST HIT a new ALL-TIME-HIGH!
A whopping 123,011,832 TH/s!!!
The $BTC fundamentals are screaming for a huge bull run leading into the halving! 🚀
BULLISH!! pic.twitter.com/HB6JLSy6V0
— The Moon (@TheMoonCarl) January 30, 2020
Perhaps most bullish of all is the fact that BTC holders seem more numerous and stronger than ever. NewsBTC recently reported on the fact that more than 12 million of the total Bitcoin supply has not moved in more than a year.
Huge numbers of investors held their Bitcoin through the summer price run up and down again to around $6,600. This suggests that Bitcoin price has a large and committed support base of believers.
With huge numbers of the total supply hoarded away and the new supply hitting the market due to drop dramatically, the perfect storm for another Bitcoin bull market might well be brewing.
Related Reading: Craig Wright Interview Has All Warnings of a Full Bitcoin SV Breakdown
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