A measure of bitcoin volatility hit a roughly 10-month high in February. (Photo Illustration by … [+]
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Bitcoin volatility climbed in February, attaining its loftiest reading since April 2020 during a month where the cryptocurrency’s price hit fresh highs.
The digital currency’s annualized 30-day volatility reached 114.51% on February 8, the most since April 10, 2020, data provided by asset manager Blockforce Capital reveals.
This figure was far higher than the historical 30-day volatility of 63.78% that bitcoin has had going back to 2013, additional Blockforce Capital figures show.
The digital asset experienced these sharp changes in value during a bullish month, where its price rose to an all-time high of $57,487.03, CoinDesk figures show.
At this point, the digital currency was up more than 73% in February, additional CoinDesk data indicates.
[Ed note: Investing in cryptocoins or tokens is highly speculative and the market is largely unregulated. Anyone considering it should be prepared to lose their entire investment.]
A Bullish New Year
Bitcoin has had an excellent year so far, nearly doubling its price of roughly $28,900 at the start of 2021.
These latest gains have built on top of the bullish momentum that the cryptocurrency has experienced since falling to a local low of less than $3,900 in March of last year.
The digital currency has climbed close to 1,400% since dropping to that point.
Bitcoin’s Resilience
Bitcoin prices have shown greater resilience during the current bullish trend than they did during the bull market of 2017-2018.
During December 2017, bitcoin reached nearly $20,000 on CoinDesk, but was unable to hold these gains, falling below $10,000 the following month.
The digital currency followed a downward trend, dropping to almost $3,000 in December 2018.
Optimistic Predictions
Going forward, nobody knows for certain where bitcoin prices will go.
However, many market observers have made highly bullish predictions for the cryptocurrency, with Anthony Pompliano, a well-known analyst, forecasting earlier this year that bitcoin might eventually rise to $1 million.
Vinny Lingham, cofounder & CEO of Civic, offered some more conservative input, stating that bitcoin could rise to somewhere between $100,000 and $125,000 over the next year without suffering a “crash,” which might cause it to lose more than 80% of its value.
However, he noted that if fear of missing out (FOMO) kicks in, bitcoin might rise to “$250k-$400k” in the next 12 months, a rally that would result in an “inevitable” pullback that could prove quite severe.
Disclosure: I own some bitcoin, bitcoin cash, litecoin, ether and EOS.
