[2017-10-13] 5 reasons bitcoin is roaring to its highest level ever, defying

[White sugar]

5 reasons bitcoin is roaring to its highest level ever, defying Dimon’s ‘fraud’ call

Bitcoin notched a fresh record on Friday and solidified its recent run-up in price after tumbling on the back of a series of critical comments, including those from J.P. Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, who referred to the asset as a “fraud.”

A single bitcoin BTCUSD, +6.62%  on Friday was worth around $5,600, after touching an intrasession high near 5,900 earlier in the day, far exceeding its early September peak around $5,000. The cybercurrency has risen by about 90% since hitting a low of $2,985.24 in mid-September, research-and-data site CoinDesk shows.

Although it isn’t entirely clear why the digital currency is resurgent, here are a few reasons market participants attribute to its record-setting advance:

1. Bets on digital-currency dividend
Some investors are wagering that a pair of so-called hard forks in core bitcoin, which will create two separate versions of the No. 1 cryptocurrency, will boost the holding of digital-currency assets.

On Oct. 25, so-called Bitcoin Gold designed to address challenges mining for bitcoin using computers to solve complex problems, will be launched.
On Nov. 18, bitcoin will face a second version of Segregation Witness, or SegWit2x, which would create an alternative version of the bitcoin.
2. China bitcoin exchanges
Charles Hayter, chief executive officer and founder of CryptoCompare, said heightened speculation that China may license digital-currency exchanges and allow them to reopen after a recent ban. Beijing last month moved toward a broad clampdown on bitcoin trading.

Read:

3. Amazon.com speculation
There are rumors about Amazon.com Inc. AMZN, +0.17%  accepting bitcoin on its retail platform. According to a blog post on Seeking Alpha, Amazon could announce that it will accept bitcoin as payment on its site when it reports quarterly results Oct. 26, which could lead others, including Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. BABA, -1.22% to follow suit.

4. FOMO
Fear of missing out, or FOMO, also may be propelling bitcoin and other cyber currencies higher. A cycle of news covering the virtual currency’s path to new heights can draw fresh attention to it and encourage further buying, thereby propelling the asset ever higher.

Of course, there are plenty of worries that the asset has all the telltale signs of a speculative bubble.

5. Wall Street attention
As the virtual currency gains more attention from average folks, it is also garnering eyeballs and investments from hotshot Wall Street veterans. A co-founder of alternative asset manager, Fortress Investment Trust, Michael Novogratz is starting a $500 million fund to invest in cryptocurrencies and told CNBC during a recent interview that the cryptographic currency could be worth $10,000 in six to 10 months.

Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs Group GS, -0.40% is reportedly exploring a new trading platform that would be centered on trading in bitcoin and its rivals, like Ether.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/5-reasons-bitcoin-has-roared-to-its-highest-level-ever-defying-dimons-fraud-call-2017-10-12

[hatshepsut93]

I think it's really hard to tell why exactly is Bitcoin rising so fast, because that would be equal to answering the question why some people bought it recently and you can never tell for sure unless they will answer it themselves. So, usually explanations for price changes are just pure speculation without any real evidence.


1. Bets on digital-currency dividend

Some people may follow this thinking, believing that it will be similar to Bcash outcome, but others might decide that this fork will be different, that combined value would be the same or lower.

2. China bitcoin exchanges

Rumors about legalizations of exchanges were around for a long time already, and I'm pretty sure they were priced in long before we started hearing them, because the crash caused by exchange closure was extremely short and the price returned to pre-crash levels quickly.

3. Amazon.com speculation

Those aren't even rumors, just an opinion of some blogger, clearly not enough to move the market.

4. FOMO

FOMO is always countered by fear of correction, and the higher you go the bigger is that fear, there must be some pretty good reason for going beyound previous ATH by more than 10% in just a few hours.

5. Wall Street attention

I'd say it's the most reasonable explanation - someone with big pockets just placed their bet on Bitcoin.

[buwaytress]

Sounds like the journalist ran out of ideas after getting to 3 reasons. Seriously? FOMO?

Even if we forgive that, Amazon.com is the least plausible reason in that list. Don't forget that in the past, Bitcoin has already had major retailers accept Bitcoin payments but these clearly do not have an impact on price, at least not beyond the extreme short term. Of course, as I mentioned in some other post on "acceptance at over 40 million merchants" via Coinbase and Wirex, this is also a different form of adoption through third-party settlement processors. If Amazon actually did accept Bitcoin (as in you pay to their wallet directly and not through something like Coinbase), that would be unique news in itself - but still of no impact on price.

[Karakyli]

Experts call many different reasons, which led to a sharp increase in the rate of bitcoin, followed by the rest of the crypto currency. None of them seems too convincing, although, perhaps, in the aggregate, they give a positive result.
 I think that even the absence of good reasons for restraining the growth of the bitcoin rate, which had already been trampled on the spot long enough before, plays a role. Due to the volatility inherent in it, it can not stay in one place for long and therefore is forced to show its bullish power. Having risen to almost $ 6,000, the bitcoin rate at this time, according to MarketCap, is $ 5,733. Undoubtedly, its waves will be rolling with even greater force and by the New Year, I hope that he will surprise us with his course more than once.