In its ten-year history it has shown the world a new way of purchasing goods and exchanging currency. It has made millionaires, broken millionaires, and given people an insight into what the future of finance could look like. It’s an intriguing CV. However, when it collapsed from a long-held sustained value of $6,500 last year and sank into the realms of sub-$4,000, interest waned significantly. The levels of trading volume dropped, and market apathy began to set in like weevils in a 17th century warship’s biscuits.
It looked to all intents and purposes, for the sort term at least, like BTC’s days as a high-value digital currency were over.
Indeed, many analysts – even those with suspiciously unnatural levels of optimism – were starting to sign up to the idea that bitcoin would be unlikely to stray far from its $3,800 sticking point until the end of this year.
This past couple of weeks, though, the old gladiator showed us it can still swing a sword. And swing it did.
BTC has happily sliced through $5,000 on several occasions – including these last few Fridays which, rather smartly, brings us to a very interesting question… what will the Easter weekend bring?
In most financial markets, weekends tend to get overlooked.
Naturally, of course, because trading floors simply aren’t operating.
And, although cryptocurrency markets are always open, the habit of ignoring weekend trading still seeps in.
A shame, really, because some rather interesting patterns have been thrown up over the last dozen weekends.
Since the end of January, BTC has headed into Friday nights on a rise.
Green candles would carry through to the Saturday, maintain momentum into Sunday and then, for reasons only explained by where the sun might have been shining on the world, slumped before any of us had reached for the coffee by Monday morning.
That exact pattern came again and again every weekend.
Until a couple of weeks ago. Something changed.
Volume began to slowly build and the atmosphere of the trading platforms, exchanges and markets started to turn the amplifier up on some whispers of positivity.
It is a sentiment which has certainly been carried through April, and many would suggest that if you break through the $5,000 line enough times then the next level of resistance lies a short march away to the north.
Of course, every yin must have its yang. And, in this instance, there are voices of concern that must be listened to.
There is the notion that every time the $5,350 line is breached but not held, the forces driving it upward will weaken and disband.
If this happens, and volume drops out, BTC could fall hard taking with it the armies of Ethereum, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, XRP and the banners of dozens of other altcoins.
The winds of hope are blowing in a favourable direction, though.
This is the first time in many months we have gone into a Bank Holiday weekend on such a high, an upward curve, and a feeling of positive momentum.
These next few days could yet prove to be a game-changer.