The year 2018 was generally not the greatest of years for most financial assets including stocks, bonds, the credit markets and also cryptocurrencies. The bear market experienced by the cryptocurrency sector in 2018 was so terrible that many naysayers had a field day dissecting the sector and its drop. It didn’t help that even Bitcoin, the most popular and largest coin by market cap, struggled for months to rise. However, 2019 has so far been a breath of fresh air for not just stock and bonds but also the crypto sphere as well.
The Rally
Recently, a report published by the Wall Street Journal declared that Bitcoin has been a lot more profitable for its investors than all other known assets including crude oil.
Since the bear market began last year, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have found it extremely difficult to perform as well as they used to. Considering that Bitcoin reached an all-time high price of almost $20000 in 2017, it was very difficult to see the bear market extend as long as it did. Even though a few assets like BNB may have started the year with better performance, Bitcoin didn’t do very well until April. On the 2nd of April, under 24 hours, Bitcoin surged as high as 20% to cross the $5000 mark. As it happens most of the time, many other altcoins also seemed to follow suit as they all began to perform better than expected.
Another reason why the year has been great for Bitcoin is the recent story about the illicit activities involving Tether and Bitfinex. When the story first broke out, many people expected that it will have an adverse effect on the crypto market and Bitcoin. This is probably because the initial reaction to the story caused a few coins to drop in value. However, the news didn’t really do any damage as the market only suffered a small drop and even though the entire market lost $10 billion at the time, it quickly picked back up and much better, eventually surpassing $100 billion.
Nevertheless, some still think there’s work to be done. Alex Kruger, a trading expert, has said that Bitcoin has to reach its highest price of 2018 – $6400 – before we can definitively say the bear market is over. However, seeing that Bitcoin is currently trading at over $5700, breaking last year’s all-time high price might happen in the near future.
Relationship Between Markets
As the report suggests, it’s wise to think about the relationship between the cryptocurrency and other markets. Generally, it makes sense that the factors which affect one market either positively or negatively might go onto affect the other.
One other thing that should be considered is the ongoing and unfavorable stiffness between China and the US. Many people are optimistic the tensions will ease up but if they don’t, the effects of said tension could impact the stock market quite negatively and this impact could also extend to the cryptocurrency market.
