There is a “chronic lack of demand” for Bitcoin, according to one tech analyst despite prices for the currency remaining low during 2018.
Bitcoin Struggles to Break $6,800
Throughout the first 10 months of 2018, Bitcoin prices have failed to reach any higher than the $9,000 mark. At the time of publishing, the crypto asset is valued at $6,577, according to CoinMarketCap.
Yet, compared to its mid-December price of nearly $20,000, its current value would be considered a steal with investors jumping in. According to one analyst, though, the opposite is true, reports MarketWatch.
Jani Ziedins of Cracked.Market, said:
Bitcoin is still struggling to break $6.8k resistance. If buyers wanted to buy this dip, they would have jumped in already. The chronic lack of demand at these levels is a concern, and the path of least resistance remains lower.
For several months the price of Bitcoin has remained within the $6,200 and $6,800 range. However, even though it’s trading relatively low compared to what it has before, the fact that it’s not going any higher suggests that people aren’t investing in it.
As a result, Mike Novogratz, Bitcoin bull and founder of Digital Galaxy Mangement, said earlier this week that the cryptocurrency won’t top $9,000 this year. Considering his prediction last year that it would “easily” reach $40,000 by the end of 2018, Novogratz appears to have turned bearish.
He’s also said that Bitcoin won’t bounce back, it’ll “grind back.” Earlier this week, an analyst at Fundstrat Global Advisors indicated that it would take months for Bitcoin’s price to repair.
Good News for the Market
However, while prices aren’t where investors would hope, it’s not all doom and gloom for the industry.
According to Hunter Horsley, CEO of San Francisco-based Bitwise Asset Management, and Matt Hougan, the company’s global head of research, last month’s prices aren’t a bad sign.
The two wrote:
From our point of view, there was nothing landmark that happened during the month; instead, the slow drumbeat of progress continued, which is great.
In fact, even though industry prices have remained low developments are still taking place.
Crypto exchange Coinbase has launched their Coinbase Custody designed to attract institutional investors to the market. It has also teamed up with Caspian, an institutional grade crypto trading platform, to add professional crypto trading tools.
Whereas, Wall Street banks are, reportedly, examining the way they can enter the market. Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan are considering providing custodial tools for the crypto industry. So while prices remain low at the moment, with increasing interest from institutional investors the market could soon see a rise again.
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