Despite falling more than 40% over the past month, Bitcoin’s share of the overall cryptocurrency market has risen to 55.1%. This showcases the extent of the price collapse in alternative coins like Ethereum, EOS and Bitcoin cash, among others.
The dominance rate is a metric used to measure the percent market share of a particular asset in the cryptocurrency market. What the development suggests is that traders may be shifting funds from alternative cryptocurrencies into the world’s largest coin by market capitalization – or at the very least, demand for bitcoin is outpacing other networks.
While predicting a total bottom in bitcoin is really tough to do but many analysts are suggesting that a turnaround is likely in the new year. That’s because unique active users and daily transaction volumes are set to rebound sharply in the first six months of the year.
Exactly one year ago, on Dec. 10, 2017, the price of Bitcoin was $17,102 per coin, almost 80 percent higher than the price of Bitcoin today. Bitcoin’s market share index is 55 percent, down from 62.4 percent exactly one year ago, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
Bear Market Far From Over
Stephen Innes, head of Asia Pacific trading at Oanda, is arguing that the bitcoin bear market is far from over because the No. 1 digital currency has yet to provide a significant use case.
He said:
“Bitcoins have gone well beyond the ridiculousness of tulip bulb mania. It’s has been a disastrous year for cryptos, and by all indication, the current bear market could go from bad to worse with no fundamental or underlying reasons to buy BTC even more so when the only support offered up is a squiggly line on an analyst chart.”
In 2019, Bitcoin will regain ground in terms of market share and capitalization as traders will flee risky altcoins and seek haven in a time-proven coin. That’s the year-ahead prediction published by leading consulting company A.T. Kearney.
The report says:
“By the end of 2019, Bitcoin will reclaim nearly two-thirds of the crypto market capitalization, as altcoins lose their luster because of growing risk aversion among cryptocurrency investors.”
More broadly, financial regulators will probably soften their stance toward the sector. The UK Parliament’s Treasury Committee, which wants to end the “wild west” of crypto markets, will pursue regulations intended to stifle criminal activity and reduce price volatility as it tries to make the United Kingdom a hub for cryptocurrency markets.
At the same time, the US Securities and Exchange Commission will warm to Bitcoin exchange-traded funds and, with the US Commodities Futures Trading Commission, will continue to work to improve market transparency. On the other hand, we shouldn’t forget that bitcoin is still soundly outperforming most other digital currencies and shows every indication of being the preferred safe haven asset of the crypto verse. As a broad rule of thumb, bitcoin’s market share has always grown whenever the markets are suffering.
This time is no exception. The plunge in cryptocurrency prices, bitcoin included, has still seen its market show grow. Last week it actually hit a 3 month high, right about when it was also pushing a 15 month low.
Bitcoin Might Still Be Slightly Hungover
The short version is that bitcoin might still be hungover after partying hard in late 2017/early 2018. Bitcoin still shows all signs of being the most trusted cryptocurrency around. Other features like the number of unique wallet addresses are showing reasonable direct correlations to price, while others such as transaction rate have been growing steadily throughout the year.
Most of the Bitcoin loyalists and enthusiasts also continue to believe in its long-term future despite this year’s price crash.
“If we look back over Bitcoin’s short 10-year history, it has experienced many price fluctuations – something that is to be expected given that the industry is still very young,” CoinCorner’s co-founder and CEO, Danny Scott, told Express.co.uk.
“It’s widely known that Bitcoin has allegedly ‘died’ more than 300 times to date. This ‘death’ refers to predictions from critics that bitcoin won’t survive the changing price movements – yet it hasn’t died on any of those occasions and, instead, has continued to gain mass adoption,” he further added.
