Bitcoin’s price has managed to pull back above an important sentimental marker at the $9,000 point as it manages to keep just above this point following a surge of around $4,000. It has been a rocky week or so for the major cryptocurrency whose price fell rapidly from over $10,000 to as low as $8,500.
Since the fall the coin has struggled to break above $9,000 but finally managed it on Thursday despite ongoing concerns surrounding the Coronavirus and the fear that has gripped traditional markets. Bitcoin’s price is now primed for another climb if it managed to hold this position — but what was it that spurred this most recent spurt above the $9,000 resistance mark?
There has been little to no catalyzing news that would push Bitcoin on an upward trend, in fact, the coin has been reacting badly to news that many would have thought should help its price grow. Bitcoin has been compared to gold as a potential hedge when markets are down due to its non-correlation. But that has not been the case in this recent global market dip.
One place to look is perhaps the network validators of Bitcoin — the miners. In the mining realm, which is quite disconnected to market movements barring perhaps the price and profitability of the coin for mining. As Bitcoin heads towards a mining reward halving in May, the mining community has been extremely busy and has not slowed down much in almost 18 months.
Power of the miners
Bitcoin’s market movements in relation to miners is an interesting point as there are sometimes correlations, and sometimes not. Generally, it is thought that when the mining side of things is healthy, the market benefits. However, when the price is dropping, it is not always the case that the miners ease off.
Recently, according to data from monitoring resource Coin Dance, the Bitcoin network hash rate may have passed 150 quintillion hashes per second (h/s) for the first time ever. The mining rate has grown to this new all-time high despite the 12 percent drop experienced last week indicating that miners are not too fazed about the price of the coin as it stands.
In fact, it could be that this healthy drive for the miners as they prepare for their rewards to be slashed in half, is part of the reason for the recovery in price. The hash rate growing is indicative of the Bitcoin network doing what it needs to do, and it’s after-effects can only be seen as good for the general market.
Where to from here?
The biggest question now is where Bitcoin’s price will head to after reaching this new floor. It has not exactly surged past $9,000 making this resistance point very weak and allowing a possibility of it slipping back down towards $8,500 possible.
However, it does mean that the magical $10,000 mark is once again in reach and if Bitcoin was to start climbing again, be it slow and steady, there is every chance it will top $10,000 — or at least come very close.
