Bitcoin’s supply is limited to 21 million, but because it is one of the most popular cryptocurrencies, demand and supply dynamics come into play. For comparison, Litecoin has a maximum supply of 84 million coins, whereas Chainlink has a limit of 1 billion. Because blockchains are distributed across many distinct systems all over the world, Bitcoin does not have a single centralised location. As a result, established regulatory systems find it difficult to manage them. There are several examples of a cryptocurrency’s growth being stifled because of a government tightening its crypto laws. For example, the recent restrictions imposed by China contributed to a period of severe volatility in Bitcoin prices.

Media outlets, influencers, opinionated industry moguls, and well-known cryptocurrency fans create investor concerns, leading to price fluctuations. There are several reasons why Bitcoin has such a volatile price history. Understanding the factors that influence its market price can help you decide whether to invest in it, trade it, or continue watching its developments. Before you decide whether you want to invest in crypto, you need to know if you’re up for a bumpy ride.

Why are Bitcoin, other cryptos so volatile?

If your cousin’s new restaurant had tradable shares, they’d probably be as volatile as crypto. Landing a liquor license might make them quadruple, while a bad review may make them tank. Given the uncertainty, external developments would also have an amplified impact. A new restaurant is more vulnerable to things like dining fads or bad weather than an established one. Before analyzing them, it might help to understand why the legacy financial system doesn’t offer this option, even to those who may prefer it. In 2022, other speculative growth stocks such as former Facebook now Meta , Netflix and Peloton are down -52%, -70% and -73%, respectively.

We postulate that both indices share a strong relationship that is sometimes distorted, especially during large movements in the underlying, but subsequently corrected. Unlike other asset classes that are governed or controlled by any institution, Bitcoin is not governed or controlled by any entity. This is what makes crypto different from fiat currency, stocks, or bonds. Their price is determined totally by the rules of supply and demand.

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The correlation between Bitcoin and other volatility ranges roughly between 0.1 and 0.3, whereas classical assets show higher correlations. The disconnection from the dynamics of traditional markets supports claims on the potential for portfolio diversification made by, e.g., Baur et al. , Bouri et al. and Dyhrberg . Both CVX and VCRIX measure cryptocurrency volatility, but use fundamentally different index methodologies, hence, the low correlations. crypto volatility At the same time, the traditional financial sector was becoming increasingly accepting of cryptocurrencies as a legitimate asset class. A 2021 study of institutional investors found seven in 10 expected to buy or invest in digital assets in the future. This combination of maturity and acceptance, however, also increased the correlation between the stock market and cryptocurrencies, leading to a decline in their safe-haven properties.

“Bitcoin is still a young asset class, but it’s one of the best performing of the last decade.” “It is true that the crypto market is more volatile than other markets. They say that the volatility is not that big a concern as the returns can be high. Recent headlines about cryptocurrency have highlighted significant declines in price over the last year. In November 2021, bitcoin reached an all-time high of more than $68,000, and the current price is hovering around $20,000, a steep drop. The crypto market overall is experiencing significant volatility, and crypto prices have plunged 70% from their all-time highs.

What causes crypto volatility?

One of these is that it prevents crypto from being used in real-world applications. Cryptos, for example, struggle to fulfil the function of a currency because to severe price volatility. If you are a business and decide to price your items in Bitcoin, you may earn massive gains or big loses in a matter of minutes. After you’ve sold an item, the value of the money might swing dramatically higher or downwards. However, it is also a major reason the crypto market is attractive to some investors who use it as an opportunity for larger returns.

It’s a speculative asset, which means it has a limited history and price fluctuations. Still, crypto is an emerging market that’s creating a space for itself in the world, with countries legalizing it and companies integrating blockchain technology into their payment processes. But just because investors are buying more assets, it doesn’t mean they are keeping the same investing strategy.

JEL Classification

The majority of investors surveyed—60%—said they are choosing safer investments to help them weather the rollercoaster ride markets have taken them on. Crypto buyers are bucking the trend to flee for safe havens during times of market volatility; the price of bitcoin has fallen more than 50% since the beginning of the year. Bitcoin, and other cryptocurrencies are generally high-risk, highly volatile assets. When bitcoin was first introduced in early 2009, it was a new type of asset. While trading was thin initially, price appreciation drove its value to nearly US$20,000 in late 2017. This happened as more retail investors were drawn to cryptocurrencies as a supposed hedge or safe-haven versus other asset classes.

Keep in mind that other fees such as regulatory fees, Premium subscription fees, commissions on trades during extended trading hours, wire transfer fees, and paper statement fees may apply to your brokerage account. Please see Open to the Public Investing’s Fee Schedule to learn more. The Satoshi Cycle was a cryptocurrency theory that attempted to establish a cause/effect relationship between Bitcoin’s price and internet searches. China’s government and central bank announced in 2021 that all cryptocurrency transactions or facilitation were illegal. Bitcoin, made publicly available in 2009, began its rise to popularity around 2010 when the price for one token rose from fractions of a dollar to $0.09. Since then, its price has increased by tens of thousands of dollars—sometimes rising or falling thousands of dollars within days.

Before taking action based on any such information, we encourage you to consult with the appropriate professionals. Market and economic views are subject to change without notice and may be untimely when presented here. Do not infer or assume that any securities, sectors or markets described in this article were or will be profitable. Historical or hypothetical performance results are presented for illustrative purposes only. Crypto tends to have stronger, more frequent volatility compared to more traditional assets.

Bitcoin: Why its price is so volatile?

Said authors propose an alternative method (‘GVIX’) that aims at resolving these shortcomings. However, for the purpose of this paper, comparability to existing benchmarks outweighs technical improvements. Carr and Lee call this replicating portfolio, which only requires a static position in options12 and dynamic position in the underlying asset, a synthetic variance swap.

• Till then, a lot of the movement is speculative in nature as investors are buying or selling based on sentiment.
• Many people believe it is way too hazardous to even consider going near it, let alone spend significant wealth in it.
• He served as President of the CFA Society of San Antonio and is the co-winner of the 2011 Charles H. Dow Award.
• The volatility is clearly quite erratic, but the overall trend is downward.
• It is well established that asset returns, especially crypto-assets (Osterrieder & Lorenz, 2017), are heteroskedastic, heavy-tailed, and susceptible to jumps.
• Moreover, as cryptocurrency is a digital asset, the price is determined entirely by the laws of supply and demand.

Deregulation is a key characteristic of this currency, as much as volatility is. So investors may spook at rumors of Bitcoin regulation and a proverbial end to the party, causing a price drop. There are some cryptocurrency power investors out there—so big that many of us know them by name.

Both investments turned out to be as volatile as crypto, we just couldn’t see the volatility — and concerned investors couldn’t get out. “Given the limited supply, some entities have major holdings in the crypto and can, thus, influence the rise and fall of crypto markets by selling or buying more of the crypto. Cryptos have gained global prominence in the last few years, but as an asset class, they are not as accepted as traditional assets such as equity or gold. That is why when Tesla indicated that cryptocurrencies will not be accepted as a mode of payment, the value of Bitcoin crashed.

The benefits of bear markets

Nevertheless, our volatility indexing method addresses remaining liquidity concerns for this young asset class, ultimately allowing us to extract stable cryptocurrency volatility information. Similarly, volatility in digital assets refers to an asset’s stability over a period of time. However, there is much higher volatility in the overall crypto market than in traditional financial markets. As a result, major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum have their own volatility indexes. The most popular is the Bitcoin Volatility Index which measures Bitcoin Price fluctuation. All new concepts take time to settle and be accepted and the same holds true for crypto.

On the other hand, with a net long position over all investors in the underlying, the demand for downside protection drives volatility prices especially when markets are falling. Figure1 shows the trading volume for different term structure nodes on Deribit. The https://xcritical.com/ term structure is not evenly spaced; the first two nodes are short-term options with 1 and 2 days to maturity. Term 1W and 2W are weeklies, i.e., end of this and next week expiries. Trading volume is not evenly spread over all nodes in the term structure.

When there is less buying and selling of Bitcoin, it often results in more subdued price movements. Because of the damage that huge fluctuations can cause to portfolios and livelihoods, rules have evolved to minimize volatility. You may recall that during the GameStop surges, trading on the stock was regularly halted due to severe market moves.

Reasons To Still Buy Bitcoin Today

Satoshi Nakamoto, the anonymous inventor of Bitcoin, designed the currency to circumvent traditional banking infrastructure after the 2008 economic crisis. When introduced in 2009, Bitcoin had a price of zero, and in July 2010, it was $0.09. Since then, Bitcoin’s price has zoomed to the thousands and has also fallen sharply during its short history. Remember, in the long term, the value of a given cryptocurrency can continue to rise if it becomes scarce. However, there’s an equal chance that the same cryptocurrency can plummet in value due to the factors mentioned above.

And these investors (called “whales”) control a good deal of the available coins, which means that their actions affect us all. If a whale makes a huge sale, it sparks questions for other investors, potentially causing them to follow suit and spur a decline in the price of bitcoin or other digital currencies. The same logic holds if someone buys huge sums of a specific cryptocurrency. Volatility can not only cause short-term losses/gains but also impact highs and lows over the long term. Below, we’ll explain what causes cryptocurrency to rise and fall and how these swings can positively or negatively impact potential investors. Bitcoin was still volatile during that period, but volatility isn’t always bad.