Bitcoin’s price is now at decisive junction
According to the on-chain analytics firm glassnodeBitcoin’s volatility is now at all-time lows, akin to a “stablecoin”. The price of bitcoin is now at a turning point in which it can go up or down.
At the time of publication, BTC was changing hands at $19,327, marginally up in the last 24 hours. While periods of extremely low volatility for Bitcoin are very rare, there have been instances in the past in which prices have violently broken either higher or lower. Glassnode presents the bull and bear argument for Bitcoin, particularly from an on-chain angle.
case for bear
According to Glassnode, the “new address” momentum is set to take another step, but it has not yet demonstrated a strong uptick in 2019.
In a similar vein to November 2018, the growth rate of addresses with a nonzero balance has likewise plateaued since August. This shows that even while there are over 400,000 new addresses added each day, an equal number are also having their entire balances drained.
Hashrate and difficulty have recently reached a new historic high. This increases the cost of producing BTC. Miner hash revenue and mining hash price have hit all-time lows, indicating miner stress. Overall, on-chain activity and network connectivity indicate that the demand side of Bitcoin is still weak.
The case for bulls
The current bullish argument for Bitcoin is based on the HODLer cohort, or long-term investors’ unshakeable conviction and consistent balance growth. The relative buying power of stablecoins is rising, BTC is still leaving exchanges and even the most ardent supporters of Bitcoin have not yet been shaken by the current high volatility and severe downside.
Reserves held by exchanges fell to multi-year lows throughout October and have returned to levels since January 2018. In short, all coin volume that has entered exchanges since the peak of the previous cycle has now been withdrawn to non-exchange-related wallets.
