The biggest price swings in bitcoin history ranked from 1 to 10

BTC is a very volatile asset which has not stopped reaching historical records. We analyze the top 10 biggest causes the digital currency to rise or fall in price so that you better understand the nature of this cryptocurrency.

1. Public discover Bitcoin and Bitcoin Bubble in 2017:

The price of Bitcoin exploded from below $1000 to nearly $20,000 in 2017. It was due to the fact that BTC came to reach the mainstream public at a big scale. All kind of investors rushed buying when they saw a big potential for this new technology.

2. Corona Virus world uncertainty:

Recently in March 2020, after a decent rally, the price of Bitcoin went from $10,400 to $3,600 which is more than 60% fall due to the Corona virus epidemic COVID-19 , we even saw a 50% drop in a day which was due to a liquidity crisis since it was difficult for investors to expect that.

3. Bubble top 2017:

After a record boom in 2017, the price of Bitcoin fell by nearly 50% during the month from 6th January to 6th February. It went from 20,000$ to 10,000$ in few weeks, that price action called the top of the bitcoin bubble.

4. Bubble Burst 2018:

After the bubble top and a long bear market, we saw Bitcoin stabilizing around 6,000$ for few months. Investors were out of the market waiting to see where Bitcoin was going before taking any position. In November 2018 we saw the Bitcoin Cash crisis, which brought uncertainty to the whole cryptocurrency market, this was the trigger for a massive sell in the bitcoin market, which led the price from 6,000$ to 3,200$.

5. Mt. Gox hack:

Back in the time in 2014, there weren’t as many exchanges as we can see nowadays, and Mt Gox was the biggest one at that time, handling more than 70% Bitcoin transactions. In November 2014, MT Gox was hacked, that lead to a loss of 850,000 Bitcoin. It was the first big hack that cryptocurrency market experienced, it brought a big uncertainty for the investors which led the price from 950$ to 150$ in 2014.

6. Bitstamp Hack January 2015:

In January 2015, Bitstamp, a Slovenia-based exchange claims that they have lost $5 million of about 19,000 Bitcoin, in hot wallet hack and later they had suspended their services following a suspected breach.

Earlier, the price of Bitcoin topped $450 per coin in November 2013 but after this news, it fell to $270.

7. Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash Hard-fork in July 2017:

Amid a bull run in prices in 2017, Bitcoin scalability problem has split the community into two, the Bitcoin Core group and the Bitcoin ABC group which led the Bitcoin chain to split (this is called hard-fork). It brought uncertainty in technology that reflected into the market and let the price from 3,000$ to 1700$.

8. China Banned accepting Chinese Currency in December 2013:

Bitcoin drops 50% overnight as China banned to accept Chinese Currency in December 2013. The government agencies that include the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), the Ministry of Industry and IT, China Banking Regulatory Commission, China Securities Regulatory Commission, and China Insurance Regulatory Commission banned the virtual currency to protect the interests of the public and the property rights, to prevent money laundering risk, to protect the legal status of the Chinese currency, and to maintain financial stability. The price went from 850$ to 400$ in that period.

9. China’s Ban on Initial Coin Offering (ICO):

In October 2017, China banned on Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) as they called “Illegal Fundraising”. This ban affects the fall of Bitcoin from $ 5,000 to $ 3,000 after the news was spread.

10. The hack of Bitfinex in August 2016:

In August 2016, a well-known Hong Kong-based Bitcoin exchange, Bitfinex was hacked about $ 70 million worth of customer’s Bitcoin. This loss caused Bitcoin’s price to drop by about 25% from 600$ to 450$ within few hours only.

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