We’ve taken a closer look at the cryptocurrency‘s price movements, focusing specifically on its performance during Q4 2019. But, first, let’s briefly recap Bitcoin‘s performance during the first nine months of the year.
Q1 recap
Bitcoin was relatively stable from January to March 2019. It started the year off at $3,717 and a brief 9-percent increase in its trading price saw it surpass the $4,000 barrier during the first week of January. The upward trend was short-lived, though. Within a month, its price fell to a low of $3,358 on February 7. From then on, Bitcoin demonstrated some relative stability but experienced a notable drop at the end of February where its trading value dropped 8 percent from $4,106 — its highest price during Q1 — to $3,784 over a 24-hour period. By March, Bitcoin had almost equaled its quarter high and closed trading at $4,092, representing a modest 10-percent growth for the quarter.
Q2 recap
The second quarter of 2019 proved to be much more fruitful for investors and hodlers. Bitcoin opened April at $4,125 — marking the start of a three-month-long rally. Over Q2, Bitcoin set numerous records for reaching prices that hadn’t been seen over the previous 12 months.
Q3 recap
At the height of summer, in July, Bitcoin opened above the $10,000 mark, hitting $10,442.80 on the first day of the month. It then went on to surpass $11,000 within the first two weeks of the quarter. The quarter‘s highest value was hit in early August, when the digital currency surpassed $11,000, trading at $11,815.04 on August 7. However, a week later, on August 14, Bitcoin’s trading price decreased by 14 percent, stabilizing at $10,137.88. The month of August ended with Bitcoin trading well below $10,000, and costing just $9,462.50 on August 31. Bitcoin started trading at $9,603.10 on September 1, increasing by 7 percent and hitting $10,363.03 the following day. The digital currency hovered around the $10,000 mark for most of the month, until it dropped to $9931.40 on September 21 and continued to plummet over the next three days, leaving it sitting at $8,549.93 on September 24. Its lowest value for Q3 was reached on September 29 when it was trading $7,994.55.
Bitcoin’s Q4 performance
October saw Bitcoin trade at prices unseen since the previous month of June. It was hovering around $8,343.93 before falling by 5 percent to $7879.23 on October 6. It then recovered slightly, reaching $8195.13 the following day. The biggest drop happened October 24, when the cryptocurrency plummeted to $7421.20. Three days later, on October 27, Bitcoin would gain momentum to reach both the month’s and quarter‘s high at $9595.34. By October 31, the cryptocurrency was trading at $9160.55. Bitcoin remained relatively stable during the first few days of November 2019, maintaining around and above the $9,100 mark. It jumped to $9,396.19 on November 4 before dramatically dropping to $8,771.30 on November 9. Then things went from bad to worse. On November 10, Bitcoin was trading for $9,009.69 a coin but it began to plunge in the following days and weeks, hitting $7,026.83 on November 24. The cryptocurrency remained well below the $8,000 mark for the rest of the month, finishing on $7,528.47 on November 30. On December 1, Bitcoin was sitting at $7,265.69 and it remained above the $7,000 mark during the first fortnight of the month. The cryptocurrency experienced somewhat of a rally mid-month, hitting $6,861.92 on December 16 and going on to reach $7,252.71 on December 18. Bitcoin peaked on December 23, trading at $7,580.20 a coin. It then finished the month on December 31 hovering at just over $7,100.
Q4 2018 vs Q4 2019
Bitcoin’s price was definitely higher during Q4 2019 than in Q3 the previous year. In October 2018, Bitcoin was trading for way below $7,000, sitting roughly around the $6,500 mark. The cryptocurrency‘s performance followed the same line throughout the following month. It peaked momentarily during the first week of November going slightly above $6,500 before plummeting by more than $1,000 and sitting just above $5,500 on November 18. Bitcoin continued to drop finishing the month well below $4,000. At the beginning of December 2018, Bitcoin was hovering close to $4,200 and remained below the $4,000 throughout the rest of the month.
Major events during Q4 2019
In early October, Russia reportedly enacted a new “digital rights act” that defines smart contracts and cryptocurrency tokens. Although the country is yet to fully embrace cryptocurrency, this was largely perceived as a step toward potentially regulating the space. Several days later, Bitcoin made headlines by association after German police executed a hi-tech raid on a data processing centre installed in an ex-Nato bunker. The bunker allegedly hosted dark web sites to deal drugs and child abuse imagery. Ohio, the first US state to accept Bitcoin for taxes, suspended its cryptocurrency payment system meaning businesses can no longer pay in digital assets. Europol said Bitcoin was still very much the dark web‘s favorite cryptocurrency but noted that those looking to cover their tracks were slowly learning to use privacy-focused alternatives. Authorities charged a 23-year-old South Korean man of running the world’s “largest child sexual exploitation market,” which reportedly processed 7,300 Bitcoin transactions worth over $730,000. Cumulative Bitcoin transaction fees surpassed the $1 billion milestone in mid-October. Bitcoin-hungry hackers gave the city of Johannesburg three days to pay more than $30,000 worth of the cryptocurrency. Finally, a report by marketing analysis firm SEMRush claimed Bitcoin was the third most popular method for online payments in Italy, beating payment processor PayPal and Italian prepaid cash card provider PostePay.
Looking ahead
It’s never easy to predict Bitcoin‘s price movements, but the cryptocurrency has been moving upwards so far this year. Having landed January above the $7,100 mark, Bitcoin has remained relatively stable, maintaining itself mostly above $7,000 but well below $8,500. While these values are not necessarily encouraging — especially if we look back to January 2018, when one coin was priced at well over $13,343.71 — they’re a significant improvement when compared to Bitcoin‘s lowly price of $3,000-$4,000 this time last year.
