Bitcoin (BTC) increased its volatility in October, and is just a day away from posting the first monthly gain since the summer rally. The BTC volatility index grew from 3.04% at the beginning of October, to 4.01%.
The volatility in the past days was caused by a rally that added 42% to the price within hours. Before that, increased activity happened during a sell-off event. In all, BTC made its largest price swing this month between $7,500 and $10,000.
BTC started to unravel on Wednesday, sinking possibly down below $9,000 again in the coming days. BTC traded at $9,180.40, down 2.38% in the past 24 hours, while altcoins also retreated. The coming weeks will show if the current rally is a sign of heightened interest, or was a one-off event caused by “whales”.
The Bitcoin fear and greed index is inching up to 53 points from 50 points a few days ago, up from 20 points or “extreme fear” a week ago, during the price drop.
BTC started off October with lows of $8,232.68. If the price holds on at this range, BTC will certainly post a net monthly gain. With two months left until the end of 2019, a rally at the end of the year is also seen as a possibility.
https://twitter.com/SpaceTrader6/status/1189459934674599936
At the current prices, BTC transaction activity has also slowed down. In the more recent rallies, before the price spike, increased on-chain transactions were noted. Now, transaction activity has slowed down to its usual levels around 300,000 transactions per day.
The dollar value of transactions increased to $1.9 billion in 24 hours, before sinking to $1.6 billion. On less busy days, the Bitcoin network carries around $300 million. The Bitcoin hashrate is at 93 EH/s, still distanced from its peak levels near 120 EH/s.
