The long term positive coherence relationship observed between online metrics and price may be the result of another factor which we hypothesise could be technical progress. As a project makes technical progress, it is likely to have a community form around it over time, increasing online activity and also demand, and hence price, of the particular cryptocurrency. An interesting avenue of future work would be to consider the coherence between price and technical progress (via looking at each projects source code repository—these are available as cryptocurrency projects are generally open-source).
However, while there are some organisations that accept it as currency, others shy away due to Bitcoin’s dramatic price swings. Driven largely by speculation, the price per Bitcoin rose sharply from $1,151 in January 2017, to an all-time high of $19,783 in December the same year.* It then dropped to below $7,000 by February 2018 and rallied again to around $11,000 over a matter of days, before plunging once more to trade below $4,000. Subsequently, one of the key characteristics of Bitcoin that traders should understand is its potential for extreme volatility.

Cryptocurrency has become a worldwide phenomenon, with governments and banks being among the first to recognise its importance. But with so much volatility in the marketplace, new currencies being created daily and plenty of crypto naysayers about, where do you start when you’re new to the industry? We’ve created dedicated guides that look at Bitcoin, altcoins and stablecoins. You can explore the purpose, benefits and risks of each coin and keep up-to-date with how they’re performing in the market. How are crypto prices determined? Let's look at the different factors that affect the value of cryptocurrency
Jegadeesh, N. and S. Titman (1993), “Returns to buying winners and selling losers: Implications for stock market efficiency”, The Journal of Finance 48 (1), 65–91.