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.
Bitcoin hit a high of more than $60,000 in April, and the ups and downs since then highlight the cryptocurrency’s volatility in a time when more and more people are interested in getting in on the action. In the weeks between the most recent July low point and its high points in recent weeks, Bitcoin has risen steadily. Again, Bitcoin is very volatile, so these ups and downs are par for the course.

“Regulation is probably one of the biggest overhangs in the crypto industry globally,” says Jeffrey Wang, head of the Americas at Amber Group, a Canada-based crypto finance firm. “We would very much welcome clear regulation.”
“The manual burns, alongside the company having a pretty large stake in the coins, just speaks to me of a manipulation risk,” said Jasper Lawler, head of research at London Capital Group, an online brokerage firm offering cryptocurrency derivatives. “Whenever there’s some sort of mechanism to stop selling, that’s a bit of a warning sign.”