Bitcoin Kicks off December with 6% Rise After Its Worst Monthly Drop in 7 Years

A month that brought so much joy last year turned out to be the worst this year. November 2017 was the first time bitcoin hit the $7,000 mark and proceeded to finish the month at over $11,000. This year, the story has been quite the reverse. Bitcoin started November at $6,340 but after a very brutal four weeks, the currency ended the month at $3,950. The $2,400 drop accounted for a 38 percent fall, its worst since August 2011. However, the market has since then rebounded and at press time, Bitcoin had gained 6 percent to trade at $4,267. The other cryptos followed suit, with Bitcoin SV being the only top 30 crypto in the red.

Could December Recover November’s Losses?

October had been a very stable month for cryptocurrencies and all indications were that November would follow a similar direction. Bitcoin had lost just $300 in October to end the month at $6,340, a net loss of less than 5 percent. The overall market was quite stable as well, with the industry market cap losing just $20 billion.

November has been completely different from its predecessor, and cryptos have experienced their worst monthly slump in seven years. Bitcoin began the month at $6,340 and many expected the end-of-year rally to begin in the month. This wasn’t to be as Bitcoin dropped from $6,250 to just above $5,700 in a few hours on November 14, with the other cryptos faring just as badly.

The currency found some temporary stability above the $5,500 level for a few days before another crash wiped out over $1,000 in hours on November 20. Five days later, the currency was trading below $3,500 on some markets and looked set to continue its downward trend.

Bitcoin did however fight back from its yearly low to reclaim the $4,000 level. This has proven difficult to sustain, with the currency trading between $3,900 and $4,250 since then. It ended the month at $3,950. This represents a 38 percent monthly drop, its worst monthly performance in over seven years.

The last time Bitcoin had such a dismal performance was in August 2011 when the currency dropped from $8 to close the month at $4.80. This represented a 40 percent monthly net loss.

Bitcoin has however started December positively, gaining 6 percent on the first day to hit $4,267 at press time. The currency started the month trading below $4,000, just a day after hitting $4,380. It has hit back and the momentum has been especially noticeable on HitBTC, Coinsuper, Cryptonex and Cashierest exchanges where the currency traded above $4,300.

On BitMEX, the currency was trading at $4,211, with the exchange accounting for 22 percent of the total daily trading volume. Noticeably, the exchange’s share of the total Bitcoin trading volume has decreased from 30 percent, with Coinbene’s share rising to 4.2 percent.

So, could bitcoin recover November’s losses in December?

If history is anything to go by, December has proven a strong month for the currency. Last year, it began the month just shy of $10,000 and ended at $13,026. However, this barely tells the whole story as the currency hit its all-time high at $20,000 in mid-December. This marked a 200 percent rise in the first two weeks.

In 2016, bitcoin began December at $746 and ended the month at $961. This represented a 29 percent monthly rise and set the currency on its way to hitting $1,000 the next year. In between the month, bitcoin hit a monthly high of $975.