Bitcoin had a roller-coaster movement in January, with BTC gaining 46% to a fresh high of $41,989 before reversing 32% to below $29,000. This caused annual volatility to surge by more than 100%, a phenomenon seen 10 months back during the ill-famed ‘Black Thursday’ price decline.
At the beginning of March 2020, Bitcoin’s price declined over 40% in a few days from $9,000 to $5,200, paving way for an increase in volatility from 60% to over 150%.
In spite of a rise in volatility, Bitcoin recorded the minimal volatility amongst top five crypto currencies in terms of market cap, barring Tether. Polkadot (DOT) ended the month with huge volatility of 228%, followed by Cardano (ADA) with 183% and Ethereum (ETH) with 160%.
Contrary to Bitcoin, DOT, ADA and ETH dodged huge price corrections last month, finishing the month closer to their relative peaks.
Going forward, Kraken expects that Bitcoin’s price will rally further with minimized volatility this month:
“Given that Feb., on average, returns six percentage points more than Kan. and is 15 percentage points less volatile, one might expect Feb. to outperform Jan. and volatility to dwindle as BTC melts up.”
Nevertheless, there are skeptics who don’t believe that Bitcoin will rise further. Peter Schiff, who is an ardent supporter of gold and well-known Bitcoin skeptic, has predicted that Bitcoin’s bullish rally will not last forever and it will be eclipsed by skyrocketing meme-coin DOGE:
Being the first mover gave Bitcoin a head start, but it doesn’t guarantee that it wins the race. #Bitcoin = Myspace, #Dogecoin = Facebook, _______ = Instagram, ______ = ______. Nothing will ever equal #gold!
— Peter Schiff (@PeterSchiff) February 7, 2021