Nov. 14 (UPI) — Digital currency bitcoin has gone on a roller coaster-type ride the past few days.
Last week, bitcoin hit a record $7,879.06, according to industry website Coindesk, on CME Group announcing plans to offer bitcoin futures contracts, and some favorable regulation in countries, including Japan.
Over the weekend, it sold off as investors reacted to developers’ decision to delay upgrading the bitcoin network for transactions and split the currency. It dropped as low as $5,617,29 Sunday as hedge funds cashed in some profits.
On Monday, it began trading at $5,857.32 and climbed to a session-high $6,770,37, according to data from CoinDesk. It then dropped to $6,459.61 Monday, a rise of 10.28 percent
The total value of all the coins in circulation rose $10 billion on Monday, according to industry website Coinmarketcap.com.
“Crypto trading is not for the novice investor,” John Spallanzani, chief macro strategist at GFI Securities LLC in New York, said to Bloomberg.
Those favoring the technology upgrade have been switching to Bitcoin cash, an offshoot of bitcoin that has become more popular because of its bigger block size. It increased last week but plunged from an all-time high of $2,477.65 on Sunday to $1,277.29 on Monday, according to Coinmarketcap.com.
“We have seen similar steep falls in bitcoin throughout the year — specifically in June and September — but every time a considerable decline occurs, new investors jump in to experience the new asset class,” Hussein Sayed, chief market strategist at ForexTime Ltd., a currency broker that uses the brand FXTM, wrote in a note obtained by Bloomberg.
Bitcoin has a market value of about $110 billion after dropping to a low of $38 billion on Nov. 8.
The currency has gained nearly 600 percent this year.
“One of the main problems with bitcoin is that it does not scale up properly as more and more users adopt it,” said Daniele Bianchi, assistant professor of finance at Warwick Business School, said to CNN.
