Bitcoin Price (BTC)

Bitcoin opened 2022 at $46,000, continuing to be the most valuable cryptocurrency in the crypto markets. It has a market capitalization of over one trillion dollars and is the most traded digital asset. Like all tradable assets, the Bitcoin market experiences ups and downs. Compared to other assets, Bitcoin’s ups and downs are more frequent, making it a highly volatile asset. While fluctuations in the Bitcoin price can prevent it being accepted by some as a medium of exchange, the volatility can be very profitable for investors and swing traders.

So, what should you know to get started buying Bitcoin and trading the price action (PA)? This is our guide to the all aspects of the Bitcoin price – you’ll understand how the price of Bitcoin is determined, what affects Bitcoin’s value, and how to read real-time Bitcoin price graphs.

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What is the Price of Bitcoin Right Now?

Bitcoin’s value can fluctuate sharply at any moment, as cryptocurrencies have high volatility. This, on the one hand, makes it a relatively risky asset; on the other hand, it can return you quick rewards if you interpret the price action properly.

View the Bitcoin price today on the live BTC price chart below.

Get an overview of the recent Bitcoin price history by adjusting the timeframe, and select a currency to view the Bitcoin price in USD, GBP or EUR.

To keep track of Bitcoin’s value, you can use live charts and graphs such as the above one, updated in milliseconds. Our visit crypto exchanges such as eToro which has Bitcoin price charts. Exchanges have in-built indicators you can use to do technical analysis (TA) or you can keep up to date with news developments in blockchain technology, known as doing fundamental analysis (FA).

Historically, Bitcoin was created in 2008 by a person or persons known as Satoshi Nakamoto, and the first transactions in bitcoin started in 2010. At that time, Bitcoin was traded below 1 cent, but after the three years of its creation, it managed to draw enough attention to exponentially rise in value. The price of Bitcoin has experienced several peaks and valleys, which you can examine through the chart above.

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Why Invest in Bitcoin?

In this section, we have summarized all the essential factors to make an investment in bitcoin.

• Bitcoin is the most valuable and well-established cryptocurrency worldwide.
• Bitcoin introduced new technology solving the problem of double-spending. 
• It’s a decentralized cryptocurrency, meaning that no third party can keep track of your transactions.
• Bitcoin is censorship resistant, which means that anyone can make transactions in BTC and mine it in any part of the world. 
• Bitcoin has a huge trading volume: there are more than 400,000 daily transactions in BTC.
• Bitcoin value performed great from the beginning of its creation, reaching $57,000 from $0.0008. 
• Bitcoin is not controlled by any central bank, so it stands out with high volatility, making it a risky asset. So, the higher the risks, the higher the rewards. 
• Bitcoin adoption is growing – more and more people get involved in Bitcoin trading, and more companies start accepting BTC. 
• Compared to other cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin is less speculative and more established. It has more real-life uses and is accepted by such well-known companies as Microsoft, Amazon, PayPal, Etsy, Starbucks, etc. 
• Bitcoin has a limited maximum supply: only 21 million BTC can ever be mined, 18 million of which is already in circulation. This fact makes BTC more valuable. 

How is the Price of Bitcoin Determined?

To better understand how Bitcoin price is determined, you first need to know the supply and demand law. The supply of a product and public demand for it is strongly correlated with its price. So, when the product is abundant, and there is little demand for it, it will have low value, but if it is scarce and there is a high demand for that product, it will clearly be more valuable.

So far, Bitcoin has gained huge popularity – lots of people want to own BTC for various purposes, such as for buying goods and services, for trading, etc. It makes Bitcoin an extremely demanded cryptocurrency and a form of money. Plus, Bitcoin has a limited supply, and the amount of BTC that can be mined is halved every four years. Hence, we can say that Bitcoin has a low supply and high demand; that’s why it’s so expensive. 

But still, you may wonder – is it only determined through supply and demand? And how cryptocurrency prices are different from the value of fiat currencies? The problem is that fiat currencies are controlled by central authorities who can have more control over their supply – they can print more money if the demand increases and hold it if the demand decreases and keep the prices stable. 

Bitcoin is not backed by a government or a central bank, so it cannot directly affect the Bitcoin value, and it can only be determined by the buyers and sellers in the open market. So, to be more valuable, Bitcoin just needs to get more demand, and several factors influence its demand which we will talk about in the following sections. 

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What Price Did Bitcoin Start At?

The first transactions in Bitcoin started in 2010 when Bitcoin was traded at $0.0008. The first famous Bitcoin transaction was made by Laszlo Hanyecz, who agreed to give away his 10,000 bitcoins for two pizzas. At that time, BTC reached $0.004, so two pizzas cost him $41 (it would cost almost $570 million at the moment). These were the most expensive pizzas ever, and as the transaction was conducted on May 22, this date became known as Bitcoin pizza day.

At that time, the daily transactions in Bitcoin were not too high, as there were no bitcoin exchanges, and it was only transacted for hobby purposes. But soon, investors understood that they could make money with BTC, and in 2010 the first bitcoin exchange was launched called Mt. Gox, which increased the daily transactions in BTC. In 2011, for the first time, BTC was valued at equal to 1 USD. Soon, new cryptocurrencies appeared, which became known as altcoins. 

In 2013, for the first time, Bitcoin hit $100, and in November 2013, Bitcoin was already traded at $1,000. In 2014 crypto exchange Mt. Gox, who held 70% of BTC transactions, announced that 850,000 bitcoins were missing, which was the first major theft related to BTC. The incident affected BTC prices, and in April 2014, the prices crashed. In 2014, the first companies started accepting BTC, including Microsoft.

Moving forward, the prices started to recover in 2017 – in May, BTC set a new high, being traded at $1,400, and in September, the prices broke $5,000. By the end of 2017, Bitcoin was traded at above $10,000. But soon, another crash occurred that led to a price drop of about 75%. And by the end of 2018, Bitcoin was traded at $3,300. Bitcoin price got a bit affected in 2020 by the Coronavirus pandemic, but as soon as the crash ended, it again gained value. 

In November 2020, Bitcoin set another all-time high and reached $19,800. At the beginning of 2021, Bitcoin was already traded as high as $41,000. The catalyst – Bitcoin prices were positively affected by Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s announcement claiming that Tesla started accepting BTC, which led to another all-time high, increasing Bitcoin value up to $50,000. Another reason was the announcement that PayPal would accept bitcoin.

Bitcoin set its historical all-time high on April 14, 2021, which is mainly associated with cryptocurrency trading platform Coinbase going public. But in May, prices started to drop drastically, decreasing to $30,000. This drop is primarily associated with two factors – first is the Tesla announcement, but this time the company suspended BTC transactions, reasoning that its mining damages the environment. There were also rumors that Tesla had already sold or would sell its BTC. And the next reason was a set of regulations applied to BTC by the Chinese government.

The Bitcoin recovery started in September 2021 – soon, it recovered to $50,000. On October 20, it broke another all-time high of $66,000, and in November, it hit its highest all-time high yet of $69,000. The Bitcoin price opened in 2022 at around $46,000, outperforming the yearly performance of other financial assets such as Gold and most stocks. From its 2021 open to its 2022 open, the Bitcoin price rose over 50%.

In June 2022, Bitcoin hit another low point and it was hovering around $21,000 USD according to Coincodex. Given the potential for a global recession in Q3 and Q4 of 2022, it is difficult to estimate if Bitcoin will recover to its 2021 all-time highs.

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