Waiting for Bitcoin slump to end? Here’s when the bear phase is likely to get over

The fall is largely attributed to the crackdown on crypto usage and mining in China apart from Elon Musk’s tweets even as the digital currency faces increased regulatory scrutiny from the US lawmakers.

Crypto king Bitcoin has slumped by nearly half its mid-April peak of over $64,000. Amid momentary spurts, the digital currency is yet to recover and sustain beyond the $34,000-mark it has been trading at since May last week. Its share in the total crypto market cap has also plummeted from nearly 70 per cent in January this year to 44 per cent currently, data from CoinMarketCap showed. The Bitcoin bear market, in fact, is likely to continue ahead until its market share recovers back to more than 50 per cent, according to a cryptocurrency expert at JPMorgan.

“A healthy number there, in terms of the share of bitcoin as a percentage of the total cryptocurrency market cap, is 50% or above. I think that’s another indicator to watch here in terms of whether this bear phase is over or not,” Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou, analyst at JPMorgan told CNBC. Bitcoin’s relatively low market share was a negative signal indicating relatively subdued interest in the digital currency, he added.

In contrast, there are experts with a belief that Bitcoin may touch $100,000 by end of this year “despite very rough patch”. Thomas Lee, Managing Partner and the Head of Research at Fundstrat Global Advisors told CNBC last month that “Bitcoin is in a very rough patch now. I think the technical picture in sort of the current term doesn’t look great.” The fall is largely attributed to the crackdown on crypto usage and mining in China apart from Elon Musk’s tweets even as the digital currency faces increased regulatory scrutiny from the US lawmakers.

Also read: Crypto-related email attacks jump 192% amid growing Bitcoin buzz; ransom demands grow over $20 million

“The ​correction was​ long foreseen​ and has limited to do with just China’s crypto ban.​​ The correction was expected in the last couple of months as money had already started to move out of Bitcoin since its prices had skyrocketed. Historically, we witness Bitcoin first moving down followed by an upswing in other coins like Ethereum and Binance coins, etc. The market at this point was looking for some negative news that could act as a trigger. Here, China ban seems to be that trigger,” Edul Patel, CEO and Co-founder, Mudrex had told Financial Express Online.

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