Bitcoin’s ascent continues, with prices scaling the $18,000 mark during Asian trading hours. In a sign of persistent dip demand, sudden pullback to $17,200 seen following the breakout to fresh 34-month highs was quickly reversed.
That was the assessment of some 4% of global fund managers in a monthly survey published Tuesday by Bank of America, when asked to name the “most crowded trade.” The response “long bitcoin” ranked behind “long U.S. tech” (65%), “short U.S. banks” (11%), “long corporate bonds” (9%) and “long gold” (5%):
The number of active bitcoin addresses recently climbed to about 1.2 million, but that’s still a touch below levels witnessed during bitcoin’s bull run of 2017, when prices surged to an all-time high near $20,000.
According to the Norwegian cryptocurrency analysis firm Arcane Research, “the number of active addresses has grown more organically in 2020, without a surging and dramatic spike as witnessed in late 2017.”
“The increase in active addresses indicate that bitcoin is seeing increased usage and adoption,” Arcane wrote Tuesday in a report. “This is a bullish and healthy sign and underlines the strength of the current bull run.”
With prices rising by 80% to levels above $18,000 in the past six weeks, the cryptocurrency’s Mayer Multiple – the ratio of price to the 200-day moving average – has risen to a 16-month high of 1.67. However, the metric is still well short of the 2.4 threshold that has historically signaled the final leg of the bull markets.
The Mayer Multiple flashed similar values around bitcoin (BTC, +0.63%)‘s second mining reward halving in July 2016. Back then, bitcoin was trading at $650 and went on to hit highs near $20,000 in December 2017.
The ratio rose above 2.4 on Dec. 1, 2017, following which bitcoin doubled in value to $20,000 in just two weeks before falling back to $12,000 on Dec. 22. Similar price action was observed in April and November 2013 after the ratio rose above 2.4. Bitcoin also topped out at $13,880 at the end of June 2019 with the ratio rising above 2.4.
With the Mayer indicator currently hovering at 1.67, bitcoin appears to be in the early stages of the bull market, with plenty of room to extend the rally from the low of $3,867 seen since mid-March.
