Bitcoin prices suddenly shot higher April 1 after markets appeared to have enough of a sideways downtrend which took BTC/USD below $6500.
April Fool’s Gold?
Data from across major exchanges shows a sudden reversal in Bitcoin’s fortunes on the day, the cryptocurrency gaining $300 in around 15 minutes.
As of press time, prices are holding higher at around $6800, with a retest of $7000 a potential first battle for a possible uptrend.
Prices had failed to find support at $7000 at the start of the weekend, falling over 10% in the last three days, while altcoins such as Ethereum delivered even bigger losses for investors.
Sunday’s sudden move upwards was greeted with optimism on social media, with industry figures and amateur commentators alike expressing their surprise at the breakout.
That Sunday #Bitcoin News Show Pump! pic.twitter.com/E7HMsZ5Yyw
— Vortex (@theonevortex) April 1, 2018
Google’s ‘Bitcoin Death Index’ Quite Accurate
As Bitcoin staged its tentative recovery, meanwhile, new data shows belief in its resilience is in fact at its highest when prices are low.
Granted, searches for ‘Bitcoin price’ do appear similar to the actual BTC price chart.
However, according to Google Trends data, vastly more people searched the term ‘bitcoin dead’ and ‘bitcoin is dead’ during the cryptocurrency’s December 2017 all-time highs than during recent dips below $7000.
Even more curiously, the fewest number of ‘bitcoin dead’ searches in the past year occurred in the period from March 4-10 – the week BTC/USD slid 25% from over $11,500 to under $8500.
The most searches occurred from December 10-16 last year, when prices were approaching their highest ever – over $20,000 on some exchanges.
As Bitcoinist reported today, Bitcoin has in fact ‘died’ in the press 273 times since its creation. Those deaths do not include the annual deluge of fake funerals, which have become a classic hallmark of April Fool’s Day in the cryptocurrency sphere.
What do you think about Bitcoin’s price action today? Is it more dead than alive? Let us know in the comments below!
Images courtesy of Shutterstock, GoogleTrends, Twitter