Rising Bitcoin Search Volumes Point to 2019-Like Price Rally

• Searches for the keyword ‘Bitcoin’ is trending higher on Google since late-March.
• The surge in internet volumes is similar to what they were before the 2019 price rally.
• Interest in the cryptocurrency is booming as searches for the keyword “buy bitcoin” hit a perfect 100 score.

A Google Trends search is no moving average wave, but it remains incredibly relevant while gauging people’s interest in Bitcoin.

The cryptocurrency’s unofficial indicator is now reflecting an optimistic outlook. So it appears, searches on Google.com for the keyword ‘bitcoin’ is inching higher since late-March, with its latest weekly reading hitting 2019’s pre-rally levels.

The “interest over time” score for the keyword reached 14 in the running week, showing its rising popularity over a five-year time range. The rating was low compared to Bitcoin’s all-time high of 100 in December 2017. But yet, it was inching closer to its 2019 top of 24, achieved when Bitcoin’s spot rate rallied from $8,799 to nearly $14,000 in a week.

Scores at Google Trends reflect the absolute search volume for a term, such as ‘bitcoin,’ relative to the number of searches received by Google. That said, the keyword ‘bitcoin’ competes with its volume over a specified timeframe. The latest readings show Google is handling more queries for the cryptocurrency than in the last 11 months.

Google Trends-Bitcoin Correlation

Bitcoin’s Google Trends and spot price surged hand-in-hand in late 2017 – and fell in sync as well. As by November-December 2018 session, the search volumes were returning scores as low as 5. That was also the period wherein Bitcoin bottomed out near $3,200.

24 was Bitcoin’s highest Google Trends score in June 2019 after its crash. Interest for the cryptocurrency boomed as investors hunted for safe-haven assets amid the then-escalating U.S.-China trade war. The trend propelled higher also because of Facebook’s sudden foray into the cryptocurrency sector with its payment project Libra.

But as soon as the hypes faded, so did the Bitcoin’s gains and its Google Trends score. Incidentally, Bitcoin’s search volume in the current times is rising amid a similar set of narratives, including halving, institutional investments, and the coronavirus pandemic that has posed bitcoin as a hedging asset against a financial crisis.

“Buy Bitcoin” Searches Hit 100

More and more people are now searching for Bitcoin on Google. Some of them may even end up buying the cryptocurrency. A 12-month time range, for instance, shows volumes for the keyword “buy Bitcoin” has hit a perfect 100 this week.

Short-term upside trends hint at scores hitting at least the pre-rally levels of 2019 – at 24. If that happens, bitcoin could swell its market cap by as much as 100 percent, repeating its June 2019 fractal.

Photo by Benjamin Dada on Unsplash