In a highly eventful program of events for economy watchers, last week saw UK prime minister Theresa May announce that Brexit was going to mean the UK leaving the single market, Trump being inaugurated as the 45th president of the United States, and the European Central Bank announcing that there would be no change in interest rates and no dialling back of current quantitative easing measures. All but the latter were events that have had an impact not just on the currencies that relate to them in the forex markets, but also investments into other things – especially ‘safe haven’ commodities like precious metals, which also saw a huge rise in investment when Brexit was first announced.
Bitcoin and ‘Interesting Times’
So how does this affect Bitcoin? Well, many are speculating that Bitcoin is a new generation of safe haven investments. While it is traded as a currency, and is an offering more and more forex brokers are giving their traders, it isn’t tied to a country or domestic economy in the same way as conventional currencies. It responds to global events in a way no other currency does, and can be as heavily impacted by things that happen in the US as in Europe or even Asia, meaning that while it tends to be volatile, when it loses value this never tends to last long. When things are difficult to predict and risky, as they are right now with the dollar and pound, and to some extent the euro, Bitcoin can be a good option for certain types of investor, and for forex day traders and CFD traders, times like these are when Bitcoin is well worth paying attention to.
Getting Started with Bitcoin Trading
If you are interested in starting to get involved with Bitcoin in your own trades, you essentially have two options. You can trade Bitcoin in currency pairs, for example with USD, or you can trade CFDs based around the price of Bitcoin. Unless you have the capital to invest in a few Bitcoins to get started with your trades, the CFD option is the most accessible, allowing you to trade on the performance of Bitcoin without needing to be able to buy Bitcoins themselves. Unlike any other currency, a single unit of Bitcoin costs hundreds of dollars, so for many people who are interested in watching and predicting its movements, CFD is a way to attempt to profit from the current interest in the cryptocurrency with less initial capital.
How Is Bitcoin Faring at the Moment Against the Dollar?
Bitcoin has seen some positive activity in the past week, and this can really be attributed to investors taking that safe haven option without moving their money out of currency altogether. Analysts are currently interested in whether or not the current movements indicate that Bitcoin may be getting ready to move past the $1000 mark – a psychological barrier that it hasn’t threatened to breach for a while now.
Bitcoin generally fares best when things are at their scariest in the conventional markets, with its last peaks being during the global financial crisis, which saw it surpass $1700 in 2008. If this is the path the digital currency is on now, as the UK and Europe see some complicated times, getting into trading around Bitcoin now may be a very good idea.