Bitcoin is swiping again. From breaking through the 20,000 USD mark on the evening of December 16, a single-day increase of over 10%, to December 17th, breaking through another 23,000 USD. The latest increase reached 20.25%, continuing to hit a record high. The entire currency circle is witnessing the carnival once again “History”. The price has risen nearly five times within a year, and Bitcoin’s rise is eye-catching. However, 57,973 people were liquidated by US$1.089 billion in one day, and the high risk was obvious. In the view of analysts, in the context of skyrocketing prices, on the one hand, consumers need to increase their awareness of prevention and not blindly follow the trend; on the other hand, it is recommended that the regulatory authorities strengthen targeted supervision to maximize the warning of investors to speculate on trading risks.
Crazy
Bitcoin continues to set new historical price highs. According to the global currency price website CoinMarketCap, in the past 24 hours, the price of Bitcoin has risen from 19,429 U.S. dollars, breaking through 20,000 U.S. dollars at 21:00 on December 16th, and then rising to 23,436 U.S. dollars at 17:00 on the 17th, an increase of 20.62 within 24 hours. %. As of the press release at 18:26 pm on December 17, Bitcoin was quoted at US$22,673, the latest increase of 16.6%.
Six months ago, Bitcoin just broke through 10,000 U.S. dollars, and now it has surpassed 20,000 U.S. dollars, which also makes the currency holders carnival. Extending the timeline to this year, the price of Bitcoin has risen nearly five times from the low price in March, especially in the past three months, and the price of the currency has doubled.
The last Bitcoin price spree was three years ago. At the end of 2017, the price of Bitcoin rose from US$10,000 to US$19,000 within half a month, which once caused market turmoil. But at the end of this year, prices have risen again. What are the reasons for this?
The Song Jiaji team of Guosheng Securities Blockchain Research Institute told reporters that the important reason for the rise of Bitcoin is that the asset has been regarded by some people as a means of storing value, which can partially replace gold, and its “penetration rate” is low relative to gold. , There is room for improvement and investment value. In addition, unlike 2017, an important feature of the Bitcoin boom in the past two years is the participation of more institutions, such as payment service providers Square, PayPal, etc., and the increasing compliance of Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust Fund (GBTC) Transformation and growth are also a highlight.
Song Jiaji’s team believes that the participation of these institutions may directly boost the transaction volume of the “secondary market” of Bitcoin, especially GBTC, which has been continuously buying Bitcoin since its establishment, which is also the reason for pushing Bitcoin to new highs. .
Liu Feng, director of the Blockchain Technology and Application Research Center of the Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Change Management, Shanghai University of International Business and Economics, believes that Bitcoin stands at a historical high of 20,000 U.S. dollars. From a short-term perspective, it is mainly due to the large-scale entry of institutions and continuous support. At the end of the market, the profitable market will be bought, and the original callback chips will continue to be bought, which has accumulated several weeks of “energy” for this breakthrough; from a medium-term perspective, the technical landing and market expectations of Ethereum 2.0 are also breaking new highs. In the long run, the big cycle expectations of previous bull markets have also made many people in the currency circle have more expectations at the key time node of the end of the year.
lever
Bitcoin’s gains during the year have been remarkable. Since March hitting a new low of $4,705, the current price has skyrocketed by 498% from the year’s low. However, the risks of Bitcoin are also staggering. Since Bitcoin’s record high for nearly 24 hours, more and more people who participate in contract transactions have suffered heavy losses.
According to the data of the contract emperor, as of 10:00 on December 17, in the last 24 hours, a total of 38,009 coin people had liquidated their positions, with a liquidation amount of US$705 million. It is worth noting that the liquidation data is still further intensified as Bitcoin continues to rise. As of 18:00 on December 17, the number of people who liquidated their positions in the past 24 hours has reached 57,973, and the liquidation amount has reached 1.089 billion US dollars. In this liquidation, the people who lost money were mainly those who were bearish on the market.
The so-called contract trading in the currency circle, also known as futures trading, is a model of forward trading of trading products. Compared with spot trading, futures trading has two major characteristics. One is that it can be both long and short, and it can make two-way profits; the other is that it can increase leverage to make small gains. At present, most exchanges in the market have launched contract trading functions.
“Playing with contracts is too exciting. I opened an order because I couldn’t sleep because of insomnia. Who knew it would be exploded when I opened it halfway up the mountain.” A currency insider told reporters that some currency exchanges had contract trading leverage before. The multiples are generally 5 times, 10 times, and 20 times, but at present, in order to cater to the trading “demand” of players, many exchanges have launched futures contracts and perpetual contracts, with leverage as high as tens of times, hundreds of times, and even transactions. Thousands of times the leverage introduced.
“Another round of virtual token carnival around the world has begun. All players are playing a game of blood licking. If you don’t pay attention to it, you will be gone.” Liu Feng told reporters that although the price of Bitcoin has risen, many people have Often losing money in the “bull market” is largely due to the speculative mentality of gambling at will, and even more leverage by 20 times, 50 times or even 100 times.
“At the same time, the volatility in a bull market is often very severe. A few points can easily blow up the margin under the amplification of leverage, and lose money. Most of the 57,973 currency people who broke up in the last 24 hours are such behaviors.” Liu Feng Called.
Regarding the liquidation incident, despite the mourning in the market, some people said that this phenomenon was not unexpected. An industry insider who did not want to be named pointed out that Bitcoin and other virtual currencies are speculative products with high risk attributes. Recently, Bitcoin has risen to a high price and the market has also attracted a group of irrational investors. This phenomenon.
risk
The currency circle is carnival, but the risks must be particularly vigilant. As Liu Feng said, as the price of Bitcoin broke through US$20,000, US$21,000, and US$22,000, enthusiastic investors in the market have successively entered the FOMO (Fear of Missing Out, meaning “fear of missing out”) state, while continuously pushing up the market value of Bitcoin. , Which also makes the risk of callbacks increasing.
“Therefore, as an investor, on the one hand, you should maintain your own calm in this FOMO mentality, and pay attention to avoiding risks while doing profitability strategies. Whenever the market has cycles, take measures to protect your assets; on the other hand, Don’t invest blindly. Virtual currency transactions are not protected by our country’s laws. Investors should pay attention to legal risks other than financial risks and protect their rights and interests.” Liu Feng said.
The reporter noticed that on December 8, there was a risk of “handling non-office” in some areas, saying that some people were found to participate in hype virtual currency investment and wealth management activities through App and WeChat groups, suspected of illegal finance, and there are great risks.
The “Department of Non-Exemption” emphasized that virtual currency transactions are not protected by my country’s laws, virtual currency trading platforms mostly use overseas servers, and the true status of transaction control agencies is unknown. At the same time, as a new thing in the Internet age, ordinary people lack professional and in-depth knowledge of virtual currency, and it is very easy for criminals to use the name of investing in virtual currency to commit fraud, illegal fundraising, pyramid schemes and other illegal crimes. Once investors suffer property losses, it is difficult to effectively defend their rights or recover economic losses.
In addition, a person close to the regulator told reporters that currently, the supervision of illegal transactions in virtual currencies mainly involves finding problems in payment and settlement, cutting off ports, and cracking down on them. The overall principle is that any virtual token transaction is not allowed; any ancillary behavior that supports virtual token transactions is also illegal, and no matter how it is deformed, it must be severely cracked down.
At present, many payment institutions are also investigating illegal transactions in virtual currency. There have been cases in which users have frozen their payment accounts due to virtual currency transactions.
Many analysts agree that at present, Bitcoin has no real value support, and related transactions are pure speculation. On the one hand, consumers need to increase their awareness of prevention and not blindly follow the trend; on the other hand, in the context of skyrocketing prices, it is recommended that the regulatory authorities strengthen targeted supervision, which can alert investors to the maximum extent of speculating trading risks.
