There is a noticeable growth in the awareness of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in 2019. This growth appears to be more organic in comparison to the ICO boom era of 2017. The trend this time revolves around the desire to understand the emerging technology, rather than the bandwagon behaviour of the ICO period when many saw the industry as a goldmine for quick money. There is also another trend that crypto-enthusiasts have noticed but are struggling to explain – why Bitcoin is most active during the weekend.

A recent report by leading cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase reveals that there is a significant growth in awareness for Bitcoin in the United States. According to the report, the survey was conducted by YouGov on 2,000 US internet users over the age of 18.

Other factors identified by Coinbase include the friendly legislation across a number of states in the country, and the growing perception of citizens who are viewing cryptocurrencies as a viable financial system.

This development coincides with the resurgence of Bitcoin value and the entire cryptocurrency market after a full year of “crypto winter”. Bitcoin entered a bullish trend at the beginning of Q2 2019, and has since continued in an overall upward direction. The price crossed over $13,000 for the first time in over a year before pulling back in consolidation, trading at $10,247 at the time of writing.

On its way up, a pattern has been observed where most of the price surges have happened over the weekend for the pioneer cryptocurrency. A closer observation reveals that weekend surges account for up to 40% of the overall Bitcoin price gains since the beginning of May 2019. This has encouraged a lot of users to try to discover why Bitcoin is most active during the weekend.

Participants in the industry have attached a number of theories to this prevailing trend of weekend boosts, trying to explain why prices tend to move faster in the cryptocurrency market while other markets are usually redundant.

Initial Mover Advantage

Most markets make announcements at the beginning of the week, Mondays to be precise, including the cryptocurrency market. However, unlike the other markets that shut down at weekends and re-open on Mondays, the cryptocurrency market never sleeps.

Therefore, traders who try to pre-empt the trend usually take positions ahead of the upcoming week in order to maximize their trading opportunities. This results in active weekends for the cryptocurrency market.

Groupthink

Weekdays are usually busy for friends and family members as everyone seems to be busy working away with their daily tasks. It is over the weekends that most people come together to analyse the events of the past week and plan for the days ahead.

Many people also use the weekend period to go through the news and developments of the previous week individually. The crypto marketplace is a retail market after all.

Smaller Volume, Larger Swings

As offices are closed during the weekend, the market trading volume is usually lower. The implication of this is that little trading actions could result to bigger swings, when compared to periods when market activity is heavy. This could explain why the market experiences huge swings especially during the weekends.

FOMO

The fear of missing out (FOMO) is a popular term used in the trading ecosystem. This behaviour arises as a result of anticipation of a surge in the near future. While we have talked about people who do their market analysis over the weekend, or prefer to have a market overlook within the same period, some traders jump into the market based on the fear of missing out on anticipated moves.

This usually occurs whenever some major announcement is expected in the week ahead.

Getting Into The Trade

The above mentioned reasons cumulate to the decision-making mechanisms of many traders. However, it is one thing to decide, and another to execute the decisions made. Finding an appropriate platform to trade can be a bit confusing at times.

Trading fees, level of complexity, convenience and availability of alternatives are some of the key factors that could determine how successful a trader can be when dealing with cryptocurrencies.

As already mentioned above, the market can oftentimes be very volatile. Therefore a trader needs a quick-responding platform in order to have an enjoyable trading exercise. The tap platform which provides an app and the tap prepaid MastercardⓇ provides users with a robust trading solution.

Trades are seamless across crypto-crypto, or crypto-fiat pairs, and are executed in split-seconds. The platform is boasts competitive fees, and is easy to use, with a mobile only version that add a level of security and is very convenient to move about with. The tap prepaid Mastercard allows its users to spend cryptocurrencies anywhere in the world with a simple conversion within the app and without any form of liquidity barriers.

Weekend surges have become a trend and most crypto traders are taking advantage of the significant price movement within this period. In a time where awareness is growing, it is a phenomenon that demands a little more attention. While no one can definitively put their finger on it, it’s worth noting some of the reasons that may be behind why Bitcoin is most active during the weekend.