In 2017, everyone was talking about $10,000 as being the milestone for Bitcoin’s price. However, the leading cryptocurrency broke into five-digit territory recently with little mainstream fanfare. Could it be that $100,000 will be the new $10,000 this time around?

Bitcoin blasted through $10,000 this weekend — reaching a new 2019 high of $11,251. The cryptocurrency has now officially recovered over 50 percent of its losses from its peak price of approximately $20,000.

Despite the slight uptick in media visibility, interest in Bitcoin remains far lower this time around. This is arguably creating the perfect storm to reach a new all-time-high during this market cycle.

Search Interest and Media Hype Still Remain Low

Despite breaking the $10,000 price point, media outlets are not reporting on Bitcoin in a frenzy as they did in 2017. Instead, much of the media has been silent.

Google search interest is also surprisingly low, with only a slight uptick in the past few months.

Could it be that $10,000 is not as big of a deal this time around?

It could just be that the real media frenzy will come at the next major milestone: $100,000.

The low search interest and media hype surrounding Bitcoin’s recent rise seems to indicate that the price increase is largely due to institutional players rather than retail buyers. This may imply that, once retail investors jump back into the market, Bitcoin’s price increases will be explosive.

By all estimates, Bitcoin is also becoming a whole lot more volatile, as well. In October 2018, its 10-day volatility was somehow less than the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq. It experienced this lull again in March 2019 but has since seen volatility rise substantially. This tells us that the forthcoming rally is going to be much stronger than 2017.

Bitcoin: A Sleeping Giant

To recap, there are a few aspects of the current market which indicates that Bitcoin’s rally is just getting started:

Google search interest is very low which tells us retail investing is not even here yet.

The media hype cycle has not yet begun.

Volatility is starting to pick up.

If the media is not excited for Bitcoin breaking $10,000, then we need another price point as a catalyst. This may just be $100,000 — which is appropriate as the new goal if the market continues this bullish trend.

Overall, the low levels of interest in Bitcoin despite breaking $10,000 is good news: it means that we are just getting started.

Do you believe Bitcoin can reach $100,000 during this market cycle? Let us know your thoughts below.