The prominent rise in Bitcoin price has not been a straight line. Typical with the trend in financial markets, the rise in Bitcoin price consists of a series of highs and lows. It is popular to find people discussing the peaks in a price chart, but in actual trend analysis, the lows are equally significant. The annual increase of lowest Bitcoin lows are crucial points that traders use to predict price movement in the overall uptrend of Bitcoin price.

Demand and supply of Bitcoin varies from time to time, and that is the fundamental determinant of price at any given time. When buyers have the upper hand, the price goes up, and when sellers dominate the market, the price drops.

The Bitcoin chart is a graphical representation of the relationship between Bitcoin price and time. Therefore, the extent of the regularity that you see when observing a Bitcoin chart will depend on the timeframe under consideration. By observation, you’ll notice that the price action of Bitcoin has a seasonal behaviour. It stays within a particular range over a period of time, then breaks out towards any given direction. That is why the Bitcoin price index pictorially resembles a zig-zag drawing.

For the 10 years that Bitcoin has been in existence, we are taking a look at the lowest prices that it has encountered on a yearly interval. We will also attempt to determine whether there was any particular event within those periods that could have catalyzed the drop in Bitcoin price at those times.

After the release of the Bitcoin whitepaper in October 2008, the first block was mined on 3 January 2009. That is the day that the Bitcoin network went live. The price of Bitcoin at that time was below $0.01. The price remained that way until May 2010.

The First Bitcoin Bubble

The next significant low price of Bitcoin was $2, in 2011. This was after the pioneer cryptocurrency started receiving some recognition and climbed as high as $31 between May 2010 and 2011. This crash in price is what is popularly referred to as the initial Bitcoin bubble. It followed the hacking of the largest crypto exchange that existed at the time, Mt.Gox.

Hackers accessed the trading platform and stole 2609 BTC. This shook the fragile Bitcoin market, but soon afterwards the exchange was back on its feet and investors returned.

Awareness grew and more people began to use Bitcoin. The price embarked on an elongated rally and by November 2013, Bitcoin crossed the $1,000 for the first time in its history. This is the period that preceded the second Bitcoin bubble.

The Second Bitcoin Bubble

The second Bitcoin bubble happened in 2014, during which time the Bitcoin price dropped below $200 in 2015. This Bitcoin bubble was initiated by another hacking of Mt. Gox, where 850 000 BTC stolen this time. By this time, Mt. Gox was responsible for about two-thirds of the entire Bitcoin trade volume that was traded globally. This time, the theft was too much of a hit on the exchange and it could not recover from it.

After the second Bitcoin bubble, there was an elongated period where the price plateaued. Bitcoin traded between $200 and $250 for several months until interest began to be restored in the new technology. This came as a result of the launch of newer exchanges that the public felt were a bit more secure. There also seemed to be a general feeling that new exchanges must have learned a few lessons from the Mt. Gox saga.

Gradually, the price started to pick up again in 2015. Innovations around the general cryptocurrency ecosystem began to attract positive attention. More altcoins also began to emerge, Ethereum being prominent among them. By October 2015, Bitcoin crossed the $300 mark, and never looked back. This was the beginning of a Bitcoin price rally that saw it achieve its highest price ever till date.

This particular rally sailed through 2016, when Bitcoin and crypto awareness exploded both for the right and wrong reasons. Regulatory issues, ICO market boom, Bitcoin exchange hacks, Ethereum and other altcoin development, conferences and blockchain education. These are all events that helped to popularize Bitcoin and cryptocurrency. This Bitcoin price rally that started in Q4 2015 continued until 17 December 2017, when Bitcoin price reached an all time high of $20,089.

The Third Bitcoin Bubble

The year 2018 is known as the crypto winter by participants in the cryptocurrency ecosystem. While Bitcoin engaged in a bullish run in 2017, it pulled with it almost all the other cryptocurrencies. From January 2018 until April 2019, the price faced downwards. The downward trend was so severe that many small cryptocurrencies went into extinction. Many other lost at least 80% of their value. For Bitcoin, the next stop in the slump was below $3,300 after which it traded sideways until the beginning of April 2019.

The upward movement from April 2019 has continued, with the characteristic up and down movements in-between. At the time of writing, the price of Bitcoin is above $9,900. Many analysts believe that this rally will continue and even break the previous all time high price.

Conclusion

Many traders and investors specialize in taking advantage of the slump in price to make huge profits in the Bitcoin and crypto marketplace. Using platforms like tap, it is easy to buy Bitcoin instantly as well as other cryptocurrencies using fiat. This makes it easy for those who believe that markets will rise, to build their portfolios and not miss out on the opportunities ahead.

By analysing the annual increase of lowest Bitcoin lows, there is a clear evidence that the Bitcoin price is in an overall upward movement. This fact, in combination with the ecosystem still having so much room for development, makes it even more promising as a venture. Hence, with platforms like tap that provide access both to purchase and spend Bitcoin and crypto, we are certainly in for more interesting days ahead.