For most of the week, Bitcoin observers have speculated over whether it has finally hit its bottom, and is set to continue to move higher. While the verdict has been - yes - among several of the usual suspects, there is one of them who agrees, and he’s a bit of surprise.
In this piece, we’ll discuss a trio of the latest predictors:
- BK Asset Management’s Boris Schlossberg;
- Bitmex’s CEO Arthur Hayes; and
- VanEck/MVIS’s digital asset strategies director Gabor Gurbacs
The unusual suspect
Let’s start with the person who’s a bit of a surprise – Schlossberg.
He’s a surprise because he’s typically taken a bearish view on Bitcoin.
This week he spoke about why he thinks Bitcoin has the potential to move higher now that it has finally broken above $7,000 and seems to be firmly holding there.
After Bitcoin’s price shot up Tuesday, Schlossberg told CNBC that the move indicated that more gains could be in store. It has been rising significantly ever since.
Schlossberg joined others who study technicals to determine price movements in saying that this week’s gains reflect Bitcoin breaking several technical levels. And when this happens, the crypto’s price typically continues to climb.
He noted that the continued development of Blockchain is especially needed for the mainstream financial industry because it is a clear business-use case. It bolsters Bitcoin being seen as a legitimate store of value going forward.
Is $7,000 really the bottom?
Arthur Hayes expressed caution about $7,000 being the bottom when he appeared on CNBC Thursday afternoon.
"I don't actually think we've seen the worst. I think this is a very strong rally on good volume. We definitely could see 8,000 and 9,000 and maybe just shy of 10,000. We’ve been here before earlier this spring when we rallied from about 5,800 to the high 9,000 level, but didn’t quite crack 10,000. I think a similar action will happen this time. I would like to see us test 5,000 to really see if we put a bottom in it.”
He added that considering it’s the summer, many are taking a breather, so look to Q3, Q4 “for the party to start again.”
Bitmex short squeeze chatter
He also spoke about his firm being the topic of discussion this week because of the heavy volume on Bitmex and how this could be a short squeeze.
“During the pump from 6800 to about 7250 in about 15 minutes, we liquidated about $230 million worth of short positions. But bear in mind we’re a futures market, so for every long there’s a short, so there’s not an imbalance of shorts per se. But many people probably entered their positions at around the same levels, which is why we probably got a little pop there.”
Digital gold
Last, but not least, is Gabor Gurbacs. He talked about Bitcoin’s price continuing to move higher in relation to so-called digital gold.
On CNBC’s Future’s Now Thursday, he said the following.
“Gold today has around $7 trillion outstanding. If you take, say, 5 to 10 percent — I’ll let everyone do the math — Bitcoin has upside. Bitcoin is used as digital gold today. It’s a de-risk asset. Basically if someone wants to outlay systematic risk, then one would go to access gold or digital gold, or Bitcoin.”
To the business network, he noted that if 10% of the gold trade were to shift into Bitcoin, it would more than triple its market cap.
Like most observers of BTC, Gurbacs sees Bitcoin’s price moving higher as more institutions embrace it.
“We believe that there is sufficient liquidity. We believe there is pricing benchmarks. We believe there is a way to integrate bitcoin into the financial ecosystem that we are used to for ETFs, stocks, bonds and commodities.”
This article appeared first on Cryptovest
