Bitcoin is a type of digital currency which operates outside the mandate of a central authority. There are several variants of the cryptocurrency which have resulted from forks. These include bitcoin cash, bitcoin gold and bitcoin diamond. This article focuses predominantly on bitcoin.
Bitcoin was created by a person or group of people under the name Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009. It was intended to be used as a method of payment free from government supervision, transfer delays or transactions fees. However, most businesses and consumers are yet to adopt bitcoin as a form of payment, and it’s currently far too volatile to provide a legitimate alternative to traditional currencies.
Primarily, bitcoin is now used as a form of investment. Its characteristics more closely resemble commodities rather than conventional currencies. This is because it’s beyond the direct influence of a single economy and is largely unaffected by monetary policy changes. Nonetheless, there are several other factors which can influence bitcoin prices, and these should be kept in mind by traders.
How does bitcoin work?
Bitcoin relies on two underlying mechanisms in order to function – the blockchain and the mining process.
What is the blockchain?
The blockchain is a shared digital ledger which holds a record of all bitcoin transactions. Recent cryptocurrency transactions are grouped together into ‘blocks’ by miners. The blocks are then cryptographically secured before they get linked to the existing blockchain. The blockchain is accessible to everybody at any time, but can only be changed with the computing power of the majority of the network.
What is mining?
Mining is the process of securing each block to the existing blockchain. Once a block is secured, new units of cryptocurrency known as ‘block rewards’ get released. Miners can inject these units directly back into the market. Due to their crucial role in the process, miners can exert significant control over bitcoin.
How does leveraged bitcoin trading work?
When you buy bitcoin on an exchange, the price of one bitcoin is usually quoted against the US dollar (USD). In other words, you are selling USD in order to buy bitcoin. If the price of bitcoin rises you will be able to sell for a profit, because bitcoin is now worth more USD than when you bought it. If the price falls and you decide to sell, then you would make a loss.
With CMC Markets, you trade bitcoin via a spread bet or CFD account. This allows you to speculate on bitcoin price movements without owning the actual cryptocurrency. You aren’t taking ownership of bitcoin. Instead, you’re opening a position which will increase or decrease in value depending on bitcoin’s price movement against the dollar. Find out how to trade bitcoin for a comprehensive perspective of bitcoin trading strategy.
Spread betting and CFDs are leveraged products. This means you only need to deposit a percentage of the full value of a trade in order to open a position. You won’t have to tie up all your capital in one go by buying bitcoin outright, but can instead use an initial deposit to get exposure to larger amounts. While leveraged trading allows you to magnify your returns, losses will also be magnified as they are based on the full value of the position.
What factors affect bitcoin’s price?
Bitcoin’s volatility is driven by many factors, including:
Forks: if the software of different miners becomes misaligned then a split or ‘fork’ may occur in the blockchain. This results in the existence of two different blockchains. It’s up to the network of miners to agree which version to continue using. Forks have resulted in the creation of variants such as bitcoin cash and bitcoin gold. Find out more about forks
Regulation: bitcoin is currently unregulated by both governments and central banks. There are questions about how this may change over the next few years and what impact this could have on its value.
Supply: there may be a finite number of bitcoins (21 million) which are expected to be mined by 2040. Plus, availability fluctuates depending on the rate at which they enter the market.
Press: prices can be affected by public perception, security and longevity.
Adoption: currently it hasn’t been widely adopted by businesses or consumers as a method of payment. But, some see potential in the blockchain technology and think this could become more widely adopted in the future.
If you have a secure ledger, the process to leverage it into a digital payment system is straightforward. For example, if Alice sends Bob $100 by PayPal, then PayPal debits $100 from Alice's account and credits $100 to Bob's account. This is also roughly what happens in traditional banking, although the absence of a single ledger shared between banks complicates things.As mentioned above, the easiest way to acquire bitcoin is to simply buy it on one of the many exchanges. Alternately, you can always leverage the 'pickaxe strategy.' This is based on the old saw that during the 1849 California gold rush, the smart investment was not to pan for gold, but rather to make the pickaxes used for mining. Or, to put it in modern terms, invest in the companies that manufacture those pickaxes. In a cryptocurrency context, the pickaxe equivalent would be a company that manufactures equipment used for Bitcoin mining. You may consider looking into companies that make ASICs equipment or GPUs instead, for example.