Bitcoin Could End October With 2018's First Year-Over-Year Decline

With prices trading sideways around $6,400 for the 10th day straight, bitcoin (BTC) risks reporting a yearly loss for its 10th birthday.

The leading cryptocurrency, which turns a decade old this Wednesday, has been flatlined below $6,500 since Oct. 19 and is showing no signs of life with volatility readings at multi-month lows.

At press time, BTC is trading at $6,414, as per CoinDesk's Bitcoin Price Index (BPI) – up 4.46 percent on a yearly basis.

Because BTC was trading above $6,400 on Oct. 31, 2017, annual performance would turn negative if the lateral trading continues for another 48 hours.

Further, the year-on-year losses would deepen if the cryptocurrency fails to pick up a bid next month, as, in November 2017, prices witnessed a sharp rally to levels above $8,000 on speculation that the launch of the first BTC futures would open the doors for the world's yield-hungry institutional investors.

Both Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and the Chicago Board Options Exchange (Cboe) did launch futures contract in December. However, the institutional money is still largely waiting at the gates – a situation that may change if the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approves BTC exchange-traded funds in the coming months.

BTC topped out around $20,000 in December 2017 but has dropped significantly this year. However, many believe the cryptocurrency has charted a bottom at around $6,000 in the last four months, although a bullish reversal is seen only above the September high of $7,400.

Disclosure: The author holds no cryptocurrency assets at the time of writing.

Bitcoin image via Shutterstock; charts by Trading View