Bitcoin in the News : 2017-11 Price

I ended last month's bitcoin price review, Bitcoin in the News : 2017-10 Price, with the cryptocurrency just under $6500. This month's chart shows the price starting at $7000. Why the gap of $500? Maybe it's an error in the charting service; maybe it's the day or two difference in my capture of the chart; maybe it's something else. Whatever the reason, it's not the gap at the start of the month that matters; it's what happened during the rest of the month that matters.

Bitcoin (BTC) Price Index

The main critical points were around 12 November (I'm not sure where to attach the dates on the x-axis) and around 28 November. Let's look once again at the stories from Cointelegraph.com's Bitcoin Price Analysis to understand the dynamics.

Wait a moment! It looks like there was another critical point at the beginning of the month. Maybe the gap I flagged does matter after all.

• 2017-11-02: Bitcoin Shatters $7k Barrier After Futures Trading Announcement by CME Group • 'Bitcoin continued its five-day surge, rising from $5,750 on Oct. 28 to just over $7,000 at press time on the GDAX exchange. The currency’s definitive smashing of its most recent all-time high and the $7,000 barrier seems to be tied to its increasing integration in mainstream finance.'
• 2017-11-03: The What and Why Bitcoin Price Reached $7,000 • 'This week, Bitcoin price, on its usual upward trajectory, barely blinked as it smashed through the $7,000 mark. [...] The biggest factor behind the rally was the announcement of Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s decision to offer Bitcoin futures.'

Let's skip ahead to mid-month.

• 2017-11-13: Counting Costs of Bitcoin’s Big Three Drops of 2017 • 'A lot has happened in a week for Bitcoin. The on-again-off-again plans for SegWit2x were officially put on ice and the effervescent Bitcoin celebrated by reaching yet another all-time high of $7,888. However, what comes up, must come down. Bitcoin then went into a spiral as a number of factors influenced its latest drop of 29 percent, which saw $38 bln wiped clean off the market cap.'
• 2017-11-13: Bitcoin Price is Up 17%, Will it Achieve a New All-Time High in Short-Term? • 'Bitcoin price has risen by 17 percent within the past 24 hours, after dipping below $5,560 earlier today. Since then, Bitcoin price has stabilized at $6,450, recording a daily increase of around $890. [...] Triggered by the sell-off of major Bitcoin investors and the rapid surge in the value of Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin price plunged over the past weekend.'

That second article continued, 'As expected, Bitcoin price recovered relatively quickly as the Bitcoin Cash price declined from over $2,800 to $1,200'. Is there an inverse, negative correlation between the prices of Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash? If so, why? I covered the introduction of Bitcoin Cash in Bitcoin [Cash] in the News : 2017-08 Price (September 2017), but there was no indication that the two crypto currencies were in any sort of quantum entanglement. To be watched...

The end of the month saw the bitcoin price hit five figures for the first time. That milestone number provoked an avalanche of stories.

• 2017-11-28: Increasing Adoption Demonstrated by Huge Trading Weekend for Bitcoin, Soaring Prices Market-Wide • 'In a sign that adoption is massively increasing, trading numbers from last weekend indicate that the volume of cryptocurrency trades exceeds that of many U.S. equities trading markets.'
• 2017-11-28: Why Bitcoin Continues Its Phenomenal Rise • 'Bitcoin continues its phenomenal surge in the financial trading market as it already reached the $9,000 per token mark as of late November 2017. The leading cryptocurrency was also traded at $10,000 in some markets. The sustained upward trajectory of the most popular cryptocurrency has continued to baffle both the virtual currency markets and the wider investment community'
• 2017-11-28: Bitcoin Price Hits $10,000 • 'Black Friday [Thanksgiving weekend] saw the currency hit new highs in the upper $8,000s before surmounting the $9,000 level Saturday and immediately charging toward the $10,000 mark Sunday.'
• 2017-11-30: Experts Answer Question: “How Did Bitcoin Reach $10,000?” • 'In January this year, $1,000 was the milestone Bitcoin owners were eager to reach. The digital currency hit that, overcame it and increased ten-fold to over $10,000.'

That last link lists two answers to the 'How' question:-

• Institutional money
• Newcomers are still early adopters

Will those two groups -- institutions and newcomers -- continue to provide funds? They represent opposing points of view toward investing that are often described as 'smart money' and 'dumb money'. They can't both be right, can they?