There is nothing quite like a Happy new year and $1000 Bitcoin, to cap off what has been an amazing past year for Bitcoin investors.In a matter of 30 days, Bitcoin has had a phenomenal run rising +29%, from $800 on December 17 to $1032 on January 2, 2017.The market capitalization of Bitcoin surpassed the $16 billion mark, taking a stunning pole position for the decisive best performing commodity and currency awards in 2016.Bloomberg, Reuters, CNBC covered the digital asset’s impressive rise over the past month, ebbing away the skepticism of new investors.Buyers coming in this week, from this renewed wave of interest, will possibly only ever marginally heard about this niche market., after correcting from the $1032 top.The market is correcting sideways, in what might turn out to be a reasonable entry for latecomers.Investors are waiting for Bitcoin to cross the last all time high at $1163.The 12 hourly chart above shows the month of December was bullish.On the last price analysis a little over a month ago, a series of higher highs was building up under $760, cocooning into a rising wedge pattern.

$750 had proved difficult to breach.At the time, a dip to find a low to bounce off of was the high probability outcome.9 times out of 10, this pattern breaks down, before resuming the uptrend.So the general consensus was a break down first, before resumption of the up trend.Vinny Lingham, an expert trader, encapsulated the ambivalence of most investors tweeting.“We will shoot past $800 very quickly, or drop back to $700s.Any drop to $700s would be short lived.” Well the wedge broke out upwards, price cruised past $800s 20th December, and further up to a $875 high at 2, Bitcoin’s strongest level since 2014.Price consolidated into an ascending triangle over 15 hours, just before Chinese traders were waking up in across Asia.In under 3 hours, they had pumped price to $920; Bitcoin was now trading 107% higher, outperforming every major currency, stock index and commodity contract in 2016!$920, a yearly pivot, doubled up as top of an elliott wave 3.A 3 wave retracement pulled back to the prior consolidation level at $860, where a fibonacci level and a bullish engulfing pattern marked the bottom.

The next wave ran past $920 to $984, before correcting back down to $930 and pushing up past $1000 on the first day of 2017.One of Wall Street's most curious investment, had come out on top once again, rising +134% in just 13 months!After declaring Bitcoin as commodity next to Gold in 2015, the CFTC launched a pair of USD price indices in 2016.bitcoin pools urlThey will track the USD price of Bitcoin and could be used s building blocks for futures contracts.litecoin capFinancial products backed by Bitcoin are going to be important for access, liquidity, and price stability.bitcoin edison njThe WinkleVoss planned COIN ETF and Barry Silbert's Bitcoin Investment Trust (BIT) were great examples of strides in 2016 for non-tech folks to get involved.51 attack bitcoin wiki

Venezuelans, Zimbabweans, Nigerians and the Chinese reminded us of the qualities of Bitcoin that give it its value.The devaluation of currencies by Venezuela, as high 62% for the Bolivar, reinforced the need for an alternative currency beyond the reach of government.bitcoin script escrowChina was linked with Bitcoin outflows as a capital control evasive trick.bitcoin richest 100By investing into large mining farms, depreciating Yuan is legally turned into newly mined untainted Bitcoin.bitcoin kurs ein jahrStill in Asia, India’s widely publicized demonetization overnight policy, reminded us the war on cash is real.курс bitcoin wmzGovernments are intent on a cashless regime with the People’s Bank of China and Bank of England publicly endorsing fiat based digital currencies.bitcoin escrow paypal

But, this only strengthens the case for a digital cash alternative, an independent decentralized digital currency.The future of Bitcoin is looking brighter by the day.2017 holds great promise.The general feeling across trader’s forums is bullish, despite the already exceptional rise up.Bitcoin experts, analysts and the community seem to agree the last all time high, $1163 is the next leg up.$1163 is both a psychological stratosphere level and a 100% fibonacci extension of the whole move up from $162 bottom, anything seems possible.The current consolidation just below $1032 is a short one at best, before testing the famed all time high resistance.I expect a break of this level in the coming days.At this level, the fear of missing out from buyers, a new year and the excitement of bitcoin holders will cause a spike.All cards are on the table up to $1300.But it is important to be cautious of peak sell offs from this parabolic rise, as a combined effect of profit taking by holders since the last all time high (ATH) in 2013, position traders from lower levels and margin traders leveraged long with exits set at the all time high.

If price does break this level, then the murky unprecedented levels will excite traders to the possibility of a massive bull run, similar to the 2013 run up from $126 to $1163.I am sceptical of a similar occurrence.This year however, I expect volatility to smoothen out and stabilize as the effect of steady growth kicks in.Protocol development seems be on track with Segregated Witness now at 45% adoption by nodes.Bitcoin is growing up!Without a doubt , Bitcoin is poised for a rise to $2500 by the end of 2017.Bitcoin hits an all time high against the Canadian Dollar as record demand drives prices up 119%.If 2015 were a good year for Bitcoin then 2016 was exceptional.Bitcoin made a new all-time high exceeding the prior high of $1136.86 made in December 2013, reaching a peak of $1340.43 closing the year just off that mark at $1317.33.Bitcoin opened the year at $601.34 and after dropping to a low of around $500 it consolidated for several months reaching a record low in volatility before a sharp rise to $1000 in June.

After a precipitous decline from those highs back to just below $700 in early August Bitcoin began its latest run-up to the current levels of over $1300 ending 2016 up 119%.The best day for the Index was on June 12th where there was a gain of 12.7%.The worst day saw a similar move in the other direction with a -15.7% slide on 2nd August which was the low point before the ensuing bull run.ExchangesExchanges listed on the Canadian Bitcoin Index combined for a record volume of $149.6 million on 200,000 BTC, an increase of 98% over 2015 continuing the trend of Canadian Dollar volume increases per year since the first CAD trade logged in 2011 and a notable jump from previous years.A chart of monthly volume shows that exchange volume peaked in the run up to $1000 in June and there was also heavy volume in the final two months of the year accompanying the most recent price rise.Despite seven exchanges being active on the Index during 2016 only four of those remain with 2016 seeing the removal of Cavirtex (acquired by Kraken), Coinbase (who closed their CAD orderbook after losing their payment processor Vogogo) and Cointrader, who after a period of low liquidity finally closed its doors amid claims of hacking.Quadriga CX was once again the volume leader among exchanges on the Index accounting for almost 50% of volume (some $73 million) and actually increasing that advantage in the fourth quarter of 2016 to 59%.Of those remaining on the Index, Coinsquare increased its market share during each quarter in 2016 and currently has over 20% of the market.

Kraken, following its acquisition of Carvirtex, looked set to challenge the Quadriga CX dominance with funding promotions and heavy volume during the second quarter of 2016.However, Kraken also lost its payment processor (Vogogo) and as a result its momentum, due to the lack of funding options available to Canadian residents.Taurus struggled for liquidity in late 2016 with low volumes and large spreads albeit it still account for around 10% of the current market.The largest volume day of 2016 was on 18th November where some $17.7 million were traded for 1774.98 BTC.The average daily volume for 2016 was $408,000 or 546 BTC.VolatilityThe Canadian Bitcoin Volatility Index (CBVIX) tracks the annualized realised volatility of Bitcoin over the prior 30 days.Whilst the CBVIX peaked in July at a value of 98.38% 2016 was again notable for it’s relative lack of volatility which saw a historic low in the CBVIX of just 18.24%.Whilst still generally considered volatile compared to other asset classes Bitcoin’s volatility continues to decrease year-on-year as demonstrated on the following chart of annualized average historical volatility.Market CapitalizationBitcoin’s market cap now exceeds $21 Billion and as a comparison if Bitcoin were a public Canadian company it’d be the 25th largest in Canada (with a similar market cap to Rogers Communications).

It hit a new record market cap in early June surpassing its 2013 high primarily though the expansion in the money supply since that time and has more than double its market cap in 2016.Bitcoin vs.GoldBitcoin is often described as digital gold due to its fixed supply and use as a store of value.Bitcoin has significantly outperformed Gold in 2016 (Gold was up about 5%) and looks set to gain parity with an ounce of Gold for the first time.Currently it takes 1.22 BTC to buy an ounce of Gold and this ratio has continued to fall throughout 2016.Summary2016 was another successful year for Bitcoin in Canada with a substantial increase in value, record volume on exchanges all accompanied with a decrease in volatility.The Canadian Bitcoin Index (www.cbix.ca) is a real time blended bitcoin (BTC) price index which reflects the true price of the digital currency in Canadian dollars.In addition the site features live trade monitoring, enhanced charting, a notification system for Index movements, live bid/asks from all supported exchanges, a combined orderbook and a suite of developer APIs.