Despite a sharp correction in bitcoin (BTC) price in March, search interest for the word “bitcoin”

is once again on the rise after being down for most of 2019, a new report shows. It notes that Google searches have previously been a leading indicator for the price. According to a new market update from crypto market data provider CryptoCompare, search volumes for bitcoin rose to 13.6 million searches in March this year, diverging from its historical pattern of following the price – which moved sharply downwards during the same period.Bitcoin search volumes once again moved higher in March this year. Source: CryptoCompare.Despite this notable change, the firm admitted that factors such as the bitcoin halving and crypto’s infamous March crash could be a part of the

explanation:

“While data from April and May are not yet available – only Google itself has the figures for those months for now – it's worth noting that the rise in March could be related to the halving, and to the so-called Black Thursday,” CryptoCompare wrote.

Following a price rally in May 2019, both the price and search interest had dropped. The searches reached a temporary low around the end of 2019. Now, following this decline, the interest in BTC has risen alone in March 2020. The recent uptick in search volume is perhaps most interesting in light of a finding from early 2018, when the data revealed that search interest acted as a leading indicator for the price during the bear market: “[…] after bitcoin started dropping from its all-time high near [USD] 20,000, search interest plummeted but the price did not – at least right away. This seems to have been due to HODLing, as the average number of transactions confirmed per day dropped sharply,” the report explained.

The number of confirmed transactions (green) has had a steeper fall, compared to the price of bitcoin (red and blue). Source: CryptoCompare According to the report, 7.48 million Google searches for bitcoin were seen in December of 2018, when the bitcoin price reached a bottom of just over USD 3,000. And despite an uptick in prices in March and April the following year, it wasn’t until May that the search volumes really started to pick up again, with 11 million searches recorded that month, the report said. Perhaps not surprisingly, March of this year also saw the highest daily trading volume on record for the crypto market, with USD 75.9 billion changing hands across exchanges in a single day. The record was seen on March 13, the day after Black Thursday, the report said.

Article Produced By
Fredrik Vold

Fredrik Vold is a regular contributor to Cryptonews.com, covering cryptocurrency and blockchain related news on a daily basis. His area of expertise is the cryptocurrency markets, and his portfolio includes cryptocurrency and blockchain related analysis pieces. He's also a trader, financial writer, and technical analysis enthusiast, who closely follows not only cryptocurrencies, but also the stock and forex markets. Fredrik is the founder of LUVO Content Marketing, a finance-focused online marketing agency.

https://cryptonews.com/news/bitcoin-search-interest-rose-in-march-despite-price-fall-rep-6900.htm