History of Bitcoin prices from 2009 through 2022

Since its launch in January 2009, the price of bitcoin has fluctuated wildly, but its long-term direction has been higher — or, as they say, “up and to the right.” Bitcoin launched the era of cryptocurrencies, but it was sometime before the general public became aware of it.

Even so, it seems that in a little more than a decade, trading in cryptocurrencies, and in particular, Bitcoin, has grown to be the most intriguing possibility in a while. Bitcoin trading has made millions but considering that the price has risen steadily since it first appeared, many traders would have been better off simply hanging on for the ride, or “HODLing,” as many long-term bullish investors have done.

Bitcoin has had episodes of abrupt decline despite its long-term gain. The most recent occurred in November 2021, when the likelihood of increasing interest rates and decreased market liquidity caused Bitcoin’s price to decline significantly.

In the months following the collapse of economies due to the global financial crisis, Bitcoin was launched. Early supporters hailed the currency’s promise to transfer monetary policy away from governments and central banks and into an autonomously governed system. It was invented by a mysterious person or group known as Satoshi Nakamoto.

The number of coins that can ever be produced in Bitcoin is capped at 21 million. A constantly rising demand can cause cryptocurrency to climb in the face of this fixed supply. These factors have prompted investors to flood the market in an effort to profit from the projected price growth.

It is well known that sentiment influences the price of bitcoin. When the market enters its “greed” phase, speculation ignores the risks associated with an asset that produces no cash flow as Bitcoin surges amid utopian promises. In the “fear” phase, sellers drive down Bitcoin’s price in response to negative news or a general market downturn, but the price seems to find little traction.

Despite all of this speculation, it’s crucial to keep in mind that using Bitcoin for regular purchases might be challenging. Major businesses that had introduced Bitcoin payment options have covertly abandoned those plans. Now that the market has changed the narrative, Bitcoin is no longer seen as a means of commerce but rather as a store of wealth or “digital gold.” But compared to Bitcoin’s brief history of a few decades, gold has a few thousand years of experience as a store of value.

Here are some of the trends driving the price movements of the greatest cryptocurrency throughout time. 

 

Bitcoin was founded between January 2009 and July 2013, attracting techies

 

Bitcoin and dollars were initially exchanged in late 2009, according to the New Liberty Standard Exchange. The first price mediated through an exchange was $0.00099 per bitcoin, achieved by members of the BitcoinTalk forum trading 5,050 bitcoins for $5.02 via PayPal. To put it another way, it cost around a cent.

Even though Bitcoin’s official debut date was January 3, 2009, it isn’t easy to discover any pricing information prior to the middle of 2010. Because there weren’t as many transactions as there are now, this is the case. On the other hand, data started to become accessible in July 2010 and have since continued.

10,000 bitcoins were given by one Bitcoin user in exchange for two pizzas, and this offer is still remembered in Bitcoin lore. It is regarded as the first instance of someone purchasing anything in the real world using virtual currency.

Investing.com’s historical data shows that the price of one bitcoin never exceeded $0.40 in 2010, although it did reach that level at the beginning of 2011. Later, in February, it reached $1. A spectacular 8-bagger in only a few months occurred just a few months later, in May, when it briefly surpassed $8. 

 

Price development of Bitcoin in its early years 

 

In 2013, as Bitcoin gained popularity, it had a second significant surge. The first one occurred in 2011.

An almost unfathomable increase from just a few months earlier, Bitcoin’s price reached approximately $30 by June 2011. And that marked the peak of the year. Before ending the year at $4.70, Bitcoin just slightly decreased during the remaining portion of 2011. It could have seemed as though the Bitcoin craze was finished after this bubble collapse and a more than 90% drop from its all-time high.

2012 saw a sluggish buildup of Bitcoin’s value as it spent the majority of the year consolidating. Bitcoin saw its first “halving” in November 2012, which involved a reduction in the number of bitcoins miners earn in exchange for creating blocks on the blockchain. Just off the year’s highs as 2012 came to a close, Bitcoin reached a final price of $13.50.

That consolidation primed it for a successful run when Bitcoin started to gain attention outside of a specialized group of techies and hobbyists in 2013. In Vancouver, the world’s first Bitcoin ATM was set up, enabling users to convert fiat money into cryptocurrency. The cost of Bitcoin had already increased to more than $20 by the end of January. From there, the momentum increased as interest grew.

Bitcoin had already quadrupled once more by early March, reaching a price of more than $40. It passed $50 a few weeks later, and a few days later, it reached $60. The following day, it increased to $70. By the beginning of April 2013, Bitcoin had astonishingly surpassed $100. Eight days later, it increased to $230!

Following that, the bottom fell out, and in only one week, Bitcoin was back at $68. But a week later, it had again doubled and was trading above $150. Bitcoin spent June and July settling down after the active trading in April and May. Without a doubt, this was the craziest point in the volatility of Bitcoin. 

 

Bitcoin enters the public attention between August 2013 and December 2017 

 

Bitcoin achieved new heights in November 2013 after months of cementing its ascent from earlier in the year. Bitcoin’s price quadrupled in just 12 days, from $213 at the beginning of the month to about $435. After reaching more than $1,200 by the end of the month, it nearly tripled from there before completing the year at $805, a huge downturn but still an increase from just $541 a few weeks earlier. The People’s Bank of China forbade the use of bitcoins by financial institutions in the latter part of the year.

Bitcoin’s price history, from mid-2013 to 2017, shows that it initially went unnoticed before erupting into public attention in that year.

Bitcoin’s distinctive volatility remained throughout 2014, as well. Bitcoin dropped to its lowest point on February 21 at $111.60, a decrease of around 90%, after reaching $1,000 in early January. Mt. Gox, one of the first crypto exchanges, was having issues, which was the cause of the turmoil. Following a halt to withdrawals and the loss of 744,400 bitcoins from customer funds, the exchange filed for bankruptcy.

Then, just five days later, Bitcoin reached a price of $593.10, which is more than a five-bagger in days! 2014 ended with bitcoin at roughly $318 after a year of steadily falling price.

Although Bitcoin saw an unusually slow ascent for most of 2015, it concluded the year at around $430. The year 2015 began with Bitcoin dropping. The Bitcoin B symbol became the accepted one in November.

The same very low volatility and price consolidation persisted over the first half of 2016. But at the end of May, the price started to increase, and by the middle of June, Bitcoin had reached $700. Though it didn’t last, Bitcoin fell back to the $600 range until November 2016. Over $700 was the high point, followed swiftly by $800 and $900. Regarding public awareness, 2017 was a turning point for Bitcoin since it saw its price flirt with the $1,000 mark.

With Bitcoin fluctuating between $1,000 and $1,200 at the beginning of 2017, the year began quite slowly. But by the end of April, it was evident that the digital currency was rising. Bitcoin was at $2,300 at the end of May, but despite a rise, by mid-July, it had fallen back to under $2,000 per unit. It did not continue to decline. The price of Bitcoin surpassed $4,000 by the middle of August before rising significantly. Cryptocurrency volumes and prices increased as a result of retail traders being suddenly aware of it.

Before deciding to go higher to $5,000 and then $6,000 in mid-October, Bitcoin consolidated at around $4,000 in September. After the $7,000 price barrier was crossed on November 2, Bitcoin spent the rest of the year melting up: a few weeks later, it exceeded $8,000, followed by $10,000, then soared to $13,000 days later, surpassing $16,000, and finally topping out beyond $19,000 by mid-December.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange started trading Bitcoin futures in December, which helped increase interest in the cryptocurrency and the amount of money invested in it.

For Bitcoin, it was an extremely rapid ascent that eventually became self-sustaining. More people hurried to buy as word of the sale spread, seemingly driving up the price. But Bitcoin ended the year at its all-time high, $13,850, marking the year’s breakthrough. 

 

Between January 2018 and December 2020, Bitcoin rebounds and skyrockets even further 

 

After the significant price collapse of 2017, Bitcoin spent the majority of 2018 in a downward trend, declining all year long after a brief upswing at the beginning of the year. By the end of the first quarter, Bitcoin had lost almost half of its value from the year’s beginning. Prior to ending 2018 at $3,709, down 73 percent for the year, it had spent the majority of the year fluctuating between $6,000 and $8,000.

As Bitcoin searched for direction, the new year began with more of the same. For the first three months, it strove to breach $4,000, but in April, it succeeded and climbed to $5,000. By the end of May, Bitcoin had risen to $6,000, $7,000, and $8,000 before reversing course in early June. During that month, Bitcoin quickly increased to $13,000 before declining.

By September, Bitcoin had fallen securely below $10,000 once more. From that point on, it dropped and lacked direction, eventually ending the year at a little under $7,200.

However, when the year 2020 began, Bitcoin started to gain momentum and increased over the following six weeks to over $10,000. During the initial COVID pandemic wave, Bitcoin shook amid stock market declines and fell to $8,000 at one point. Then, on March 12, 2020, it crashed during the drawdown, falling more than 39%, from $7,935 to $4,826 in a single day!

It was back above $7,000 at the beginning of April, then it rose to $8,000, and in May, it started to push to $10,000. It took a few months to increase, but it did so in July and August, reaching more than $11,000 and $12,000, respectively. After settling for a few months, it rose again in October and eventually soared to about $20,000 in November 2020 as financial markets soared on the back of Federal Reserve liquidity and the possibility of a COVID vaccination.

In December 2020, Bitcoin surged, reaching a record high of $28 949 at the year’s end. 

 

2018 to 2020: Price history of bitcoin 

 

Bitcoin stabilized after a wild ride in 2017 before surging as the COVID pandemic began and the Federal Reserve flooded the financial markets with cash. 

 

Between January 2021 and June 2022: Pressure on Bitcoin 

 

The digital currency Bitcoin started 2021 with a boom after what can only be characterized as an exciting close to 2020. Following a good first quarter, the cryptocurrency rose to start the year and reached a high of almost $64,000 by mid-April. Markets, including those for stocks and cryptocurrencies, were overly optimistic as a result of the Federal Reserve’s assurances of almost limitless liquidity.

There seemed to be only one direction to go after such a lucky start to the year: downward. Bitcoin’s price started to fall in May when China issued a warning to those who were considering purchasing cryptocurrencies that it would exert pressure on the sector. The nation has said that it will outlaw cryptocurrency transactions by banks and other financial organizations. 

 

Price development of Bitcoin between 2021 and 2022 

 

Bitcoin has fluctuated since its peak in 2020–2021, plunging once it became obvious that the Federal Reserve was about to saturate the financial markets with liquidity.

By losing more than 50% of its value in a matter of months, Bitcoin suffered a severe decline as a result of this revelation.

Later, in September, China declared that all cryptocurrency exchanges were forbidden and that even foreign websites providing such services to Chinese dealers were forbidden. The currency was back over $60,000 by October and was headed for a new record high of $68,789 on November 10, 2021, after the market shrugged off the news.

The Federal Reserve indicated in late 2021 that it would start to scale back its bond purchases, gradually reducing market liquidity. The central bank sought to contain surging costs as inflation roared to multi-decade highs. Investors started pricing in the possibility that the Fed might raise interest rates soon, which led to a spike in the 10-year Treasury rate.

Risky assets like high-growth equities and cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin were affected by the possibility of less market liquidity beginning in early November.

That gloom persisted into 2022 as investors fled risky assets due to growing inflation and a central bank determined to raise rates to stop it. Continuing its wild ride, Bitcoin wiped out big gains in the process.