The CEO of the world’s largest bitcoin derivatives trading platform believes the current crypto bear market could last a further 18 months. Bitcoin (BTC-GBP) surged to a high of over $20,000 (£15,676) in December last year but crashed at the start of 2018 and has traded in a tight range close to $6,300 for the past few months. If the performance persists, 2018 is set to be the worst year on record for bitcoin in terms of percentage decline.
BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes told Yahoo Finance UK: “My view is the volatility environment that exists right now could persist for another 12 to 18 months, the flatness.
“I’m just basing it off my previous experience. I started in bitcoin in 2013 when the price went from $250 to $1,300 and then 2014 to 2015 was sort of the nuclear bear market. Price crashed, volume crashed — very, very difficult to make money.”
Former Deutsche Bank and Citi trader Hayes co-founded BitMEX in 2014. The Seychelles-registered platform allows people to take out and trade peer-to-peer bitcoin derivative products such as futures.
Hayes, who was speaking to Yahoo Finance UK at an event in London organised by The Spectator magazine, added that he believes conditions could get even worse. He said: “We think trading volumes could fall further from where they are now.”