ANYONE following the British public’s interest when buying and selling Bitcoin this year would have made a 27 percent profit — equivalent to £8,602.37 profit on one bitcoin, or £272.80 for a £1,000 investment.
Analysis by money transfer firm RationalFX made the calculation based on the return for investing in the cryptocurrency when internet searches for “buy Bitcoin” were at their highest, and sold it when searches spiked for “sell Bitcoin”.
Google search trends for this year show the “buy” moment came on February 8, when the price of one Bitcoin closed at $44,716.69 (£31,534.21). This was the date that Tesla announced it had invested $1.5b in Bitcoin, and that it would start accepting it as a payment method. On Wednesday March 10, searches for “sell Bitcoin” were at their highest; the cryptocurrency closed at $56,915.17 (£40,136.58).
Investing on the first date and selling on the second would have netted a 27 percent profit: $12,198.49 (£8,602.37) on a full bitcoin, or £272.80 for a £1,000 investment.
And investors could have made even more by speculating on the crypto this year — if they chose the right dates.
Bitcoin’s lowest point this year was $28,154.11 (£19,854.28) on January 4, while it reached its highest price on Thursday April 15, when it went up to $64,801.79 (£45,698.22).
By buying and selling on those dates, a profit of 130 percent profit — $36,647.68 (£25,843.94) — would have been made in three months; £1,000 would have netted a return of £1,300.
Get that the wrong way round, though, and you’re looking at a 53 percent loss: $34,599.83 (£24,399.80) on a full Bitcoin, £530 on a £1,000 punt.
“The potential profits can look very tempting, but the volatility of the price and the possible losses will put off plenty of would-be investors,” said a RationalFX spokesperson.
If someone invested in one Bitcoin at lowest ever price of $83, and then sold it at on April 15, they would have made a 776 percent profit. That equates to a profit of $64,718.45 (£45,950.10) on one coin, or £776,668 for the £1,000 investor.
