What is the current price of bitcoin?
The price of bitcoin, or 1 BTC, traded at $63,864.52, as of 8 a.m. ET. The highest intraday price that the original crypto reached in the past year was $73,750.07 on March 14, 2024.
Bitcoin price chart
The chart above is pulling data as of 8 a.m. ET daily and doesn’t display intraday highs or lows.
Bitcoin price history
Bitcoin’s all-time high was on March 14, 2024, trading at $73,750.07 per bitcoin. The lowest intraday price that the crypto traded in the past year was $24,930.30 on Sep. 11, 2023. The original crypto is up by 145% year over year.
BTC had very humble beginnings when it was launched in January 2009. Since then, the world’s first cryptocurrency has completely shifted global financial markets and amassed a global market capitalization of $1.26 trillion.
The crypto is also becoming a popular alternative to government-backed fiat currencies, such as the U.S. dollar, which tend to lose value over time due to inflation.
What is bitcoin?
Bitcoin is known for its blockchain network and decentralized ledger that tracks transactions. The crypto has been used throughout the financial industry. Its network allows users to make transactions without a major bank or government intermediary.
Transactions are recorded on the blockchain and visible to everyone. Miners maintain the blockchain by solving complex math problems to validate transactions. This creates new blocks on the blockchain. Miners receive BTC payments for their work.
Bitcoin became a proof-of-concept mechanism that led to thousands of imitators. Since its launch, thousands of cryptos have come onto the scene.
How is bitcoin’s price determined?
No underlying assets are associated with bitcoin, making it unique. The crypto doesn’t represent ownership of a company or pay a dividend. As a result, its price is entirely at the mercy of supply and demand.
Miners receive new bitcoin when they verify and add a block of transactions to the blockchain. The total supply is capped at 21 million BTC.
Prices fluctuate based on demand. This makes investor sentiment the lone factor determining bitcoin’s price.
Bitcoin’s starting price
Bitcoin prices started very low. The first recorded transaction in late 2009 saw 5,050 BTC change hands for $5.02. That comes to $0.00099 per BTC, or less than a tenth of a cent.
Bitcoin halvings
Bitcoin’s network undergoes a process known as halving after 210,000 blocks of transactions are added to the blockchain.
Miners receive a set BTC reward for validating new blocks. The process is called a halving because it cuts that reward in half. Halving is crucial because it limits the BTC supply and supports its price over time.
*The return comparisons are as of 8 a.m. ET.
Does bitcoin halving increase BTC’s price?
Because bitcoin halvings reduce the supply of new BTC, they would theoretically be good for bitcoin prices.
But a halving doesn’t directly impact the price of bitcoin. So it’s not a guaranteed bullish catalyst. Historically, bitcoin prices have reached a cyclical bottom roughly a year before a halving occurs and have risen for more than a year after a halving.
A history of bitcoin prices
2010 – 2019
The first bitcoin exchanges launched in 2010. BTC grew to over $1 by 2011.
It took another two years for the next thousandfold increase. The price of BTC pushed past $1,000 by late 2013.
Prices continued to snowball from there. In November 2017, they exceeded $10,000. The following month, when CME Group announced the first bitcoin futures contracts, prices cleared $20,000.
But 2018 saw a reversal, with prices falling under $4,000.
2020 – 2024
The crypto soared during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. A combination of government stimulus funds and low interest rates helped boost bitcoin.
But interest rates started rising in 2022, prompting a price drop. That decline exposed some cracks in the crypto industry, including overextended companies. The result was a string of layoffs and bankruptcies that likely dragged prices down.
Prices rose again in 2023. On March 14, 2024, BTC hit a new intraday high of $73,750.07.
How to buy bitcoin online
Many investors rely on popular crypto exchanges, such as Binance, Coinbase and Kraken to buy BTC.
To buy bitcoin directly, you need a digital wallet. This allows you to store bitcoin and access it with a private key specific to your wallet.
Hardware wallets resemble USB drives. Software wallet apps store BTC on smartphones or other devices.
Wallets can also be hot or cold. Hot wallets are connected to the internet for convenience, while cold wallets are unconnected for greater security.
Read more: How to buy bitcoin
Bitcoin ETFs
Investors can use bitcoin exchange-traded funds to speculate without investing directly in BTC.
The Securities and Exchange Commission approved these ETFs in January 2024. They hold bitcoin, not futures contracts, and trade on U.S. exchanges.
Many interpreted this approval as a significant validation of the cryptocurrency.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
BTC is the unique ticker symbol for bitcoin. It allows traders to identify the cryptocurrency quickly in an exchange’s system and distinguish it from other cryptocurrencies or products. One bitcoin equals 1 BTC.
One BTC represents one bitcoin, which is currently valued at $63,864.52. While global central banks often increase the supply of fiat currencies like the U.S. dollar, the supply of bitcoin is capped at 21 million BTC.
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