The Impact of COVID-19 on Bitcoin Trading Activity: A Preliminary Assessment

15 Pages Posted: 24 Apr 2020

Date Written: April 22, 2020

Abstract

A preliminary examination of Bitcoin’s trading activity around the time of COVID-19, Oct9ober 2019 to March 2020 finds that in the first five months of that period, both transaction levels and Bitcoins traded are heavily influenced by the day’s opening Bitcoin price. That relationship begins to diverge in March 2020. With recent research finding a high correlation between changes in the Bitcoin price and the impact on the stock market of COVID-19, it would appear that Bitcoin is not behaving independent of market conditions as expected, but has become inexorably linked to the stock market, which in turn has experienced the impact of government controls on businesses and individuals. It will be interesting to see if Bitcoin regains its independence in the months ahead or has it lost its reason for existence.

Keywords: Bitcoin, COVID-19, Coronavirus, Trading Activity, US Dollar, UK Pound, Yen, Euro, Australian Dollar

JEL Classification: F60, F62, G10, G01, G15

Suggested Citation

Johnson, Jackie, The Impact of COVID-19 on Bitcoin Trading Activity: A Preliminary Assessment (April 22, 2020). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3583162 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3583162

Jackie Johnson (Contact Author)

Johnson Research, Perth ( email )

PO Box 440
Bullcreek, WA 6149
Australia

Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?

Paper statistics

Downloads
297
Abstract Views
2,020
Rank
159,007
PlumX Metrics