Summary:
- Zimbabwean crisis escalates as army takes over
- Bitcoin trading at double the price on black market
- Bitcoin corrections being bought more quickly
Rising political tensions in Zimbabwe have seen investors flock to Bitcoin with local exchanges still finding buyers as high as $13,499 for the cryptocurrency which currently trades around $7200 elsewhere.
The military has taken control in Zimbabwe but said that President Robert Mugabe, who has been in office since 1980, was safe. The army seized state TV with a spokesman announcing that it was targeting people close to Mr. Mugabe. South African President Jacob Zuma later commented on the matter by saying that he had spoken to Mr. Mugabe who had indicated that he was confined to his home but was “fine.”
Some reports suggest the latest moves may be an attempt to replace Mr. Mugabe with his sacked deputy, Emmerson Mnangagwa with the dismissal of the latter seemingly paving the way for Mr. Mugabe’s wife Grace as the President’s likely successor.
According to prices on Golix, an African based digital currency exchange, the price of Bitcoin has soared in the last 24 hours with the price hitting a high of $13,499 – not far from double the actual price. Demand for Bitcoin in Zimbabwe has surged amidst a shortage of hard currency. Traded volume on Golix has surpassed the $1M mark in the past 30 days compared to turnover of $100,000 for the whole of 2016.
The drop seen last week was 31% from peak to trough (assuming the low over the weekend is the bottom). This is comparable in scale to the two most recent deep correction back in September and June/July. Source: xStation
Bitcoin has rallied by 9% so far today and the market has now recovered the majority of the gains seen from last week’s sell-off. Price the morning broke above the 61.8% fib at 6953 and has moved to its highest level of the week above 700.
There appears to be a growing sense of FOMO (fear of missing out) amongst Bitcoin traders with the corrections being bought back far more quickly. The latest correction took only 7 days to recapture the 61.% fib compared to 26 days back September and 37 days in the early summer sell-off. Of course this correction isn’t technically over until the latest high (7862) is broken above but there does appear to be a clear propensity amongst traders to buy the dip and increasingly faster rates.
Latest decline
Bitcoin has enjoyed a strong bounce in recent days and has already recovered the majority of last week’s declines. Source: xStation
September decline 
Back in September the market took far longer to recoup the 61.8% fib with 26 days having elapsed from the prior high before price broke back above this level. Source: xStation
June/July decline
The drop seen in June and July took even longer to recover back above the 61.*% fib with 37 days passing between the prior high and this level being recaptured. Source: xStation