Will bitcoin bears crash Year of Ox party?

Chinese revellers will be ushering in the Year of the Ox next month, but some bears could be crashing the party.

The Chinese New Year holiday, which runs from February 11 to 17, could have an indirect impact on bitcoin’s price and drive sell-offs, according to a report by crypto investment firm Stack Funds.

It said the ongoing selling pressure on bitcoin’s price is likely to continue in the short term due to Asian miners increasingly offloading their funds during the annual holiday, Cointelegraph reports. More than 60% of global bitcoin mining pools are located in China.

Lennard Neo, Stack Funds head of research, said the ongoing sell-off coincides with the holidays approaching, suggesting that there could be a further drop in price.

“With upcoming Chinese New Year holidays, we expect this selling pressure to continue in the short-term, providing good entry opportunities for market participants,” he explained. “We also expect this volatility to persist in the coming weeks, adding pressure to further corrections for bitcoin prices.”

Worried investors should note that China’s biggest holiday has usually coincided with a short-term decline in bitcoin’s price, which was $32,740 at the time of publication, according to CoinMarketCap, down $9,201 from its recent all-time high of $41,941.