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Real-time prediction of Bitcoin bubble crashes

Author

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  • Shu, Min
  • Zhu, Wei

Abstract

In the past decade, Bitcoin as an emerging asset class has gained widespread public attention because of their extraordinary returns in phases of extreme price growth and their unpredictable massive crashes. We apply the log-periodic power law singularity (LPPLS) confidence indicator as a diagnostic tool for identifying bubbles using the daily data on Bitcoin price in the past two years. We find that the LPPLS confidence indicator based on the daily Bitcoin price data fails to provide effective warnings for detecting the bubbles when the Bitcoin price suffers from a large fluctuation in a short time, especially for positive bubbles. In order to diagnose the existence of bubbles and accurately predict the bubble crashes in the cryptocurrency market, this study proposes an adaptive multilevel time series detection methodology based on the LPPLS model and a finer (than daily) timescale for the Bitcoin price data. We adopt two levels of time series, 1 h and 30 min, to demonstrate the adaptive multilevel time series detection methodology. The results show that the LPPLS confidence indicator based on this new method is an outstanding instrument to effectively detect the bubbles and accurately forecast the bubble crashes, even if a bubble exists in a short time. In addition, we discover that the short-term LPPLS confidence indicator being highly sensitive to the extreme fluctuations of Bitcoin price can provide some useful insights into the bubble status on a shorter time scale – on a day to week scale, while the long-term LPPLS confidence indicator has a stable performance in terms of effectively monitoring the bubble status on a longer time scale – on a week to month scale. The adaptive multilevel time series detection methodology can provide real-time detection of bubbles and advanced forecast of crashes to warn of the imminent risk in not only the cryptocurrency market but also other financial markets.

Suggested Citation

  • Shu, Min & Zhu, Wei, 2020. "Real-time prediction of Bitcoin bubble crashes," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 548(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:548:y:2020:i:c:s0378437120302077
    DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2020.124477
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    Cited by:

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    3. Kyriazis, Nikolaos & Papadamou, Stephanos & Corbet, Shaen, 2020. "A systematic review of the bubble dynamics of cryptocurrency prices," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    4. Song, Ruiqiang & Shu, Min & Zhu, Wei, 2022. "The 2020 global stock market crash: Endogenous or exogenous?," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 585(C).
    5. Shu, Min & Zhu, Wei, 2020. "Detection of Chinese stock market bubbles with LPPLS confidence indicator," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 557(C).
    6. Hakan Pabuccu & Serdar Ongan & Ayse Ongan, 2023. "Forecasting the movements of Bitcoin prices: an application of machine learning algorithms," Papers 2303.04642, arXiv.org.
    7. Eray Gemici & Muslum Polat & Remzi Gök & Muhammad Asif Khan & Mohammed Arshad Khan & Yunus Kilic, 2023. "Do Bubbles in the Bitcoin Market Impact Stock Markets? Evidence From 10 Major Stock Markets," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(2), pages 21582440231, June.
    8. Min Shu & Ruiqiang Song & Wei Zhu, 2021. "The 2021 Bitcoin Bubbles and Crashes—Detection and Classification," Stats, MDPI, vol. 4(4), pages 1-21, November.
    9. Pawan Kumar Singh & Alok Kumar Pandey & S. C. Bose, 2023. "A new grey system approach to forecast closing price of Bitcoin, Bionic, Cardano, Dogecoin, Ethereum, XRP Cryptocurrencies," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 57(3), pages 2429-2446, June.
    10. Dulani Jayasuriya Daluwathumullagamage & Alexandra Sims, 2021. "Fantastic Beasts: Blockchain Based Banking," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-43, April.
    11. Xu, Lei & Kinkyo, Takuji, 2023. "Hedging effectiveness of bitcoin and gold: Evidence from G7 stock markets," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    12. Ma, Yu & Luan, Zhiqian, 2022. "Ethereum synchronicity, upside volatility and Bitcoin crash risk," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 46(PA).
    13. Costantini, Mauro & Maaitah, Ahmad & Mishra, Tapas & Sousa, Ricardo M., 2023. "Bitcoin market networks and cyberattacks," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 630(C).
    14. Agnieszka Kuś & Agnieszka Kuś, 2023. "Photovoltaic Companies on the Warsaw Stock Exchange—Another Speculative Bubble or a Sign of the Times?," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-21, January.
    15. Shu, Min & Song, Ruiqiang & Zhu, Wei, 2021. "The ‘COVID’ crash of the 2020 U.S. Stock market," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    16. Juan D. Borrero & Jesus Mariscal, 2022. "Predicting Time SeriesUsing an Automatic New Algorithm of the Kalman Filter," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 10(16), pages 1-13, August.
    17. Kensuke Ito & Kyohei Shibano & Gento Mogi, 2022. "Bubble Prediction of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs): An Empirical Investigation," Papers 2203.12587, arXiv.org, revised Jun 2022.
    18. Samuel W. Akingbade & Marian Gidea & Matteo Manzi & Vahid Nateghi, 2023. "Why Topological Data Analysis Detects Financial Bubbles?," Papers 2304.06877, arXiv.org.

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