The volatility of the so-called liquid gold is so high it has even exceeded Bitcoin's. Thus, on February 10, one-month realized or historical volatility of WTI oil jumped to 105.3%, while in late January this figure even reached 119.6%, reaching this way a 4-month high. Meanwhile, BTC's realized volatility has recently reached 42.3%, its lowest level since September, CoinDesk has reported citing data from Skew.
Historical volatility reflects price changes in the past and is calculated as the daily standard deviation of the price on next month's futures contract, typically for a 30-day period.
WTI's volatility registered a sharp increase of 38.7% on January 6 to reach 119.6% on January 27. While Bitcoin's volatility has steadily declined from 66% to 42% in four weeks through mid-February.
This surge of the volatility of crude price could be related to two factors: the conflict between the US and Iran and the coronavirus epidemic.
According to CoinDesk, Bitcoin's volatility could increase in the future as whales or addresses with 1,000-10,000 BTCs begin to accumulate cryptos.
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