After a few weeks that felt like an eternity for long-term Bitcoin investors, the exchange price of this token climbed from the $35K trading level to settle around $38K on January 25. The move may have been a result of investors looking at a long-term trend in the cryptocurrency market, but it may have also been the result of active traders seeking to inflate the price by means of "buying the dip." This dip, however, is not a new thing.

If you go back to 2016, many traders were expecting a fall in the price of Bitcoin during the first quarter of that year. In late 2017 and early 2018, Bitcoin hit its lowest point since it was first issued in January 2009, and this year seems to be very much like 2016, with a similar dip in price.

The price of Ethereum saw a similarly dramatic price drop in January and this time around the drop did not last long. It is too early to tell whether this week's mini-rally will really take hold past the end of January. What we do know in the way of positive news is that the cryptocurrency markets are attracting many new investors, and they invariably make a beeline towards Bitcoin. Why do they gravitate towards BTC/USD instead of other tokens that are not as volatile? Let's review what most rookie BTC traders know:

One of the most interesting facts about Bitcoin is the way it is treated. The token is a crypto-asset that can be traded just like any other currency on the market. However, the lack of government regulation has caused confusion on the way it is treated by financial regulators. In the United States, the SEC has made a statement that there is no Bitcoin-related regulation at all. The SEC has also stated that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are not securities.

The Bitcoin trading ecosystem consists of exchanges and wallets and, in my opinion, exchanges have created a very convenient and secure way of holding Bitcoin. A lot of exchanges provide their own wallets, and the tokens can be quickly traded from one exchange to another. This is as much as new BTC traders know about, and it seems to be enough for them to take the plunge.