Last time, BTC price took
more than 3 years to return to its peak. How many years will it take, if ever, for BTC to return to $20,000?
I think the current situation is different.
What we saw in late November/ early December was a massive influx of new people who had read all the news reports of bitcoin surging in value, and wanted in. This I believe was the main cause of the huge price rise. All big rises tend to be followed by a fall, and what happened was that as soon as the price dropped, these people had lost money and a lot of them panicked, and sold to cut their losses, which triggered further sells, and then experienced traders jumped in to short their coins, exacerbating the drop. And this was pattern was repeated in more extreme fashion in the altcoins rising almost vertically and then dropping just as quickly in Jan/early Feb. This is all due to the fact that crypto is gaining mainstream attention, which is why we also have governments jumping in to have their say every couple of days. This government/media FUD is in my opinion a symptom of the price swings, not the cause.
So I think the current situation is unprecedented - it is the first pains of interaction between crypto and the mainstream. Crypto will grow, mainstream adoption will come, but there will no doubt be more drama along the way.
Of course I may be wrong (I have limited experience and have not yet been here a year), but I believe that $20k will arrive sooner than people think. The overall trend is still upwards, and this will continue through 2018.
This is a nice summary, and I agree with what you have said, EXCEPT from $20k arriving sooner than we think.
There were times over the last few months where the mempool was so backed up, many people gave up even attempting to transfer/move their coins. Bitcoin market dominance is at an all time low of 34%. Bitcoin is slipping, and people know it. Yes, the overall trend for the market as a whole is upwards, and I'm still very bullish about crypto in general, but I'm not sure how long Bitcoin can maintain its number 1 spot. It has first mover advantage, but not much else going for it. It is used widely to trade alts, but Ethereum is rapidly taking over this market. There are other coins offering smart contracts, fee-less transaction, instant transactions, staking, ASIC-resistance, etc, etc.
With news circulating of various exchanges in the process of allowing trading directly between fiat and alts, we need lightning network to be a success, and a success SOON. I think it will be a while before we see $20k again. But that's just one guys opinion. Who knows.