Chaos in Bitcoin Cryptocurrency Metrics: Analysis and Forecasts

Abstract Cryptocurrencies, particularly Bitcoin have attracted a lot of attention in the last decades of humanity. Analyzing cryptocurrencies algorithmic differences, chaotic behavior and self-similarity in cryptocurrency metrics might give significant insights for identifying risks and opportunities. Determining the degree of chaos in crypto metrics is critical for understanding complexity, improving prediction capabilities, and supporting decision-making. This study focuses on the analysis of chaos and self-similarity in Bitcoin dynamics for predictability perspective. Return, rate of return and volume quantities in different scales are analyzed with using rescaled range method to reveal the degree of self-similarity. Hurst parameter extracts a comprehensive summary providing information on how current values depend on previous ones to reveal any persistence in Bitcoin metrics. Daily rate of return and return give Hurst degree around 0.64 while they are in between 0.52–0.55 for minutely and hourly based prices. However, an increasing persistence is observed with the increasing time window. Although the largest Lyapunov exponents stay in the positive region for prices and returns of Bitcoin, they are approximately zero for inspected statistics. Periodic characteristics of Bitcoin are also investigated to reveal any dependencies on halving mechanism of Bitcoin. Detailed self-similarity analysis on specific periods shows that bull and bear market seasons don’t make any significant effect on the degree of Hurst parameter. Due to nonlinear and unpredictable characteristics of Bitcoin metrics, distribution fittings are applied to characterize BTC return and rate of return. While Wakeby distribution gives best fitting for daily return, Cauchy distribution gives best for hourly returns.