It has been no secret that 2018 has been a tough year for crypto investors and enthusiasts alike. After the mania phase of late 2017, where just about every coin was ‘mooning’ and investors were all driving Lambos. Fast forward 9 months and some cryptos are down as much as 90% and the space is full of FUD. Today I thought I would investigate how far some coins have fallen and what the effect of this might be moving forward.
How have the top coins have fared during the dip?
I recently found the website Coinpaprika which breaks down the % a coin has fallen from its all time high (ATH) price. Looking at some of these stats we can see how bad the crash has been.
Screenshot from www.coinpaprika.com
Bitcoin
The grand daddy of coins, Bitcoin, has suffered the least out of the top 10 (excluding Tether…), falling 68.49% from its all time high. During a dip t would be expected that Bitcoin would be affected the least, as it is the most ‘stable’ coin in the market, and also the most established. Interestingly Bitcoin also peaked the earliest, on December 17 2017, which suggests that the market follows Bitcoins lead.
The worst hit - Cardono
If you owned Cardona in early January and still own it now then the news is the worst for you! Cardono has fallen an amazing 94.46%. In terms of price that is a fall from $1.33 to where it sits now around $0.07!
Most recent all time High - EOS
The coin that hit it ATH the most recently is EOS, which had its all time high of $22.89 on 29 April. However since then it has performed poorly and had lost 77% of its price. EOS gained significant hyper earlier in the year around the time of its main net launch, suggesting this pump in price was linked to speculation around their launch.
How our beloved Steem has fared during the market dip
The news for Steem has been equally bleak this year, with the price losing just over 90% of its value. Thats a HUGE loss from the ATH of $8.57 to the current price of around $0.84. This had led to declining rewards, and alot of negativity on Steem, not to forget all the people leaving the platform to search for greener pastures. Some people see the dip in price of Steem negatively, but I see it as a chance to earn and accumulate some Steem while it is cheap!
OK, so what does all this mean?
Firstly if we look at the overall market we can see that Bitcoin still has market dominance (and it has been steadily rising). The market seems to still be moving in tandem with Bitcoin - i.e. when Bitcoin rises the majority of the market rises and vice versa. A part of this is because a larger portion of the market is traded in Bitcoin and it also has the first mover advantage.
Store of value
For a currency to be legitimate it must meet the function of having a ‘store of value’. For example $1usd will still be worth a similar amount in 6 months time as it is today. Clearly from above this hasn’t been the case for Bitcoin - losing nearly 70% of its value this year. The reasons for this are many - tighter restrictions on cryptocurrency, the craze of late 2017 led to overvaluation of most coin and thus the subsequent sell off.
What about the tech?
Not all cryptos are specifically relying on their store of value, but rather on tech and development as their competitive edge and way to increase their value. This is the case with Steem - and there have been lot of great developments on the Steem blockchain over the last few months, and yet the price keeps falling :(. Lets hope that Steem can have an increase in the future and the price will reflect the value and diversity of Steem!
Within this the price can also be affected when there are announcements or changes within the tech - for example as I mentioned above with EOS launching the price spiked.
What do we need for prices to start rising again?
Crypto is still in its infancy (especially alt coins), and thus it will take time for them to reach mass adoption and acceptance. MOre understanding and acceptance will mean more people will see crypto as a worthy investment and will help boost the price and demand. Government has also shown an interest in the crypto space, and having some regulations could become both a help and a hindrance to the success of cryptocurrencies moving forward.
We may not see the prices we want for the next 1, or even 5 years, but I am a HODLer and a true believer in blockchain technology and believe it will be the future - I will be a part of the future, will you?
Conclusion
Since the start of the year we have seen ‘blood on the streets’ in the crypto space, with some coins losing 90% from their ATH price. However, I think that the crypto space will be here to stay and sooner or later move out of this marke dip.
I would love to hear your thought!
Pictures downloaded from royalty free website pixabay.com