I've been doing a lot of research in crypto for the last 2 years, and I'm definitely waiting and hoping for the next bull market which I think will be inevitable. I've tried not to focus as much on when the next bull run will be, but rather the position I'd like to be in when it happens.
There are a bunch of new cryptocurrencies that have been created in the last week, last month, and thousands I believe since this time last year. The only thing clear to me in crypto is that the top coins seem to be holding their positions in terms of market cap for now. Bitcoin is still the top coin, Ethereum is the first altcoin listed on CMC, and XRP, EOS, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, Stellar, Tron, and Binance coin have all held their rank on CMC for the most part. I'm probably leaving out a few coins here.
If you look at the historical charts from yesterday of last year you'll see how much things have shifted: https://coinmarketcap.com/historical/20180225/
Also, if you look at some of the top coins from this time in 2017, you'll notice that the top coins have shifted positions a lot. https://coinmarketcap.com/historical/20170226/
The reality is that this bear market has already wiped out hundreds of projects that seemed promising at the time, and now they are either barely surviving this market or they have run out of money to continue to develop their project. Some of the developers of these coins have just given up. I believe that much of the weak hands in crypto have already been shaken out, and even if we drop to below a $3,000 BTC or a bit lower it probably won't bother a lot of long-term investors in crypto.
I believe that every bull/bear market in cryptocurrency not only has its scams, but also it's opportunities if you look in the right places. In the last bull market we had plenty of low market cap coins that ended up soaring to new all-time highs only to crash really hard a few weeks later, and some of them are no longer listed on any reputable exchanges.
Even though we are not in a bull market, it is still possible to make money in this market. And I've been telling myself over the last few months that if you can make money in a bear market, then making money in a bull market will probably be much easier.
The best investments in this bear market I think will still be the best investments in this next bull market. If the team behind the coin can't continue to work through this bear market, then they will never make money in the next bull market. I believe that a lot of the weak investors have been shaken out, but also a lot of weak teams have been shaken out. And if they go quiet in this bear market and suddenly start being active all of the sudden in this next bull market, then I won't even be throwing them a single dime.
The best teams or investors seek out new opportunities even in a weak market, guard and protect their risk/reward tolerance and find new ways to innovate, work more efficiently and continue to update their investors with their progress. Unfortunately, the reason a lot of these teams have dropped off in this bear market is due to their lack of experience, greed, and of course several other factors.
Of course, the weak market has also allowed some much smaller projects to gain the attention they deserve for continuing to work hard and show investors new opportunities to make money. The bull market of 2017 seems like it was all about those small cap cryptos, but I think the next bull market will allow a lot of Dapps to shine.
If you haven't been keeping tabs of a lot of the Dapp activity in this bear market, then these are the sites you should pay attention to: https://www.stateofthedapps.com/ https://dapp.review/explore/all And https://dappradar.com/ Just keep in mind that some of these Dapps shouldn't be trusted.
This is not financial advice, cryptocurrency is risky. But where there is risk there is also reward.
----What are your favorite coins/Dapps that you're looking forward to this year?