It’s the second week since Bitcoin started falling from $68,000. And while it started recovering by Wednesday, some bad news has got in the way. Will the trend continue, or will it break the momentum?
By contrast, three categories have outperformed this week. Not even Bitcoin’s dip could stop this bull run. Which includes DeFi, gaming, and metaverse coins (plus exceptions).
Before we find out, here’s what happened to Bitcoin and the general market.
Bitcoin’s Surge Stopped By New Covid Variant
November has never been an easy month for Bitcoin. Pretty much every year, there’s been resistance: $55K this 2021, $18K in 2020, $7.5K in 2019. Usually setting the beginning of an uptrend, which many anticipate by 2022.
Short-term, things change. This week, a new Covid variant appeared on the news. BTC fell from $59K to $54K within 24h by Friday.
You may think it’s similar to what we saw in March 2020. Except less dramatic. What makes this time different, however, is inflation.
So while Bitcoin is still on its way to $100K+, the “path to the moon” is more volatile than before. It’s still influenced by the global economy.
The difference is, crypto investors can hedge against inflation. If there were a crash incoming, currencies like the USD would be the first to fall. As for crypto, it might recover as quickly as last year.
Bitcoin is now stable at $54K, as many investors want to buy it in the $50K range. Without major bad events, the recovery will continue.
What Happened To Cardano?
Despite the ups and downs, most coins have gone up by +100% in the last three months. All but Cardano, which has been declining since it last hit $3. This week’s news has moved the price from $1.88 to $1.49.
The eToro exchange (a direct Binance competitor) has announced to delist Cardano by the end of 2021. To which may follow platforms like Coinbase. A coin that was top-rated a few months ago is now a burden for investors.
What has changed about the project to lose its performance?
Even though it’s been around since 2015, Cardano didn’t launch their smart contracts until September 2020. This coin had a $90B market cap without having a product. So when it finally launched, everyone sold the news.
Besides this week’s news, Cardano has been going down because (1) no major updates are coming soon (no reason to hold), and (2) there’s not enough adoption among developers.
While ADA has $10+ potential long-term, holders will need a lot of patience to profit.
Unless you invested in this week’s outperformers:
Consistent Surge On DeFi
DeFi projects got a demand spike between Tuesday 23rd and Thursday. Here are the coins and how their price changed:
- Ocean Protocol (OCEAN): From $0.98 to $1.07, $1.37 high
- The Graph (GRAPH): $0.92 to $0.95, $1.08 high
- Loopring (LRC): $2.45 to 2.84, $3.73 high
- Ankr (ANKR): $0.12 to $0.15, $0.20 high
- Band Protocol (BAND): $7.64 to $8.14, $9.41 high
- Ren (REN): $0.80 to $0.90, $1.01 high
- Curve DAO (CRV): $3.76 to $4.62, $6.39 high
Featuring Elrond (EGLD), a smart-contract competitor for Ethereum, Solana, Avalanche, Polkadot, and Polygon. EGLD reached $320 to $420 in ten days, and a new all-time high at $542.58. Holders will be happy, as it’s been silently going up since January ($25).
Since many are expecting a bull run by 2022, investors are taking the last buying opportunities. And when prices rise, the only “cheap” way to increase your holdings is by investing in DeFi coins (possibly yield farming). Hence, one reason for this surge.
Silent Outperformers
If 20% weekly gains aren’t enough for you, wait until you hear of the “silent outperformers:”
- Crypto.com (CRO): From $0.68 to $0.73, $0.97 high
- Basic Attention Token (BAT): From $1.02 to $1.65, $1.91 high
- The Sandbox (SAND): From $3.90 to $7.10, $8.51 ATH
- Bread Wallet (BRD): From $0.17 to $1.06, $1.67 high
- Amp Token (AMP): From $0.05 to $0.07, $0.076 high
While everyone was thinking about metaverse/defi/smart contracts, these coins have been outperforming behind the scenes. Many prices are now either moving up or sideways, while Bitcoin is dipping. It’s safe to say they’re not returning to the original lows (for a few months at least).
CRO and SAND might be the most unexpected winners. Many took profits after last week’s all-time highs, yet they kept going up. Resistance is now $0.70 for CRO and $7 for SAND.
SAND’s competitor MANA also breaks a $5.90 ATH (from $3.70 to $4.70). And unlike Sandbox, Decentraland doesn’t show any weakness from Bitcoin’s dip.
New highlights include Bread Wallet (now acquired by Coinbase), Basic Attention Token (Brave Browser’s currency), and AMP.
Gaming Tokens On The rise
2–10x are the rule during gaming crypto bull runs. Depending on how early you find these gems. We’ve seen what happened to Sandbox/Decentraland, and we’re now seeing something similar with new companies:
- Gala Games (GALA): $0.39 to $0.65, $0.83 ATH
- Vulcan Forged (PYR): $26.50 to $36.50, $49.73 ATH
- Illuvium (ILV): $1,050 to $1,510, $1,813 high
- Seedify (SFUND): $9.15 to $15.25, $15.93 ATH
- Ultra (UOS): $1.48 to $2.22, $2.47 ATH
Why is crypto gaming so bullish? Maybe because it combines all the hottest trends in the blockchain: NFTs (virtual items), VR, and metaverses. It offers blockchain solutions to a massive gaming market, play-to-earn mainly.
With a bit of adoption, games and launchpad tokens have massive potential (ILV started at $60 this March). For software businesses, it’s an opportunity with billions of unsatisfied demand. And while it doesn’t make every game a homerun (most of them are worthless), 10–100x coin surges happen often.
How they’ll develop depends on each studio, as game tokens don’t rely on Bitcoin as much. So while the general market may find some resistance, investors can still find opportunities within the Top 50 list. Whether that’s DeFi, gaming, or smaller projects.