Yesterday, I published "The State of Crypto: The Highest Gains for 01/16/2021. This is the followup/companion piece, which covers the highest losses for the same time period.
It's important to note that, even in a massive bull run like the one we are seeing now, not everyone is going to be a winner. As we all know, when politicians refer to making things "better," the truth of the matter, best explained by a quote from The Handmaid's Tale:
Better never means better for everyone -- yet it almost always means worse for some.
Even though this came from a fictional story, the principle behind it is true, even for crypto.
So, today, amid a backdrop of an historic second impeachment of President Donald Trump as President-elect Joe Biden prepares to take the helm of the United States government, let's take a look at some of the cryptocurrencies that suffered the worst losses during this first week of January 2021.
Note: There are "shitcoins" that took much worse hits, percentage-wise, than some of these on my list. However, I'm not really interested in covering shitcoins. Certainly, the rule uttered by Commander Waterford applies to the shitcoin market as well, as some will see gains that are completely uncalled for as pump and dump schemes still happen on a daily basis and newbies and veterans alike are drawn into such schemes.
I. Tron
Tron is on a downward trend as is goes from around $0.035 to $0.29. Now, this might not seem like much, but it's almost a half a cent loss in value on a three-cent asset, meaning that the actual loss is around 1/6 of the total value of the TRON token. Personally, I stay away from Tron and I've done so ever since the hostile takeover of the Steem ecosystem and platform. A loss of 1/6 of it's value during what will certainly become one of the year of mass adoption is a warning sign that still makes me stay away.
II. Bitcoin
Bitcoin lost around 6% of its value, dropping from around $39,000 back down to $35K. This is a good thing for those of us who plan on holding out crypto, as we can now pick BTC up at a 6% discount from yesterday's value. Remember, in my "Crypto Market Principles, Bitcoin will only appreciate over time. These market swings occur not generally as a result of natural market forces, but by The Whales taking explicit advantage of the anxiety of new crypto investors, using their large holdings to make a huge sale, causing other investors to sell off, afraid of missing out on any profits. These small-but-significant sell-offs can see BTC lose 5-7%, which then allows The Whales to scoop these discounted sales. Tomorrow or the day after, we'll likely see BTC regain the lost value and will begin to gain over time again. I, for one, will not be selling any of my BTC.
III. Bitcoin Satoshi Vision (Bitcoin SV)
Bitcoin Satoshi Vision (ticker BSV) has been a controversial project since its inception. It claims to be a "return" to the original vision for Bitcoin, laid out by the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto -- a decentralized, peer-to-peer electronic currency. Like Bitcoin Cash, BSV is a hard-fork of the Bitcoin project. Proponent of BSV state that it is the future of Bitcoin, while detractors claim that it has the hallmarks of a scam. I'm not sure where I stand on the topic, to be honest, and I do not hold and BSV due to my uncertainty about the platform. Nonetheless, BSV has enjoyed status within the top 20 cryptocurrencies, currently at no. 14, and is trading volumes in excess of $1 billion USD with a $3.5 billion USD market cap; so it does not look like it will be going anywhere soon. However, some of the debate about the project and its value will mean that volatile swings will probably be more pronounced than with BTC or ETH, so there is the potential for traders to make a decent profit from BSV. I remain unconvinced at this point, and will not be putting my dollars into BSV.
IV. Gifto (GTO)
I literally know nothing about the Gifto (GTO) project, but in watching the market, I noticed that this humble coin, currently number 380, has been witnessing some massive swings both back and forth in terms of volatility, so it looks like there is a possibility to make some decent returns for those who are day traders and ride the volatility train.
According to the project's website, the Gifto project and GTO token exist as a tipping/reward asset -- something that PUBLISH0X staff should maybe take a look at to see if it is viable for this platform. It apparently has integration with Telegram, which means that it can be integrated pretty simply into any content creator who uses Telegram.
Like I said, though -- what caught my attention is the volatility. Take a look at the market cap for this project -- it's $19 million USD -- and then look at the 24 hour trading volume -- it's $83 million USD. Furthermore, over the course of the past day, the price has varied from almost $.05 down to $.025 -- a 2:1 ratio. This means that those who had $1000 in GTO when it was $.025 and sold close to $.05 would have $2000 right now. Those sorts of profits are rare now, especially overnight, so this is definitely something to watch. Historic all-time high was close to $1.00 ($0.98), which is 50x -- 5000% -- of its current value. Unfortunately, this ATH occurred during the 2017-2018 ICO bubble, so the artificial pump and dump assholes may have had a hand in it.
Is this an asset I'm buying? No, not at this time. However, I have mixed feelings here, and this may change if volatility continues such up-and-down trends. We also have to be careful to ensure that the volatility is not occurring SOLELY from artificial pump and dumps, because if that is the case, the asset is likely worthless.
As we move into alt season, more and more of my picks for these articles will cover altcoins, as well as keeping track of major assets like BTC, ETH, etc.
V. The Crypto Market Capitalization
Just the other day, we were thrilled. The total crypto market capitalization has breached $1 trillion USD for the first time in history. Bitcoin has become more valuable than Walmart, and the bull run still has a long, long way to go as alts begin to see movement indicative of the impending alt season.
However, over the last few days, the total market share has contracted a bit, losing a total of about 4% of its entire valuation, leaving us with a total value of around $997 billion.
This is not a bad thing for those of us who play the market. As so many others have pointed out since the beginning of the markets -- when contractions like this happen, it's time to buy the assets that are certain to revaluate. Bitcoin dropped to $3,500 in March 2020 during a mass sell-off event at the beginning of the COVID19 pandemic. Now, 10 months later, it is trading at $35,000. This volatility and the potential for profit during such a period is the reason behind my tracking of a stimulus check investment placed into BTC. I will continue to track my stimulus investments and will provide updates on a monthly basis throughout 2021, so stay tuned for that.
But to get a better idea of market volatility, take a look at where we were just 6 days ago:
Now, if you look at the current values of each of these coins, you can see how the correction/contraction has affected major assets. Again, please understand that if you sell off your assets during this slight contraction, you will be giving The Whales your money at a discount, and it will then become The Whales who continue to centralize, continue to take advantage, continue to manipulate, and continue their path of greed.
Conclusion
I had a bit of a hard time writing this article. I hate crypto FUD, as I think it is a tool used to scare people into selling their assets for less than they will be worth in a very short time. So, I had to be careful when looking at these assets not to write anything that would spread fear, uncertainty, and doubt while also making sure I'm not hyping anything beyond it's value. Volatility is the reason why we love crypto. It is an emotional rollercoaster that evokes strong, strong dopamine release when a large profit is realized, similar to the addiction-to-instant-gratification that occurs in all markets where a degree of gambling is nascent.
Make no mistake -- this dopamine release is just as powerful as a line of cocaine, and the high is just as powerful, too. Think about a great decision you made during a trade that brought you the largest return you've ever experienced. Think about the euphoria you felt as you realized you were making hundreds or thousands of dollars via the click of a mouse. Combine this with the emotional FOMO that comes standard with these sorts of markets and you have a drug more powerful than any synthetic substance out there. The Whales know this -- they are all addicted, too.
Luckily, there is an antidote to the FOMO. It's called research. While I truly appreciate the tips and support that you all receive, and I am sincerely flattered by the donations that have come my way. However, I don't want anyone to rely solely on my writing when making a choice regarding their crypto assets. I am a proponent of doing as much research as possible before putting my money into anything, and if there was ever a such thing as a universal principle, it is -- Do Your Own Research (DYOR) -- not just for crypto, but for everything!
Thanks for reading! I look forward to your comments below.
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Alternatively, if you wanna tip with crypto, here are my addresses:
Bitcoin (BTC): 3EneFkVk2ue4BKLWqQ1ASxAQNFb2HTVBMR Ethereum (ETH) 0x851F8fd2792c5c6eC28687839aAfCeF8dd6a17c6 Brave/BAT: 0xb139E44C4b1Ec6b66e6505202126c236E9031eE2
References
3. https://gifto.io/
