Cryptocurrency marketAfter Tuesday’s signs of recovery, it fell broadly again on Wednesday. Bitcoin (BTC), falling below $ 46 thousand, showed a minor recovery above $ 46.5 thousand shortly after. Etherum (ETH), on the other hand, slumped below $3,600 before climbing above the support zone. Most of the top 20 market cap altcoins have lost 2% to 10% of their valuation as market analysts hope for a recovery soon.
BTC traded at $46,828, down 2.14% in market capitalization in the past 24 hours. The top cryptocurrency registered a new ATH of $68,789 in October despite the bear-weighted second quarter, but still fell to the levels seen towards the start of the May-June bearish cycle.
Retail interest in BTC seems to be waning, and market experts predict it will all be about institutions and whales moving forward. Bitcoin analyst Will Clemente shared various on-chain data metrics to show that retail interest in Bitcoin started to gradually decline after the spring months.
During the 2017 bull run, institutions mostly preferred to watch this rise, but now they have managed to become mainstream among BTC investors with a few public companies investing heavily in BTC.
Retail interest in Bitcoin is pretty much gone since the Spring.
Big boys running the show now. pic.twitter.com/ufs6xxeB1Q
— Will Clemente (@WClementeIII) December 28, 2021
The price drops experienced in BTC in the last two months of 2021 also resulted in the failure of several price predictions for the top cryptocurrency. While the absurd price predictions are nothing new, the failure of Plan B’s Stock Flow (S2F) price target was the prediction that caught the most attention. The S2F model predicted a Christmas price target of $95,000 but hasn’t come close to that price target, but the analyst believes failure does not necessarily signal the end of the bull run.
I use models to protect myself from emotions. Right now most people, incl myself, fear further decline of btc price and want to sell. But S2F model shows btc is at the low end of 50k-200k 1sd band, a buy signal. Likewise 200k will feel like btc will rise forever but S2F says sell pic.twitter.com/fucjbmkZFk
— PlanB (@100trillionUSD) December 29, 2021
Ethereum approaches ETH 2.0 upgrade
The second largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization Ethereum (ETH)It is currently trading at $3,691, down 3% in the last 24 hours. Throughout 2021, ETH has become one of the biggest winners with an ATH of $4,891. The altcoin has also managed to retain the interest of its investors by showing greater market depth and better price recovery during market liquidation times.
The altcoin is approaching one of the biggest upgrades as it is expected to move to the Proof-of-Stake chain by the second quarter of 2022. Once the migration is complete, the locked assets will be unlocked. The ETH 2.0 testnet is currently live, and the developers urged the community to test it before it’s official release.
27/ Switching gears a bit, in 2021 ETH staked on the newly launched Beacon Chain grew 8-fold to over 8M ETH, in expectation of the transition to PoS. pic.twitter.com/TIJLWwoxBC
— Ξlias Simos (@eliasimos) December 27, 2021
Disclaimer: What is written here is not investment advice. Cryptocurrency investments are high-risk investments. Every investment decision is under the individual’s own responsibility. Finally, Koinfinans and the author of this content cannot be held responsible for personal investment decisions.