Bitcoin may be once again ready for a bull run, but the rest of the crypto space has a lot of catching up to do in order to return to peak prices set years ago.
A list circulating social media depicts the most popular cryptocurrencies then and now, and shows just how far the entire crypto market needs to recover in order to return to those prices, and potentially beat them.
Two Years Later: The Crypto Market Is Still 80% Or More Down From All-Time High
In 2017, cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin went from a completely unheard of technology for mainstream common-folk, to the talk of the town.
The allure of rags to riches stories and ballooning asset prices drew in a massive influx of retail investors with little to no previous investment experience, and the end result was them getting stuck holding extremely heavy bags, as early adopters sold off the assets at all-time high prices.
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Many of the top ten cryptocurrencies by market cap have completely fallen out of favor since, and are down anywhere between 94% to as much as 100% from their all-time high prices. Even the current top ten, comprised of actual crypto assets with real utility, are down anywhere from 82 to 92%, with only one rare altcoin outperforming Bitcoin, which itself is still down 54% from its previous all-time high of $20,000.
ATH vs Current Price pic.twitter.com/r7ufra0vtg
— ₿obby Orr (@MarioLemieux99) November 11, 2019
According to the list, Binance Coin tops the entire market in terms of performance, down only 48% from the asset’s all-time high. Bitcoin is right behind it, at 54%. At one point, Bitcoin had reclaimed even more lost ground, but a rejection around $14,000 sent the first-ever cryptocurrency back into a downtrend, and it is still struggling to return to the bull run it appeared to be kicking off earlier this year.
Altcoins, however, haven’t fared as well as Bitcoin, with the majority of the alternative crypto assets still down anywhere 80% or higher from their all-time highs.
The second place-crypto by market cap, Ethereum, which topped out at over $1,400 is still down 87%, while the number three crypto-asset, XRP, remains down 92%. Bitcoin Cash, the hard fork that was introduced at the height of the crypto hype bubble, is also down 92%.
Litecoin, which experienced a halving this past year, saw much stronger gains leading up to the event, but a post halving sell-off has taken the asset’s price back to as much as 82% down from its all-time high.
EOS, which wasn’t introduced to the market until after the bubble began to pop, remains down 84%. Stellar and Tron both faired similarly, down a respective 91 and 92% from their former all-time high.
The altcoins that formerly made up the top ten cryptocurrencies by market cap back at the bubble peak, have struggled even harder to return to mean. These assets, such as IOTA, Dash, NEO, and Dash, are all down anywhere from 94 to 96%. Verge and XEM are down 98% and 99%, and BitConnect, a proven scam, has resulted in a total loss.
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The math is even more damning, as not only is Verge, for example, down 99% from its all-time high, it would require an over 6450% gain to break above its all-time high, suggesting that many investors still holding these heavy bags, may be stuck at a loss forever.
The example also shows that while investing in the crypto market top ten is typically the wisest and least risky of choices, even that doesn’t mean an asset won’t fall out of favor completely and end up down 99% from its highest possible price.