Bitcoin Outperforms Major Altcoins in 2022

Monday, 21/03/2022 | 07:00 GMT by Bilal Jafar
  • Despite the market correction, Bitcoin attracted institutional money.
  • Since the start of 2022, Bitcoin has dipped by almost 15%, compared to a drop of 30% in ETH.
bitcoin

Altcoins are known for their monumental gains. Historically, major digital assets like Ethereum, Binance Coin and Cardano performed better than Bitcoin in the market rallies and even during the corrections. However, the situation has been different in 2022, so far.

This year, Bitcoin stayed strong against crypto sellers. The digital asset dropped by approximately 15% since the start of 2022. The correction may look significant, but it is much lower compared to some of the major cryptocurrencies. For instance, Ethereum is down by nearly 30% since the start of this year. Cardano (ADA), the world’s 8th most dominant asset by market cap, lost nearly 40% of its value during the same period.

One of the major reasons behind Bitcoin’s resilient behaviour in 2022 has been its institutional adoption. Major institutions like MicroStrategy have kept accumulating the crypto asset and some other prominent names have entered the digital asset space. As far as the BTC network is concerned, long-term Bitcoin holders have expanded their BTC assets even under uncertain market conditions.

Bitcoin and Traditional Markets

Amid recent geopolitical conditions, Bitcoin has seen selling pressure just like other traditional markets. An interesting development that happened during the latest global financial markets crisis was BTC’s correlation with other traditional financial assets.

“Bitcoin’s correlation with safe-haven assets is negligible, while the correlation to the Nasdaq Composite has remained at levels seen in 2020, which led to the big run ending in May 2021. The strong correlation between riskier assets is a consequence of the uncertainty in the market and the looming fear of stagflation. However, even though the correlation approaches its recent average, bitcoin has shown in the last month’s critical times that its identity as an independent asset class may not be far,” Glassnode highlighted in its report.

Last week, a prominent BTC wallet moved 2,725 coins from Xapo.

Altcoins are known for their monumental gains. Historically, major digital assets like Ethereum, Binance Coin and Cardano performed better than Bitcoin in the market rallies and even during the corrections. However, the situation has been different in 2022, so far.

This year, Bitcoin stayed strong against crypto sellers. The digital asset dropped by approximately 15% since the start of 2022. The correction may look significant, but it is much lower compared to some of the major cryptocurrencies. For instance, Ethereum is down by nearly 30% since the start of this year. Cardano (ADA), the world’s 8th most dominant asset by market cap, lost nearly 40% of its value during the same period.

One of the major reasons behind Bitcoin’s resilient behaviour in 2022 has been its institutional adoption. Major institutions like MicroStrategy have kept accumulating the crypto asset and some other prominent names have entered the digital asset space. As far as the BTC network is concerned, long-term Bitcoin holders have expanded their BTC assets even under uncertain market conditions.

Bitcoin and Traditional Markets

Amid recent geopolitical conditions, Bitcoin has seen selling pressure just like other traditional markets. An interesting development that happened during the latest global financial markets crisis was BTC’s correlation with other traditional financial assets.

“Bitcoin’s correlation with safe-haven assets is negligible, while the correlation to the Nasdaq Composite has remained at levels seen in 2020, which led to the big run ending in May 2021. The strong correlation between riskier assets is a consequence of the uncertainty in the market and the looming fear of stagflation. However, even though the correlation approaches its recent average, bitcoin has shown in the last month’s critical times that its identity as an independent asset class may not be far,” Glassnode highlighted in its report.

Last week, a prominent BTC wallet moved 2,725 coins from Xapo.

About the Author: Bilal Jafar
Bilal Jafar
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Bilal Jafar holds an MBA in Finance. In a professional career of more than 8 years, Jafar covered the evolution of FX, Cryptocurrencies, and Fintech. He started his career as a financial markets analyst and worked in different positions in the global media sector. Jafar writes about diverse topics within FX, Crypto, and the financial technology market.

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