Posted on

Bitcoin plummets 20% post-ETF approvals: what’s behind the crash?

The recent approval of several spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) by the SEC was expected to usher in an era of mainstream adoption and sky-high prices for the flagship Cryptocurrency. Instead, Bitcoin has crashed over 20% from its 2024 high of $49,000 to just under $39,000 at the time of writing.

Where is the bottom of this crash? Is this a buy the dip opportunity? And most importantly, is this sharp correction the end of the bull market in Crypto? We explore the factors behind the selloff, and why this could ultimately lead to more bullish price action in the top Cryptocurrency by market cap.

Miners selling Bitcoin at the same time

One major factor driving the decline is miners offloading their Bitcoin onto exchanges at a pace not seen since the FTX collapse in November 2022. The amount of BTC held by miners has plunged, indicating they are selling their newly minted coins instead of the typical strategy of accumulating them as a long-term investment. This surge of sell pressure from miners has overwhelmed buying demand, even as major ETF providers snap up Bitcoin to back their newly launched funds.

btc miners

Grayscale outflows adding fuel to the fire

Grayscale Bitcoin Trust has been sending billions in BTC to Coinbase. Grayscale is one of the world’s largest holders of BTC, causing the substantial outflows to have a notable impact on price action. GBTC outflows are being driven by particularly high 1.5% expense fees compared to other spot ETF alternatives in the US. The situation was made worse when FTX’s estate redeemed nearly $1 billion in GBTC. When GTBC holders cash out their shares, a corresponding BTC sale is made.

grayscale

Looming Mt. Gox payouts spooking investors

Also contributing to the skittish sentiment is the long-running Mt. Gox repayment plan nearing its conclusion. The defunct exchange is preparing to distribute 137,000 BTC to holders as restitution for funds lost in its infamous 2014 hack. Many recipients are expected to cash out immediately and could flood the market with sell orders. This impending overhang has investors worrying about whether Bitcoin has enough demand to absorb the extra supply.

mt gox

Ongoing macroeconomic headwinds

Bitcoin’s ties to risky asset classes mean it has suffered collateral damage from the Federal Reserve’s relentless interest rate hikes and the strong US dollar squeezing alternative assets. Until inflation shows clear signs of slowing down, investors are unlikely to find refuge in Crypto. The Fed’s actions have dashed hopes that loosening monetary policy could stoke Bitcoin’s next bull run.

There may be light at the end of the tunnel

But there are reasons to be optimistic about Bitcoin’s future. For one, miner balances have fallen so dramatically that they are now lower than during last November’s FTX-induced meltdown. This signals that much of the excess selling pressure has already been expended.

glassnode-studio_bitcoin-balance-in-miner-wallets-btc-all-miners

As for the Mt. Gox payouts, creditors have held Bitcoin for nearly a decade and may opt to continue holding now that the Crypto winter seems to be thawing, rather than cash out at depressed prices below $40k.

ETFs now account for 0.5% of BTC supply

Most importantly, each newly approved ETF has greedily snapped up the Bitcoin sold into the market over the past weeks, evidenced by their substantial and rapidly growing holdings.

BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF took in a staggering 44,000 BTC worth $1.75 billion within two weeks of launch. At Fidelity’s current pace, its ETF holds 30,000 BTC. With another over 30,000 BTC already under management across the remaining SEC-approved ETFs, these funds combined now hold over 100,000 BTC and counting.

Considering Bitcoin’s max supply is only 21 million, over 0.5% of all Bitcoin in existence is now locked up in just a handful of investment vehicles catering to institutional investors. And the appetite for Bitcoin exposure is only set to grow as more mega-asset managers file for spot ETFs to meet rising demand.

The looming Bitcoin halving could upend the status quo

With miners offloading coins ahead of the Bitcoin halving, and validation rewards about to be cut 50% from 6.25 Bitcoin per block to 3.125 Bitcoin per block this April, Bitcoin’s already decreasing issuance rate is set to drop drastically lower. This quadrennial event has historically choked the influx of new Bitcoins, as only half the number of coins enter circulation post-halving.

Yet despite the turmoil in Crypto markets presently, institutional intrigue in Bitcoin is continuing to scale up. Major asset managers have finally secured SEC approval for spot Bitcoin ETFs to meet surging demand from institutional investors seeking Crypto exposure.

Retail interest also remains resilient. The stage is being set for a serious supply-demand imbalance to play out over 2024. This, in turn, could act as rocket fuel to propel prices higher, as liquid coins become increasingly scarce relative to the swell of new institutional and retail entrants.

If history is any indicator, Bitcoin’s previous halving events triggered spectacular bull runs that saw prices appreciate multiples higher over the following 12-18 months. Investor euphoria reached a fever pitch as mainstream media coverage pulled in waves of new buyers happy to purchase Bitcoin at ever-loftier prices.

The run-up to April’s halving could see a similar pattern emerge. The type of supply shock that may unfold as Bitcoin’s issuance falls off a cliff this spring, while interest continues rising unabated, has the potential to ignite the asset’s next parabolic ascent to new all-time highs.

Turbulence creates opportunity for bold traders

Riding out this period of volatility will require nerves of steel, but for seasoned traders, the swirling uncertainty presents an opportunity. Platforms like PrimeXBT allow traders to benefit from Bitcoin’s wild price swings in either direction through instruments like Crypto Futures contracts and adjustable leverage. Advanced risk management tools are also at traders’ disposal to customise exposure based on personal risk tolerance.

As Bitcoin emerges from its post-halving cocoon over the mid-2020s, this period may be looked back upon as a final cleansing plunge before ascending to new heights on the back of hyper-scarcity and institutional adoption. Those bold enough to take calculated risks could reap outsized returns if faith in Bitcoin’s enduring value proposition holds firm.

Posted on

Bitcoin Rally Pushes Crypto Mining Stocks Up – What’s Ahead?

After a year-long winter accompanied by massive losses in the mining sector, the recent Bitcoin recovery is a relief to miners. Moreover, the Bitcoin price rally has rubbed off on crypto mining stocks as they witness the highest performance in the past year.

In the 2022 bear market, public crypto miners recorded up to $4 billion in liabilities due to low profitability and stock prices. As a result, many miners who struggled to stay afloat resorted to selling their coin reserves to boost liquidity.

Bitfarm And Others Record Year-Long Highs In Mining Stocks

The first two weeks of 2023 have brought relief to miners with the BTC price rebound. Among the top gainers is Bitfarms, which recorded a 140% rise in the first 14 days of January.

Marathon Digital Holdings Inc. followed Bitfarms with a 120% surge in mining stocks. Hive Blockchain Technologies Limited also experienced a rise in its stocks to nearly double the original value in the first two weeks of the year.

MVIS Global Digital Assets Mining index rose by 64% in January, while the Luxor Hashprice Index saw a 21% increase. The Luxor Hashprice Index quantifies possible miners’ profit based on the processing power consumption in the Bitcoin network. The significant increase in these indices partly reflects an increase in mining rewards due to the Bitcoin price rally.

The 2021 crypto bull run led many private mining companies to declare their stock shares publicly. Many Bitcoin mining firms borrowed huge sums for expansion during the 2021 bull market, hoping to break even as profits come. Some invested heavily in equipment purchases and expanding their mining infrastructure.

However, the long crypto winter in 2022 made these firms vulnerable, leading some into a financial crunch. The liabilities impacted their financial standings negatively during the 2022 bear market. The report shows that public Bitcoin miners have over $4 billion in liability, whereas the highest BTC mining debtors collectively owe close to $2.5 billion.

These huge liabilities plus high energy impacted the operations of these firms in the winter when profit was low. Most of them struggled to maintain minimum operational standards, while some couldn’t keep up with production costs. As a result, leading Bitcoin mining firms like Core Scientific had no option but to declare bankruptcy.

Spike In Bitcoin Mining Stocks Raises BTC ETFs Performance

The rebound in BTC price in January is a breath of fresh air to miners. The once-declining crypto mining stocks have just reached new all-time highs. These recent performances also rubbed off on BTC exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Data shows that BTC ETFs have outperformed most equity ETFs.

After a year-long turmoil, the ETFs reclaimed top positions on the performance charts in January 2023. Valkyrie’s Bitcoin Miners ETF (WGMI) outperformed the equity ETF market with a 40% increase year to date.

Senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg, Eric Balchunas, stated that the Valkyrie Bitcoin Mining ETF is highly dense, with investments in only 20 firms, including Intel, Bitfarm, and Argo Blockchain.

The WGMI ETF was listed on the Nasdaq market in February 2022 but didn’t include direct BTC investment. Instead, most of its net assets (at least 80%) offer exposure to Bitcoin through securities whose 50% profit comes from BTC mining. Valkyrie invested the remaining 20% in companies whose large portion of held assets is Bitcoin.

Bitcoin Rally Spikes Crypto Mining Stocks, What's Ahead?

Generally, crypto ETFs performed low in 2022 due to the prolonged bear market. But things appear to be returning to normal as Bitcoin reclaims lost grounds. BTC is currently trading at $21,248 in a 24-hour price change.

Posted on

Will New Interchain Station Wallet Launch Spike LUNC Price, Any Possibility?

After the collapse of the popular blockchain network Terra, developers have been trying to revive it; many reforms have already taken place to sustain the Terra Classic (LUNC and prevent further collapse). Terra Classic, the original blockchain, was forked to create Terra (LUNA).

Among these reforms is a recent integration with Interchain Station. The news boosted the Terra Classic (LUNC) price. According to Jared, lead developer at Terraform Labs, more integrations and reforms are coming to Terra soon.

The sudden crash of Terra LUNA sent a cascade effect across the crypto industry, leading several firms to bankruptcy. Many investors are yet to recover from the loss incurred from the Terra implosion.

There are still uncleared controversies surrounding the ecosystem’s sudden collapse. Some say Terra LUNA was a rug pull scheme by Do Kwon, founder of Terraform Labs, to launder and steal people’s money. Meanwhile, Do Kwon and his executives are still on the run from South Korean prosecutors.

More Integrations Coming To Terra Classic Network

In a Twitter announcement, Jared revealed that the Terra Network would partner with other blockchains, including SEI, Juno, Osmosis, Mars, Pisco, and many more. He said the integrations aim to protect the network in the right direction and allow seamless cross-chain communication between Terra and other blockchains.

Jared also told the Terra community to expect a rollout of more features while their main focus is to launch the wallet on mobile devices. The current station supports many mainnets including LUNC, LUNA, Osmosis, Juno, Kujira, Carbon, HuaHua, and Cresent.

Terra’s interchain station wallet would simplify the complex process of interacting with multiple blockchain networks. The wallet would allow users to stake, vote, send, receive tokens, and interact with decentralized applications (dApps) across supported chains.

LUNC price soared by 3% on January 10 when Jared first shared news of the interchain wallet feature via his Twitter handle. Jared referred to the development as a breakthrough in chain integrations.

This move comes after several attempts by the Terra Classic community to revive the sinking Terra Classic project. With the new station wallet, DeFi developers can now access oracle data from several chains through the interchain facility.

Why New Governance Implementation Is Important To LUNC Community

The Terra Classic blockchain saw a rough start in 2023 after being impacted by crypto exchange KuCoin’s December 30 move. On December 30, 2022, KuCoin removed (undelegated) 48 billion Terra Classic (LUNC) tokens from circulation. This issue reduced the voting power of KuCoin’s Terra Classic Validator by 0.25%, taking it up to the 44th position.

The exchange later said it would continue pledging LUNC tokens after a 14-day lock period. However, the move caused a drastic reduction in on-chain activity and stirred much anxiety in the LUNC community, causing the price to fall.

After Kucoin’s move, the community responded by approving and implementing new governance proposals to improve the overall operation of the chain. The Terra ecosystem also started burning tokens to stir up on-chain activity.

The new governance proposals got overwhelming votes from the community with the support of major crypto exchanges. As a result, one of the new implementations is governance proposal 11242, which aims to stop the reminting of already destroyed LUNC tokens.

Once the implementation is complete, it will ensure the effective elimination of tokens from LUNC’s circulating supply which will also boost its price. Presently, the amount of Terra Classic tokens in circulation is nearly 6 trillion.

After the reduction in on-chain activity in the past month, the developers published proposal 11242 at the beginning of January. The aim of proposal 11242 is to stop the reminting burnt LUNC tokens and effectively reduce the seigniorage reward policy to zero.

Will New Interchain Station Wallet Launch, Spike LUNC Price

LUNC price is trading at $0.000177 with a minor decline. The token has gained up to 15.50% in the past week.

Posted on

Bitcoin Price Surges With Whale Activity, What Happens Now?

The cryptocurrency market continues to show signs of improvement. Bitcoin, the number one cryptocurrency, has continued its price upswing as its breaks above its 200-day moving average. In addition, the market generally has recovered, as crypto enthusiasts believe the crypto winter is close to its end.

The  U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) report has given Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency leverage. The consumer price index is an important metric that measures the monthly changes in prices paid by United State consumers. The CPI values also measure economic inflation and deflation using statistics from customer expenditures.

Events over time have shown that macroeconomic factors such as inflation and deflation affect Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. So when the CPI is high, it means that inflation is also high leading to a spike in interest rates that plummet crypto prices.

So, with this new data, a Bitcoin rally is now possible as other altcoins, such as Ethereum, recorded improved figures.

Whales Pushing Bitcoin Rally

On Saturday, January 14, Bitcoin’s price surpassed the $21,000 level on the back of declining inflation figures. BTC gained 7.5% on that day and peaked at $21,299. Santiment, an analytic platform, states that the number of Bitcoin addresses holding between 100-1000 BTC is increasing rapidly, probably pushing BTC.

Santiment also revealed that more than 416 addresses hold 100-1000 BTC. It is an increase of 3.04% in eight weeks. The whales’ influence in the market is critical as they control prices due to the size of their portfolios. In addition, the price increases caused by the whales have a wider-reaching effect on other cryptocurrencies in the market.

Bitcoin Price Prediction, A Possible Bull Run?

Glassnode data shows that Bitcoin is currently correlating with its previous market cycles. For example, after the 2018-2019 bear market, BTC traded under its 200-day Moving Average (DMA) for 386 days. Similarly, the BTC price traded under its 200 DMA in this bear market for 381 days till it broke above it.

Since the turn of the year, BTC has recorded gains for twelve consecutive days. Santiment reports that it recorded these gains over the last eight weeks. Bitcoin short-term traders recorded their most profitable spending day on January 14 since April 2022. According to Glassnode, the BTC trading volume has increased in the past months.

Whale Addresses Push Bitcoin To Surge, What Happens Now?

At the time of writing, BTC trades at 20,788. The support levels are $20,207, $20,392, and $20,624. Also, the resistance levels are $21,042, $21,227, and $21,459. It is currently trading above its 50-day SMA, which indicates that the price will remain bullish in the short term. Also, BTC is trading above its 200-day SMA, which shows a long-term price increase.

The candle stick patterns on the chart are ascending, showing that the bulls are in control of the market. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) reading is firmly in the overbought zone reading, 86.53. Since the BTC whales are active, the RSI indicates a significant rise in buying pressure.

The Moving Average Convergence/ Divergence (MACD) is above its signal line and showing divergence. It also indicates that BTC is worth buying since it will continue its ascent. BTC’s long-term and short-term outlooks are optimistic as the crypto market rallies.

The price of BTC will likely continue to increase for the coming weeks. Expect other cryptocurrencies to follow suit, except there are negative external forces, such as inflation.

But it is important to note that cryptocurrencies are volatile. If BTC losses its price momentum, it will need to rally to return to the former price. Cryptocurrencies remain volatile and can differ from past behavior at any time.

Posted on

This Crypto Influencer Predicts Bitcoin Price At $25,000-$30,000 Soon

The start of 2023 is bringing a different phase in the crypto market. Over the past few days, most crypto assets have regained value. The bullish trend has spiked a new sentiment in the market as several positive predictions have emerged.

Ben Armstrong, a popular YouTuber known as BitBoy, predicted a bullish trend for Bitcoin in a few weeks. Armstrong, the author of a new book “Catching Up To Crypto” took to Twitter to express his views on BTC’s future price surge.

Bitcoin Price Rally Triggers Bullish Sentiment

According to Armstrong, the primary crypto asset has triggered a bullish sentiment in the crypto community with its recent uptrend. Finally, BTC broke the barrier and climbed to the $18,000 level. As of January 12, the leading token reached $19K during trading hours.

A review of the price history indicated that BTC reached the $15K region in November 2022. Notably, Bitcoin started alternating between $16,000 and $17,000 in December 2022. But this 2023, the primary crypto asset is showing impressive price movement.

Bitcoin

According to BitBoy’s post on Twitter, Bitcoin will gradually reach $25,000 or $30,000 this year. He forecasted that BTC would attain this new price rally within the next 10 to 15 weeks. Also, several people are becoming bullish in their trades with Bitcoin.

On January 11, Armstrong posted about his belief in Bitcoin’s price explosion in 2023. However, the controversial YouTuber noted that the primary cryptocurrency might not hit a new all-time high (ATH) this year.

On January 12, Bitcoin slightly hit the $19,000 level before retracting to the $18K level. BTC’s new price rally is likely due to the risk-on sentiments associated with other markets.

At the time of writing, the price of Bitcoin is hovering around $20,627. This shows that the token increased by 3.50% within 24 hours. Bitcoin’s market cap is about $366.43 billion having a surge of 4.62% in the past day. Also, its dominance over altcoins is 40.26%.

This Crypto Influencer Predicts Bitcoin Price At $25,000 - $30,000 Soon

Recall that in December 2022, Armstrong gave a forecast for Bitcoin. According to BitBoy’s tweet, the end of 2023 will see BTC reaching the $30,000 level. Also, he predicted the token would finally hit a new all-time high (ATH) by the end of 2024, while a new cycle of bearish trend would break out in 2025. But now, analysts believe BTC will reach the price mark in a few weeks.

Crypto Whales Resume Transactions In Bitcoin

With the recent BTC price rally, some crypto whales have resumed massive transactions in BTC. Some of the on-chain data providers have recorded huge BTC transactions recently.

According to WhaleAlert, an unknown whale moved 5,545 BTC tokens to another anonymous wallet. The value of coins is worth over $104.3 million in the current market prices. On January 12, 4.000 BTC tokens worth $72.51 million were moved from an unknown wallet to the Huobi crypto exchange.

Further, Santiment, an on-chain data firm, confirms the increasing whale transactions involving BTC.

The data provider reported that the BTC whale transactions average had exceeded 1,700 daily. This new average occurred for the first time in the past two months.

Posted on

XRP Price Goes Upward With Increasing Whale Activity

The crypto market is still facing a declining effect from the raging crypto winter, but  XRP is faring on the daily chart. Since last year, several crypto assets have been struggling to stay afloat as the prices of tokens fluctuate. Unfortunately, the overall outcome has not impressed many crypto participants and investors.

But the new year is bringing a positive turn in the crypto market. Some crypto tokens have started reclaiming their value over the past seven days. For example, XRP has taken a more vital route as it joins the train of bullish tokens for an upward move.

XRP Price Trends Upward

In a new development, the price of XRP surged impressively within a few days. As per data from Coincodex, XRP rose by approximately 10% in the past seven days.

Further, Santiment, an on-chain data provider, reported that cryptocurrency’s recent reclaim in value is due to increasing active addresses.

According to the data provider, XRP recorded about 41K active addresses on January 8, 2023. But the number surged rapidly within the next few days. As a result, the active addresses have grown to over 148K since January 12, 2023. This shows an addition of over 107K active addresses, representing over a 200% increase in less than seven days.

Whales Show Increasing Activities

Additionally, XR´whales have been engaging massively in transactions, as per WhaleAlert, a crypto data provider. It noted that within the past 24 hours, whales had moved about 193 million XRP worth almost $70 million cumulatively.

One of the most significant single transactions is a whale’s purchase of 41 million tokens from the Bitso crypto exchange. The tokens are worth more than $15.2 million in the current market price.

Also, WhaleAlert reported a transfer of 28 million XRP worth $10.55 million from an unknown whale wallet. In addition, another transfer of 40 million XRP worth $15.07 million from an anonymous wallet. These transactions moved the funds to Bitso and Bitstampc crypto exchanges, respectively.

The report disclosed that whales transferred up to 88 million tokens to several crypto exchanges in the past 24 hours. 29.1 million XRP tokens went to the Bitstamp crypto exchange within the past day.

Ripple XRP

On the other hand, the whales purchased 45.2 million XRP tokens from Bitso over the past 24 hours. The value of the total coins is almost $30.7 million based on the current market prices.

Ripple (XRP) Price Performance

The recent bullish trend for XRP indicates a turning for the crypto asset. The coin exhibited impressive volatility, pushing the token to cross its $0.33 support level.

XRP Price Goes Upward With Increasing Whales Activity

At the time of writing, XRP is trading at $0.3766. Currently, the market cap sits at $18.61B, and its dominance is 2.12%.

According to CoinMarketCap, XRP recorded $1.33 billion in its 24-hour trading volume. This is showing a rise of 5.99% in the past day. Also, in the past 24 hours, its hit $0.3783 and $0.3659 as high and low prices, respectively. Featured image from Pixabay, charts from TradingView.com, Santiment.net

Posted on

Polkadot (DOT) Ecosystem Grew Massively In Q4 2022, What To Expect Next?

Polkadot provides interoperability among several blockchains for users while maintaining high scalability and speed in processing transactions. Also known as a multichain network, Polkadot supports many parachains, enabling developers to build their blockchains seamlessly.

Several blockchain projects exist in the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector. These platforms usually emerge with different products and services related to cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. Subsequently, users became intrigued with the full potential packed in the DeFi space.

However, there was the challenge of how a user could access more than one blockchain and DeFi application through a single platform. This is where the value proposition of the Polkadot became prominent.

The last few months in 2022 were tough in the crypto market as most crypto assets and projects saw a drastic drop in performance. In addition, the unexpected collapse of the FTX crypto exchange brought a devastating condition that created losses in the crypto space.

However, DOT has a positive story to tell. The multichain network reports massive growth in its ecosystem during Q4 2022.

The recent achievement cuts across several landmarks and aspects. Notably, the protocol and its projects progressed technically with many collaborative deals and more technological adoption.

Polkadot (DOT) Ecosystem Grew Massively In Q4 Of 2022, What To Expect Next?

Parachain Migration From Kusama To Polkadot

On Oct 3, 2022, Polkadot recorded its first successful parachain migration from its canary network, Kusama. KILT Protocol completed a full migration from the Kusama Relay Chain to Polkadot Relay Chain.

This milestone showcases Kusama as a suitable platform to stress-test digital applications in a real-life environment. Hence, the developers could curb associated risks before all the relevant upgrades to ensure stability and security.

By using Kusama before its migration, KILT Protocol achieved decentralization. Also, the protocol included new functionalities in its upgrade, spiking its utility and efficiency. Through its collaboration with Polkadot, KILT integrated digital identities through decentralized identifiers (DIDs).

Partnerships And Launch of Pools Distinguished Polkadot (DOT) in Q4 2022

Polkadot’s official Twitter page revealed its success for the last quarter of 2022. The multichain network consists of 74 parachains, over 550 projects, 300 decentralized applications, and more than 2,500 active developers in its ecosystem. The growth for the DOT and Kusama communities has been great since the launch of the parachains.

Polkadot staking system received striking updates through the launch of nomination pools and the staking dashboard. This encouraged native staking holders to stake as low as 1 DOT to receive rewards.

In line with its vision to enhance decentralization, it launched its OpenGov, a new-generation governance system on the Kusama network. The system is the most sophisticated and advanced blockchain governance system. It is proposed to kick off on the mainnet subsequently.

Through Web3 opportunities, the DeFi protocol bagged several partnerships with different companies. These include Astra Network, KILT Protocol, Efinity, T-System MMS, and others.

For over three years, it has been engaging the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding the status of its native token, DOT.

Finally, the Polkadot broke the barrier with its high achievement as DOT ceased to be classified as a security. It was announced on November 2022 that DOT is now considered as software. This is a feat that placed it higher in Web3 adoption.

Also, 2022 marked extensive movement through the Polkadot Ambassador Program. Over 1,600 new ambassadors joined the program signifying more growth for the multichain network.

Cover image from Pixabay, Polkadot chart from Tradingview.

Posted on

MATIC Whale Pushes Coin Value With Massive Moves

The few months toward the end of 2022 brought devastating events in the crypto industry. With the collapse of the FTX crypto exchange, chaos erupted in the crypto markets. Prices of almost all the crypto assets took a hit. Also, the negative contagion effect sprung up within the crypto space as the number of investors who lost funds on the platform kept increasing.

However, the beginning of this new year shows signs of a positive dawn for most crypto assets. The crypto market has started seeing some green performance. For instance, MATIC has shown impressive performance by soaring on the chart.

Increased Trading Volume For MATIC

Recently, crypto whales are showing more interest in MATIC due to upward price movements in the coin this year. The 24-hour trading volume for MATIC sits at over $376 million, showing a surge of 174.80% and implying increased interest in the token.

An anonymous whale was reported to have transferred MATIC tokens worth approximately $8 million. The transfer was done on the Binance crypto exchange as a single transaction.

Lookonchain, an on-chain data provider, reported the whale’s transfer on its Twitter page. According to the data provider, the whale has been gathering Polygon tokens from different exchanges and through staking. The whale’s address has gotten up to 153 million MATIC tokens at an average price of $1.16

Also, on January 5, Lookonchain reported a huge MATIC transaction from another crypto whale SmartMoney. The whale is known to indulge in low buying and higher sales. SmartMoney moved 2.12 million  MATIC tokens worth about $1.7 million to the Kraken crypto exchange.

According to the data, SmartMoney purchased up to 1.76 million MATIC coins from Uniswap at $0.87. The whale later sold 1.08 million of the tokens at $1.44.

MATIC Price Performance

A closer look at the price movement of MATIC revealed the token fared positively from the last week of last year to the beginning of this year. The token has recorded $0.7727 and $0.8637 as its 7-day low and 7-day high, respectively.

At the time of writing, MATIC is trading at $0.8391, indicating a rise of 7.51% in its value over the past 24 hours. Its market cap is about $7.53 billion, and is ranked among the top 10 crypto assets per CoinMarketCap.

On January 1, 2023, MATIC opened trading at $0.7585. But before the day’s end, the token price rose to $0.76. The next day, MATIC started at $0.76 and ended at $0.7809. The token remained at that price level till January 5, when it hit $0.8063.

MATIC Whales Push Coin Value With Massive Moves

The next few days saw MATIC declining from $0.788 to $0.799. But on January 7, it picked up again to $0.80 and maintained that range till January 10. Cover image from Pixabay, MATIC chart from Tradingview.