An Eventful Year for the Cryptoverse: Which Were the Biggest Movers in 2021
Breaking the limits of ATH
Now that 2021 is coming to a close, it is time to look back and recap on what has happened in the most volatile market of all – that of cryptocurrencies. The past year has been full of ups and downs, but there are some events that stand out the most and currencies that shine the brightest. Here are the biggest movers, amongst which some famous examples and some new additions that may be the gems to be on the lookout for in the coming months as well.
All-time highs this year were a sight to behold, as Q4 entered the calendar. Earlier this year, we saw how China put a complete ban over Bitcoin and altcoins as a whole, blocking access to legitimate crypto exchanges within the country. As expected, there was some downwards movement following those events, but from how it appears, this may not have necessarily been for the worst.
Waves crash – BTC & ETH as well
Perhaps the most dramatic overturns for this year were done by none other than Bitcoin and Ethereum themselves. In early to mid-November, both currencies spiked to new highs, with BTC reaching an ATH of $68,789 and ETH going as high as $4,891. Alas, those did not last long, for the crypto god’s plans appear to have been different, and both were pushed back. Currently, BTC is back under the 50k mark while ETH is just above 4k per coin.
Innovation and vision – a pricy combo
Classic is always trending, but this year, some innovative projects rose to the top ranks of cryptocurrencies.
Solana is famous for its solution to the blockchain trilemma by pushing on scalability like never before, rivaling and even overcoming fiat currency transaction per second numbers. Cardano, on the other hand, focuses on sustainability through its implementation of the proof-of-stake protocol. They got to their ATH values just two months apart, with Cardano’s ADA reaching almost triple its current value by rising to $3.10 and Solana’s SOL trading just $100 above its current price by going upwards of $260.
Memes never run out of fashion – but dog breeds do
Although we saw Dogecoin get pumped by Elon Musk, followed by an army of supporters, its killer, SHIBA INU, also became prominent during the past few months. At some point, the cute pups were battling each other almost daily so that one of them could be proclaimed the top dog. However, at this time, both of them are sitting right above the 10th place in the rankings by market cap. DOGE’s ATH came around the end of Q2 of 2021 and hit $0.74 before slowly losing value, with current numbers sitting around $0.17. SHIB’s record comes a bit later, shortly after Q4 started, boosting its value to $0.000088, as compared to its price right now, which is $0.000036.
Small-time success can bring long-term profit
There are also such cases like Polygon, Polkadot, and Avalanche that share functionalities and are following just a few places behind each other. All of them are very similar when looked at on the surface. They rely on a framework system that aims to connect blockchains instead of competing with them. Polygon’s MATIC touched its current ATH right before Q3 started and has fallen down, though not by much – from $2.68 to $2.02. It comes in 15th place, preceded by Avalanche in 12th. AVAX value rose to the highest it has been at the latter part of Q4 to $146.2 and is now sitting at almost half that price, at $88.04. Polkadot is closer to the top, at 9th place. Its DOT coin hit an all-time high a fortnight earlier and got around to $55.00, before sloping down to the $28.98 it is at right now.
One year ends, as another begins
Digital currencies are no doubt going to continue being as volatile as they have been thus far. The question is for how long. Now that 2021 is closing shop, we can only wait to see what 2022 has in store. Whatever the case may be, traders will have countless opportunities to earn potential profit. In order to make things work efficiently, an appropriate risk management strategy is required.