As the clock struck in 2022, bitcoin stayed shy of the $50,000 mark, even slipping by 1.0% in the last 24-hours. The popular cryptocurrency stayed near $47,000. 2021 was a turbulent year for cryptocurrencies. And the major price fluctuations in December, 2021 mean the price could go either way.
On December 31, as per the CoinMarketCap graph, BTC fell below $48,000 and has been hovering near $47,000. A similar trend has been noted with Ethereum, which has been down by 0.81% in the last 24-hours. It gave the $4,000 mark a miss.
Altcoins also took a hit. Solana and Binance Coin fell more than 2%, while Cardano’s ADA lost over 4%. According to CoinGecko, the collective market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies dropped over $100 billion from its intraday peak. The market fell from a high $2.4 trillion to $2.27 trillion.
Despite the volatility, cryptocurrencies, especially bitcoin continue to attract investors. Analysts believe the world’s most popular crypto’s recent price correction has been largely driven by crypto-tourists. They had entered the market in the summer. Experienced investors are still selling low amounts of BTC, and buying activity on Coinbase picked up toward the end of the year.
Dylan LeClair, an analyst at UTXO, said the average on-chain cost basis for long-term bitcoin holders is $17,825. This is compared to $33,890 for those spending their assets.
Meanwhile, for 2022, bitcoin remains to be a good investment choice, along with ETH, Binance Coin, Cardano, XRP, Avalanche, Solana and Tether. There tend to be some wild fluctuations wherever bitcoin is concerned, but it hasn’t dampened the market outlook. The crypto sector continues to wade headstrong into the new year.
