Bitcoin On Track To Extend Record Losing Streak

Bitcoin has lost ground for eight consecutive weeks for the first time in history, and will extend its losing streak if it doesn’t reclaim $30,300 in the next three days.

Ether is trading at the lowest level relative to Bitcoin in seven months, a sign traders may be flocking to so-called digital gold and away from the world computer.

The ETH/BTC ratio is at 0.061, the lowest since October, as ETH has slumped 37% in the last 30 days, compared with BTC’s 23% slide. ETH is trading at $1,760, its lowest level since July 2021, while BTC is trading at $29,000.

Traders are flocking to the first and largest cryptocurrency amid a broad market sell-off. Investors are becoming more risk-averse as the US Federal Reserve plans to continue raising interest rates to fight rising consumer prices. On May 4, the central bank hiked rates by 50 basis points, the largest move in two decades.

“I think people are taking shelter in safer bets [rather] than focusing on things other than Bitcoin now. When crypto falls, BTC falls the least compared to ETH and other L1. So the volatility to the downside is lesser,” explained Nansen’s Nelson Lim.

Bitcoin’s percentage of the overall cryptocurrency market, also known as “Bitcoin dominance,” is ticking up above 40% after dipping to 39% for the first time since 2018.

Bitcoin Dominance. Source: CoinMarketCap

Crypto has been trading in lockstep with equity markets for the past few quarters. However, today was an exception.

While the Nasdaq surged 3%, Ether sank over 7% with most altcoins faring worse. Bitcoin was relatively unscathed, down 1% on the day.

Worst Performers

• Move-to-Earn NFT sensation STEPN was today’s worst performer, down 36%
• Layer-1 blockchain Avalanche was hit especially hard, shedding 17% to $23. It’s now down 84% from its all-time high.
• ApeCoin is trading 16% lower at $6.13.

Total value locked in DeFi stands at $83B, down 5% on the day and over $100B from last year’s highs.

Source: DefiLlama

While we’re certainly in the grip of a bear market, many builders and investors remain optimistic.

“We take a decade-long view of innovation,” wrote Not Boring Capital founder Packy McCormick. “On that timescale, we have no doubt that the models created during this bear market will coordinate organizations, movements, and nations that are orders of magnitude larger than today’s largest DAOs and protocols, in terms of market cap, sure, but more importantly, in terms of participation.”