Cryptocurrency prices soared high in 2021. Bitcoin reached its all-time high, Meme coins like Shiba Inu gave over 40 million percent in returns, gaming coins like Axie Infinity increased by 15,000%, altcoins like ETH also roared high, and almost all other currencies saw an upward trend year-over-year.
The crypto craze has increased so much that the global crypto market cap crossed the $3 trillion mark in 2021. Having made millions of dollars in 2021, investors closely monitor the market to know whether the same upward trend will continue this year or the crypto bubble will burst.
Many experts predicted that the cryptos would continue to rise, while others believed a red chart would appear. 2021 was an excellent year for investors. But will this upward trend continue in 2022? Let’s look at how the significant cryptocurrencies performed in January 2022 and how it affects the investors.
Bitcoin (BTC)
The primary hype was around the most popular of them all: bitcoin. With the evolution in Decentralized Finance (DeFi) brought by blockchain networks like Ethereum, the hold of bitcoin on the market has waned. However, it still dominates.
Bitcoin soared to an all-time high of around $68,000 in November 2021. But that does not end the volatility. In fact, after reaching the $68,000 mark, the story is reversed. With the start of 2022, bitcoin is off to a red-colored chart. 2022 marked the worst year for bitcoin in 8 years as the crypto started with a three-month low.
Against practically all expectations, BTC’s price has continued to underperform this month. – cointelegraph.com
Based on the data from tradingview.com, bitcoin started the year at over $47,500, which was already 30% lower than the all-time high reached in November 2021. Furthermore, the price went below $35,500 on 22nd January 2022. Since then, we have seen some green movement, and the coin stands at over $42,000 when writing this article.
According to historical data, January is usually a green month for bitcoin. The last significantly red January was in 2018, when the price went down by around 25%. In comparison, bitcoin in 2021 increased around 14, 36, and 29% in January, February, and March, respectively.
It is evident that bitcoin performed poorly in January 2022. This also led to a panic selling from newbie investors.
Thankfully, the last week has emerged as a ray of hope for investors as bitcoin shows some green movement again. With a 24-hour trading volume of over $17 billion, bitcoin is up 0.74%. It has a circulating supply of 18.9 million coins and a live market cap of $804 billion. Bitcoin’s 24-hour low and high prices are $41,852 and $42,992, respectively.
Ethereum (ETH)
Ethereum’s story is almost similar to bitcoin. The ETH altcoin coin, too, reached its new all-time high of over $4,850 in November 2021. Since then, the prices have declined to below $3,000. After a glorious November, Ethereum started 2022 at $3,675.81 on 1st January.
The sad part is that the coin went further down to $2,412 on 23rd January 2022. And again, it’s the first week of February has been a relief for investors with a slightly bullish market. After going down below $2,412, ETH crossed the $3,000 mark and currently stands at over $2,900.
Ethereum is the second most popular coin after bitcoin. In fact, it is the only coin that has managed to come closer to the dominating bitcoin in the crypto world.
Despite a significant decline since reaching its all-time high, Ethereum has a bright future. Experts predict that it can end 2022 with a 400% growth. The reason behind this trust is the underlying blockchain network’s potential. While bitcoin is primarily renowned for cryptocurrency, Ethereum is more of an enterprise blockchain.
Ethereum is well-known for its smart contracts and decentralized applications (DApps). It is also used as the foundation for developing other blockchain networks. As more and more enterprises continue to adopt Ethereum for these capabilities, the price of ETH will increase too.
Even after a massive decline in the prices, ETH is in the green zone for year-over-year prices.
Currently, Ethereum’s 24-hour trading volume is over $10.5 billion. It is up 0.23% in the last 24 hours. Ethereum’s current market supply is 119.5 million ETH coins, taking the live market cap to $349 billion. Its 24-hour low and high prices are $2,870 and $2,980, respectively.
Gala Games (GALA)
Gala Game’s cryptocurrency GALA was one of the best performing cryptocurrencies in 2021, giving over 43,000% returns. Starting 2021 at $0.001028, the coin reached its all-time high of $0.7 and came back to $0.45 by the end of 2021. However, even GALA was not able to withstand the bearish January 2022.
Gala Games is a blockchain-based gaming platform that aims to revolutionize the gaming industry. It allows the players to own the game and characters they are playing.
GALA reached its all-time high in late November 2021, a dream month for investors as several cryptocurrencies paved their way to new heights. But similar to Bitcoin, Ethereum, and many other cryptos, even GALA fell, starting 2022 at just over $0.46.
The coin moved further down to $0.18 on 22nd January 2022, ending the month with a completely red chart. The current price of the GALA coin is just over $0.3, thanks to the upward trend the coin witnessed in the first week of February.
GALA is up 1.5%, with a trading volume of over $952 million in the last 24 hours. With a circulating supply of over 6.9 billion coins, GALA’s live market cap is just above $2.1 billion. Its 24-hour low and high are $0.3005 and $0.3203, respectively.
Signum (SIGNA)
While most mainstream cryptocurrencies experienced a quick fall in January 2022, some unpopular coins like SIGNA could hold a slightly positive move in the market. Starting 2022 at $0.006, the coin went down to $0.004 on 9th January 2022. But it was able to go over $0.007 in late January and further managed to reach $0.015 in the first week of February 2022.
Signum is a customizable platform that allows users to create decentralized applications. It allows users to customize without any limitations.
SIGNA’s 24-hour trading volume is $618 thousand with a 10% downward trend. With a current price of $0.012 and a supply of over 2 billion coins, its live market cap is $26 million. Its 24-hour low and high prices are $0.011 and $0.014, respectively.
SwftCoin (SWFTC)
Another unpopular coin that held ground in January 2022 was SWFTC. The cross-chain wallet and exchange platform started the year at $0.0014 and ended January 2022 at $0.0015, moving further higher to $0.004 in February’s first week.
SwftCoin is a blockchain-based all-in-one cross-chain wallet, exchange and payment platform. It leverages the underlying SWFTC crypto coin to facilitate swapping, paying, and sharing hundreds of cryptocurrencies.
With a promising January and first week of February 2022, SWFTC is down by 10% in the last 24-hour, similar to SIGNA coin. The coin has a 24-hour trading volume of around $11 million. Its 24-hour low and high prices are $0.0037 and $0.0041, respectively, with the current price being $0.0037.
The current supply of SWFTC is over 4 billion coins, and the max supply is 10 billion coins. Hence, its current market cap and fully diluted market cap are $14 million and $37 million, respectively.
Solana (SOL)
Solana is another best performer of 2021 that saw a bearish January 2022. Starting at just $1.8 in January 2021, it peaked at $258 in November 2021 and ended the year at $170, giving almost 9,500% returns within a year. But the bitcoin and Ethereum story repeats here.
Solana started the year at $178, 10,000% returns year-over-year. But then it witnessed around 40% dip as it went down to $100 by the end of January 2022.
Solana aims to facilitate DApps creation by enhancing scalability with the help of its Proof-of-History consensus along with the Proof-of-Stake consensus.
Solana’s current price stands at $96 with a 24-hour trading volume of $1.3 billion, up by 1 percent. With a circulating supply of 317 million coins, SOL’s live market cap stands at $30 billion. The coin’s 24-hour low and high prices are $93.95 and $99.95, respectively.
Which Cryptocurrency Price Will Increase in 2022?
We have seen that most cryptocurrency prices are dropping in 2022. But that raises the question of which cryptocurrencies will rise from here. Since crypto is a highly volatile market, there’s no doubt that almost all the cryptocurrencies that have witnessed a bearish run can soon limb back to their usual positions.
We are already seeing an upward trend starting from the first week of February. All the digital currencies listed in the article are already closing to their starting price of 2022 in February. Experts predict that if this trend continues for a couple of weeks, investors who have utilized the January 2022 dip can get good returns in the coming months.
Experts believe that bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, Terra, Avalanche, and Dogecoin prices are expected to rise significantly in 2022. The predictions are based on historical data and trends. However, it is impossible always to make the correct predictions due to volatility.
Cryptocurrency prices are also based on human sentiments. That’s precisely the reason behind the January crash. The spread of Omicron various and related news wildly impacted the market. The mindset of investors shifted towards playing safe as a crypto investment is considered risky. Hence, which cryptos’ price will increase in 2022 depends on the news about newer virus variants and their spread.
As cryptocurrencies start becoming a part of our life, the hype around these digital currencies will increase and impact the market movement.
Another primary influencer of the price will be the adoption of cryptocurrencies in everyday life. For instance, several brick-and-mortar stores and travel websites accept cryptocurrency payments.
Final Thoughts
As we have seen, almost all the cryptocurrencies prices went down in January 2022. The crash has shifted the mindset of many investors, especially the newbies who have purchased the coins at higher prices and then sold them due to panic.
You should not panic during such events and trust your trading strategies to help you out of the situation. Moreover, you should conduct thorough research and do your homework efficiently to make better decisions. For instance, you should ask yourself whether you should buy in this dip or wait until the fluctuating market gets a little stable? Doing ample research and coming up with answers to such questions will help you excel as a cryptocurrency investor.