Grab your coat, Crypto winter may be coming

Crypto assets have regularly crashed, anywhere from 20% to 50%, explains Justin Arzadon from BetaShares. But a ‘winter’ is a decline of 70% or more over a period of 10+ months. If the current crash does turn out to be another ‘winter’, how can investors seek to benefit? Arzadon lays out four ideas here. 
Justin Arzadon

Betashares

Anyone who’s been involved in the crypto space long enough knows that crypto winter eventually arrives. Crypto is very volatile and has regularly "crashed" anywhere from 20% to 50%. But for the purposes of this article,  a ‘winter’ is defined as a decline of 70% or more over a period of at least 10 months.

Since Bitcoin launched in 2009, there have been four winters. The most recent was in 2018 when bitcoin peaked at $20K, and over two months the price fell 70% to $5,900, traded sideways for most of the year and hit a new low of $3,100 in December. This represented a drawdown from peak to trough of over 83%, before a significant rally in 2019. Bitcoin did not reach $20K again until December 2020, making that winter three years long.

Source: Glassnode

The most recent bitcoin pullback from the November high of $69K down to $38K at the time of writing is a drawdown of ‘only’ 45%, but considering where bitcoin is in the halving cycle and the lack of strength to start the year, grumblings about crypto winter have started to arise.

Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum, commented last week that “many crypto developers wouldn't be unhappy to see a continued slide in the price of digital currencies, as the slump could clear out less-viable projects”, and that crypto winter could be a positive. (1)

However, as an investor, what can one do to seek to benefit from a crypto winter and come out of it nice and warm?

Dollar-cost average – At current price levels, bitcoin may be mid-cycle, it may simply bottom here and go on to make new highs, or it may continue to fall another 40%. No one knows, and it’s impossible to time the market. Crypto is extremely volatile and has spent over 80% of its history in a drawdown greater than 20%. (2) One way to seek to take advantage of this volatility is by using a dollar-cost average strategy (DCA).

DCA is the process of buying an asset in small portions over time to reduce the impact of volatility and average out the overall entry price paid. Rather than hoping you are buying at the bottom and purchasing your total allocation all at once, multiple buys across a period can reduce your average cost and increase the exposure that you otherwise would have bought at a higher price.

DCA works against you in a rising market, so you want to ensure you are implementing this approach throughout the complete cycle, catching large drawdowns. Considering how quickly crypto markets can turn around, the shorter the time between purchases the better, as periods of a month or longer could mean you completely miss out on a dip.

Staking – If you are invested in a token that you have deemed worthy of a long-term hold, then you can consider putting it to work through staking. Staking involves locking up or committing your coins for a period of time to help support that blockchain’s consensus method for processing transactions and creating new blocks. In return, you are rewarded with additional tokens. In the legacy financial system, it is akin to lending money to a company by purchasing a bond and receiving interest payments as compensation. Not all tokens offer "staking," but many layer-1 (the term that's used to describe the underlying main blockchain architecture) protocols do, whether through an exchange or through the network.

Do your own research – When markets are rising strongly, it is not uncommon to purchase crypto simply because the price is going up and before any real research is done. But if prices are headed south, FOMO (fear of missing out) is not a factor. You have the time to do the research required to determine if a project is worth investing in, and you will have the benefit of buying at lower prices.

According to Coinmarketcap, there are over 17,000 cryptocurrencies available (3), most of which are unlikely to be around in five years’ time. What will determine survival is if users believe in it, the utility it brings to the table and the value you get from it. Ask yourself, what problem does the protocol try to solve, how big is the community pushing it forward, and does it have staying power?

Just HODL (Hold On for Dear Life) – It’s easy to make money in a crypto bull market. It’s even easier to lose most of it in a crypto winter. But for the projects that have longevity - Bitcoin and Ethereum being the best examples to date – another potential strategy could be to sit on your hands and do nothing. In fact, in the case of bitcoin, you could have purchased at the highest price of any year and if you had held for a minimum of four years, your position would have been well ahead. If you have patience and are willing to wait, if history is a guide, doing absolutely nothing might serve you well. 

Learn more

BetaShares offers the broadest range of technology-focused ETFs in Australia providing access to global tech giants, cybersecurity, Australian technology and more. To stay up to date with my latest insights into the digital assets market click FOLLOW below, find out more about investing in crypto with BetaShares here.


References:

1. (VIEW LINK)

2. (VIEW LINK)

3. (VIEW LINK)

........
This information is general only and is not a recommendation to invest in cryptocurrencies or adopt any particular investment strategy. Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile and should only be considered by investors who fully understand them, have a very high tolerance for risk and have the capacity to absorb a rapid loss of some or all of their investment. Cryptocurrencies should only be considered as a very small component of an investor’s overall portfolio. Livewire gives readers access to information and educational content provided by financial services professionals and companies ("Livewire Contributors"). Livewire does not operate under an Australian financial services licence and relies on the exemption available under section 911A(2)(eb) of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) in respect of any advice given. Any advice on this site is general in nature and does not take into consideration your objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making a decision please consider these and any relevant Product Disclosure Statement. Livewire has commercial relationships with some Livewire Contributors.

Justin Arzadon
Head of Digital Assets
Betashares

Justin is the Head of Digital Assets, leading sales efforts on cryptoassets, educating and informing clients as they consider investments into this emerging and exciting asset class. He also contributes to the formation of digital asset strategy...

I would like to

Only to be used for sending genuine email enquiries to the Contributor. Livewire Markets Pty Ltd reserves its right to take any legal or other appropriate action in relation to misuse of this service.

Personal Information Collection Statement
Your personal information will be passed to the Contributor and/or its authorised service provider to assist the Contributor to contact you about your investment enquiry. They are required not to use your information for any other purpose. Our privacy policy explains how we store personal information and how you may access, correct or complain about the handling of personal information.

Comments

Sign In or Join Free to comment