TI Weekly Market Review: Mainstream Crypto Drops Back, Bitcoin Erases 2021 Gains

‘From Peak to Trough’

After the price of Bitcoin called-back to $39,000 last week, it stabilized around $36,000. However, the peace time was relatively short: Since Jan. 20, Bitcoin dropped to $29,112 on Coinbase at 0:30 UTC on Thursday, a level last reached on Jan. 4 when the leading cryptocurrency started rallying hard to an all-time high of just below $42,000 on Jan. 8.

BTC price in the last 30 days, chart from 9pm EST, Jan 21，Source: tokeninsight.com

At press time, the price of Bitcoin has stepped back to $30,000, down about 15% over the last 24 hours. The impact is obvious — except for a few “Blue Chips” like DOT, ETH and stablecoins — lending protocols tokens are following Bitcoin’s step and dropping significantly, about 10% down within 24 hours, especially for BNB and COMP, which saw decreases of about 20%. 

BNB, UNI, ETH price in the last 30 days, chart from 9pm EST, Jan 21， Source: tokeninsight.com

However, in the term of recent trading volume, the market shock does not appear to cause panic selling or large scale liquidations. The trading volume is increasing relatively smoothly compared with the volume when the price was at the peak. 

BTC perpetual trading volume in the last 30 days, chart from 9pm EST, Jan 21，Source: tokeninsight.com

DOT Prices Remain Stable and Trading Volume Doubles

The biggest dark horse in the crypto market of January 2021 is none other than DOT. In the huge fluctuations, DOT has been holding on for a week: and this week, DOT bucked the trend again. Although the price did not increase significantly, the weekly trading volume increased by 110.76% compared to last week, and broke through $10B, which makes a new record. 

As public chains other than BTC and ETH, Polkadot and Ripple have been competing for the third position of cryptos for a long time. With the gradual improvement of the Polkadot ecology and Ripple's regulatory turmoil, it seems that we have a winner. The outstanding performance of DOT in crazy January proves that a new consensus about “the third public chain” has been formed in the crypto market.

Mainstream cryptos’  trading volumes of spots and perpetual in the last 30 days, chart from 9pm EST, Jan 21，Source: tokeninsight.com

Highlights Picked by TokenInsight

Grayscale Submitts Six New Crypto Trust Products at Delaware

According to the Delaware government’s website, Grayscale’s new trust products include Chainlink, XTZ, FIL, LPT and BAT. Although these do not be disclosed on the official website of Grayscale,  new investment CEO Michael Sonnenshein has stated that in 2021, Grayscale will release six products. 

The Options Market Monthly Volume Breaks $10 Billion Dollars in 2020

In 2020, the average daily trading volume of options in the market reached $211 million, and the highest single-day transaction occurred on December 17, at $1.32 billion. Affected by the bull market of mainstream cryptos, the annual trading volume of the options market was concentrated in the fourth quarter, showing a high degree of positive correlation with Bitcoin prices.

Coinbase Buys Blockchain Infrastructure Startup Bison Trails

On Jan 20. Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase announced it’s buying blockchain infrastructure company Bison Trails.