3 Key Insights of the Crypto Bull Market: A Data Perspective by IntoTheBlock
Blog

3 Key Insights of the Crypto Bull Market: A Data Perspective by IntoTheBlock

3m
Created 2yr ago, last updated 2yr ago

As the crypto market takes off to a running start in 2021, IntoTheBlock breaks down the emerging trends.

3 Key Insights of the Crypto Bull Market: A Data Perspective by IntoTheBlock

Table of Contents

Every week, IntoTheBlock brings you on-chain analysis of top news stories in the crypto space. Leveraging blockchain’s public nature, IntoTheBlock’s machine learning algorithms extract key data that provide a deeper dive into the major developments in the industry. 

This week, we provide an overview of the bull market that has kicked off 2021, looking both at the outstanding performance of crypto and potential signs of excessive risk-taking. 

3 Key Insights of the Crypto Bull Market

Crypto markets have gone full throttle in 2021. As many cryptoassets set new all-time highs, crypto has been experiencing returns not seen since 2017. Despite the volatility seen in March 2020, cryptoassets have bounced back, dwarfing the returns of traditional stock indices. 

As of Feb. 3, 2021 through IntoTheBlock’s upcoming Capital Market Insights

DeFi Tokens Lead the Way

Primarily Ethereum and smaller cap assets have been leading the 2021 rally. As per CoinMarketCap, 48 out of the top 100 cryptoassets have at least doubled in 2021 at the time of writing, while Bitcoin appreciated a still-impressive 37%. Out of the highest performing assets, decentralized finance (DeFi) tokens have stood out. 
As of Feb. 3, 2021 through IntoTheBlock’s DeFi Insights

Starting the year at approximately $10 billion in aggregate, DeFi tokens have managed to triple in value within five weeks. Along with this, the most-closely followed metric for DeFi’s fundamentals has also increased remarkably. 

Total value locked (TVL), which measures the aggregate dollar amount deposited into DeFi applications, has grown by $11 billion in 2021. While the growth in value locked is partly due to the appreciation of the assets deposited, it should be noted that the amount of Ether deposited into DeFi protocols has also increased during this time. 

As of Feb. 3, 2021 through IntoTheBlock’s DeFi Insights

Crypto Interest Sets New Highs

Following a year marked by institutional adoption in Bitcoin, retail interest in crypto has surged back. After more than three years, the number of Google searches for “crypto” has finally surpassed the levels seen in the first week of January 2018. 

Source: GoogleTrends

Short-Term Trading Also at Yearly Highs

Interest has unsurprisingly also picked up on the trading side. The number of addresses holding Bitcoin for under one month — classified by IntoTheBlock as traders — is also at its highest level. 
As of Feb. 3, 2021 through IntoTheBlock’s Bitcoin Analytics 

Approximately 14% of the Bitcoin in circulation is being held by traders’ addresses, meaning that a sizable amount of the total supply changed hands within the last 30 days. 

On a similar note, on-chain data shows millions of addresses have been chasing Ether’s all-time highs. The left axis on the chart below displays how most addresses who previously bought near the 2018 high had diminished, prior to having a wave of new addresses buying at the most recent all-time highs. 

As of Feb. 3, 2021 through IntoTheBlock’s Ethereum Analytics

Interestingly, we see the number of addresses who had bought near ETH’s all-time lows (right axis) decrease at an accelerating rate in the past few months. This exemplifies the changing dynamic from long-term players taking profits while new entrants chase the highs. 

While Ethereum, DeFi tokens and crypto broadly have appreciated remarkably in the past few months, it is worth considering that there is an excessive amount of short-term trading at the moment. Even though the potential long-term for these assets is remarkable, investors should take caution and never invest more than they can afford. 

This article contains links to third-party websites or other content for information purposes only (“Third-Party Sites”). The Third-Party Sites are not under the control of CoinMarketCap, and CoinMarketCap is not responsible for the content of any Third-Party Site, including without limitation any link contained in a Third-Party Site, or any changes or updates to a Third-Party Site. CoinMarketCap is providing these links to you only as a convenience, and the inclusion of any link does not imply endorsement, approval or recommendation by CoinMarketCap of the site or any association with its operators. This article is intended to be used and must be used for informational purposes only. It is important to do your own research and analysis before making any material decisions related to any of the products or services described. This article is not intended as, and shall not be construed as, financial advice. The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author’s [company’s] own and do not necessarily reflect those of CoinMarketCap.
6 people liked this article