In euphoria, it is difficult to understand hyper-volatile markets such as the cryptocurrency market. Fortunately, statistics shed light on trends, challenges and investor psychology.
Disclaimer: this article is not an investment advice. It is a summary of statistical information related to cryptocurrencies.
The year 2024 launched a strong new uptrend for the cryptocurrency market. This increase is due to two factors: the launch of crypto ETFs and the election of a US president who supports the cryptocurrency market. The upturns began in February 2024.
The rise in prices can clearly be put in parallel with the arrival of spot ETFs BTC and ETH. The increase in positions taken via ETFs (especially BTC ETFs) is generally indicative of an upward trend.
Since the launch of this financial product, it has been a real success. The trend despite a decline in the price of Bitcoin in the middle of the year is to accumulate positions. It is difficult to know when this trend could slow down or reverse.
For Ethereum ETFs, the same phenomenon is observable but in much smaller volume proportions. Indeed, the volume of BTC ETFs reaches 700 billion while the volume of ETH ETFs barely reaches 50 billion. The cumulative volume opened is therefore 14 times greater for Bitcoin.
This difference is easily explained. First, ETH ETFs arrived later than BTC ETFs. The accumulation of ETH ETFs occurred towards the end of summer (August). At that time, the market was in full uncertainty and the US elections put most investors on hold. The project also suffers from many criticisms of these competitors like Solana, who are currently developing more rapidly. At the same time, Solana is attracting more new developers and projects. The real start of ETH ETFs was therefore only around mid-November, after the election of Donald Trump.
Blackrock remains a pioneer in the holding of BTC ETFs and ETH ETFs. Since November, the volume of its positions in BTC has increased 3 times. For Ethereum, the volume has increased 4 times. This is not a trend but rather a slight catch-up of investors' position on ETH. However, if this statistic is to be monitored, even if in terms of volume it is Bitcoin that remains the boss.
The company now has almost 65 billion in the cryptocurrency market via ETFs.
Let’s stay focused on the two key cryptocurrencies of the ecosystem. In terms of activity, there is a strong increase in early 2025 of active Ethereum addresses. Although Bitcoin is still at the top of this ranking, the Ethereum network seems to be waking up, this data is to watch because it could mean a surge in activity.
The increase in volume exchanged may be partly responsible for the creation or reactivation of new addresses. If this trend continues, it could lead to a cash flow transfer to new entrants. Beware though, with the challenge awakening many former investors sometimes create new addresses to use protocols or portfolios they did not use in the past. Given the anonymity of the wallets, it is impossible to know what is the exact cause of this sudden increase.
While the two giants provide us with extremely useful information to understand the market, they are not alone and do not reflect all of the market trends.
Undoubtedly, it is the top 30 cryptocurrencies that have experienced the best price performance since the beginning of 2024. These projects are generally more appreciated by investors and institutions because they appear to be more reliable.
This positive trend is worth analysing in detail because the assets present in this top 30 did not all perform in the same way. Overall, Bitcoin remains the leader in providing direction for the biggest cryptocurrencies.
The cryptocurrencies linked to the challenge seem to be the other winners of the end of year 2024. Decentralized lending protocols are particularly popular.
Layer 1 cryptocurrencies appear to perform much better than Layer 2 cryptocurrencies. Layers 1 and 2 saw a similar surge in November. Layer 1 cryptocurrencies have remained largely unchanged while the price of layers 2 has been heavily corrected.
The crypto MEME have experienced a very strong craze before experiencing a contained decline. Compare to other categories, the Meme have been able to seduce many investors in search of the next joke that will make them millionaires. However, analyzing these cryptocurrencies as a whole is risky because the differentials of variations on these cryptocurrencies is huge.
Cryptocurrencies linked to DePin, gaming or AI projects have suffered a similar fate. A small hype in November followed by a slow and continuous correction of prices. Catching many new entrants to these markets in late 2024 and early 2025.
Smaller-cap stocks also saw an increase in capital inflows, which subsequently led to a sharp rise in their valuation. However, this phenomenon quickly stopped. The price reversal was brutal for many low-valued cryptocurrencies.
All these indications give us a clear picture of the market early 2025. The most established cryptocurrencies are benefiting from the best increases and have been able to stabilize their prices in times of doubt. The challenge protocols are doing well and have been performing well overall since the end of 2024. The other sectors are lagging behind and the rapidly uptrend has not been able to confirm.
This pattern is not surprising because if we look at the other bullruns of previous years, the main assets had always given rhythm to the trend. During their corrections, possible cash transfer to smaller assets are to be monitored as this can generate dramatic increases on small capitalizations that see a massive influx of liquidity (compare to their respective marketcap).
