Bitcoin started 2023 with modest gains – but has barely moved over the past week, up just 1% over the past day.
According to CoinGecko, the largest cryptocurrency by market cap trades for around $16,729. That’s a tiny 1% increase in 24 hours; over the past week it has fallen 0.7%.
And this time last year, BTC was trading at $47,387 — 64% higher than now. It has fallen even further – over 75% – from its all-time high of $69,044, set in November 2021.
Ethereum is also up over the past 24 hours, according to CoinGecko: the second largest digital asset is up 1.9% to trade at around $1,219. But it’s also been flat for the past week and had a terrible month; in November it plummeted from highs above $1,600 to below $1,100, while in December it only briefly climbed above $1,300 before falling back.
ETH is also down 75% from its November 2021 all-time high of $4,878.
Bitcoin ends 2022 in the red
Both cryptocurrencies have struggled lately: BTC briefly peaked above $18,000 in mid-December but has failed to reach $17,000 since. And each of the cryptocurrency’s quarterly candles in 2022 was red – meaning the asset has been falling every four months: a truly bearish indicator for the asset and something it’s never done before.
The cryptocurrency market largely followed the US stock market in 2022. As the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates to keep inflation under control, investors generally sold US stocks, as well as bitcoin and other digital assets.
This is because they are “risky assets” – assets like tech stocks or bitcoin are more volatile in price than less risky assets like US Treasuries or dollars.
And stocks had a terrible year in 2022. In fact, the S&P500 suffered its biggest decline since 2008.
Cryptocurrencies were also hit after the collapse of major blockchain project Terra in May and later after the bankruptcy of popular exchange FTX.