Don't Worry: We've Seen Crypto Markets Fall Like This Before

Welcome to Crypto Currently: the column in which we examine the latest news and trends in cryptocurrencies from around the world.

In the first half of the week, Bitcoin continued its dismal performance with a loss of over 10 percent. The flagship digital asset now sits a full 48 percent down on its December peak. Ethereum and Ripple fared slightly better, losing six percent and five percent respectively, to sit about where they did a month ago.

The market is now at a point where many speculators who rushed in during last month's high will be wondering whether they’ll make up their losses. But if history is anything to go by, they certainly can. Because we’ve see this happen before.

As any seasoned trader will tell you, waiting out collapses can be prosperous. In the month leading up to April 8, 2013, Bitcoin shot up from AU$46 to $221. An eye-watering collapse then followed and the price fell back to $111 a month later. Traders who had held steady and refused to sell at the peak then had more than five months to kick themselves, while the price remained below $221. But then another explosion took place in November 2013, where in the space of a month the price ballooned from $240 to $1,362, before sinking back to $660. Amazingly, the price took almost three years to pass the peak of this boom, not crossing the December 2013 peak until January last year.

Anyway, the point is that in all these cases, Bitcoin has boomed, fallen back, and then later surpassed its peak to set fresh records. As the voice at the end of superannuation commercials loves to reminds us "past performance isn’t indicative of future results" and nobody knows where it’ll go from here. Nonetheless, those with sweaty palms should know that what they’re experiencing isn’t anything new; it could just be the plateau before the spike. Or the calm before the storm.

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