Cryptocurrency Price Predictions

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As Bitcoin looks to be preparing for another historical Q4 rally, cryptocurrency prices have surged. The development of decentralized finance continues to grow, and the total market cap of crypto shows no signs of slowing down.

If investors continue to allocate more resources towards the development of DeFi, there is a high possibility that Bitcoin will continue to climb in price. As price approaches all-time highs, it is suspected by analysts that price will far surpass previous cycles.

When Bitcoin price moves it is common for the price of altcoins to follow. Although this is not always the case, keep in mind that just because small-cap coins can provide massive returns, their fundamental utility is often questioned, making them much riskier assets to invest in. 

Cryptocurrency Market Capitalization

As of October 2022, the crypto market cap is a shadow of what it once was, falling below $1 trillion after the depegging of Terra.

Cryptocurrency vs. Stocks

Cryptocurrency and stocks are different in many ways. The first is that it is very hard to value cryptocurrency because we don’t know for certain what they eventually could be worth. This makes cryptocurrencies a much riskier investment, as they are more volatile assets than traditional stocks. 

The second large difference between crypto and stocks would be that you can trade crypto at any time in the day any day of the week, and stocks can only be bought and purchased during market hours. This provides much more flexibility for investors and traders, who are looking to trade their assets. 

The final difference would be the actual type of asset. When investors purchase shares of a company they are actually buying ownership of that company. On the other hand, when investors buy crypto they aren't necessarily purchasing part of the company, they are buying an asset. An asset's value is determined by the community. This is one reason why crypto is so volatile because the price is often speculative. 

Bull Case For BTC, LTC, ETH and DOGE

Bitcoin holds almost 50% of the market dominance of crypto, so it is very common for altcoins to follow the price action of Bitcoin. Keep in mind that many small-cap coins have no utility and are completely speculative, although they may provide more than 100% gains.

Bitcoin

Nick Spanos, the creator of the Bitcoin Center NYC and co-founder of Zap.org, along with many other credible analysts, predicted that Bitcoin would pass $100,000 before the end of the year. As Bitcoin is the spine of the crypto market, this was not an unrealistic expectation. Moreover, we saw Bitcoin increase over 100% from August 2021 to October 2021. Unfortunately, it couldn’t keep momentum and the depegging of Terra brought down every cryptocurrency.

Ethereum

Spanos’ analysis for Ethereum put the price at $10,000 to $12,000 per ETH by the end of the year. This was a realistic price target as Ethereum is the most popular layer-1 network for smart contract developers. Price will also continue to climb once Ethereum releases the final rollouts of ETH2.0, implementing PoS to the mainnet which will heavily increase scalability. But, this has all been stunted because of the depegging of Terra.

Litecoin

If the price of Bitcoin continues to climb at its current rate and Litecoin’s price follows, it would not have been unrealistic to see LTC at $400 per coin at the end of this year. This would put LTC in a zone near its 2017 all-time high. However, the depegging of Terra has caused Litecoin to bottom out and lose any steam it had.

Dogecoin

Dogecoin’s value is complete speculation. Although if the price reflects the movement of Bitcoin, it could be possible to see Dogecoin work its way back to its previous all-time high by the end of the year. For this to happen, there will need to be newfound hype over the coin in the coming months.

Bear Case For BTC, LTC, ETH, DOGE

There is the possibility that Bitcoin gets rejected at its all-time high or endures a massive correction after its breakout, although it is unlikely. If there is a correction in the price of BTC, we can expect the rest of the crypto market to follow. The correction for small-cap cryptos may be larger as they are less fundamentally strong projects. 

Where to Buy Cryptocurrency

IBKR is a great exchange that offer all blue-chip cryptos. A centralized exchange like IBKR is a perfect way for individuals to start investing. Make sure to do your own research to find out what exchange is best for you.

Can The Cryptocurrency Markets Reach $10 Trillion?

Considering one year ago the total crypto market cap was roughly $400 billion, if the market cap continues to grow by a modest 200% annually, we could see a $10 trillion market cap within 2 to 3 years. However, this all depends on the market recovering from losses after the downfall of Terra.

The market cap for gold is roughly $11 trillion, so if the total crypto market cap continues to grow 200% annually, it is very possible to surpass the market cap of gold. Since gold is a such strong commodity in today’s society, it may take longer than expected for Bitcoin to overtake gold as the go-to store of value. The price implications of this would mean roughly $500,000 per BTC if Bitcoin continues to hold around 50% market dominance.

Where To Store Cryptocurrency Safely

When thinking about how to store your cryptocurrency there are two paths to choose from: software wallets and hardware wallets. 

• A software wallet is an application on your computer or mobile device. 
• A hardware wallet is a special type of wallet that stores the user’s private keys in a secure physical device — keeping your private key information off your computer and onto the external device. 

Best Hardware Wallet: Ledger

Ledger is the most recognized and most credited hardware wallet currently available. The device is primarily an offline hardware wallet. Ledger also connects to Bluetooth and USB depending on if you want to use your computer or mobile device. Ledger’s application also makes it much easier to secure, store and manage your assets.  

Best Software Wallet: ZenGo

ZenGo is a mobile software wallet that makes an excellent wallet for beginners looking to invest in cryptocurrency. The wallet also removes the worry of keeping private keys and seed phrases with the facial biometric feature.

Current Cryptocurrency Market Movements

Overall market sentiment is not good as the crypto sector continues to recover from Terra’s downfall ans Do Kwon becomes an international fugitive.

Is Cryptocurrency a Good Investment?

If you believe in the development of DeFi and are not afraid to invest in more high-risk assets, then cryptocurrency may be a great investment. If you are looking for less-volatile assets, then cryptocurrency may not be a great choice for you. 

Investing in cryptocurrency and digital assets can be highly risky, so do not invest more than you can afford to lose. Make sure to always do your own research on projects before investing.