The new year is here and it started off kicking. Bitcoin went on a rollercoaster, dropping to a low of $6,850 only to surge back up to $8,000 days later. As it’s almost always the case, the cryptocurrency market followed. Looking at how January turned out for altcoins throughout the past 4 years, it’s safe to say that it acted as a catalyst to both bullish and bearish markets. It’s interesting to see whether 2020 will ignite a new altcoin season. So far it seems that this is where it’s headed to.
January is the first month of the year and, naturally, a lot of predictions, as well as historical comparisons start from it.
When it comes to altcoins, it’s interesting to note that January usually marks the beginning of a certain trend. That’s what historical data shows.
As it can be seen in the above chart, in 2016, altcoins marked some very serious gains. It wasn’t until 2017, however, when the market really surged. The year is perhaps the most important in the entire brief history of cryptocurrencies. Almost all of them peaked, reaching their all-time highs back then. Moreover, this is when cryptocurrencies got popular and were properly introduced to the general public.
2018 was a cool-off year. The prolonged bear market saw a lot of the altcoins lose a major chunk of their value. As a matter of fact, a lot of them were trading upwards of 90% below their ATH value.
The following year of 2019 was the recovery period. Even though a lot of the altcoins did mark certain gains, they were nowhere near the increases seen back in 2016 and 2017. At the very least, however, the year halted their previous decline and marked their recovery.
With all of the above being said, perhaps the most logical question is what will happen with altcoins in 2020. While it’s anyone’s guess, the year has started on a fairly positive foot.
So far, all of the major altcoins are trading in the green since January 1st. The most notable gainers include Bitcoin Cash (BCH), that’s up 17.5%, Bitcoin SV (BSV), up 16.9%, XRP, up 11.75%, and so forth.
It’s also worth noting that 2020 is the year of Bitcoin’s halving. While it has nothing to do with altcoins directly, it’s not uncommon for them to follow the price of Bitcoin. A lot of people expect that BTC will surge following the halving, and it’s interesting to see whether this will have an impact on altcoins as well.
