Logos of Basic Attention Token, 0x, and Maker. Source: Twitter, Cryptonews.com, iStock/Kameleon007

If you think the crypto market has been boring for the past few weeks, you are not alone. In the two largest cryptocurrencies – bitcoin and ether – volatility is at an all-time low and the market is barely moving anymore.

Despite the market looking boring on the surface, however, there are still some interesting things going on if we look a bit deeper. According to analysis by cryptocurrency data provider Santiment, a few Ethereum-based tokens are already on the move, which could indicate that bigger things are about to happen in the crypto market: “The crypto bull market has started. It’s not about “when” anymore – it’s about “who.”

Three tokens decoupling from Ethereum

According to Santiment, the three ERC20 standard tokens Basic Attention Token (BAT), 0x (ZRX), and Maker (MKR) have all seen price action in recent days that is completely decoupled from the price of ether (ETH), which historically is a rare occurrence for Ethereum-based tokens.

Here is a chart that compared the price of BAT in blue and ETH in red:

We see a similar picture when comparing ZRX (blue) and ETH (red):

And lastly, it is also obvious that MKR (blue) has decoupled from the ETH price (red) in recent weeks:

Although the price action of these tokens speaks for itself, Santiment also pointed out the relatively strong on-chain activity that these tokens have seen recently, as well as higher “social volume” – a measure of the buzz surrounding these tokens in social media. Although the high level of social volume is a bullish sign, they said, it also often marks a temporary peak in the market, which suggests that it could be wise to wait for the buzz to calm down before investing.

In conclusion, Santiment’s analysts said that it is logical to expect the ETH price to eventually follow through and mirror these early movers again, as has happened in the past. And when ETH has initiated an “explosive bull run” in the past, they noted, BTC has followed. The question that remains unanswered, however, is when that might happen.