The start of 2020 is a great time to look at the path travelled by cryptocurrencies up and down the price charts and analyze how these coins have been performing throughout the previous year. The prices of most cryptocurrencies changed tremendously throughout 2019, as the year started off slow but then saw most cryptocurrencies jump in value over the first six months.

However, some like Luna Coin (LUNA) exhibiting a considerable growth of 48,900%. Others, such as Lumen (XLM), lost more than half their price value and tumbled from the pedestal of crypto glory. DogeCoin (DOGE) demonstrated the lowest volatility, which is entering 2020 at the same price as 12 months ago.

How did the leaders act?

Bitcoin (BTC)

Year-to-date: +87%

The biggest move: +282% over six months

The king of cryptocurrencies dominated the price charts throughout 2019, gaining 282% in value over just half a year, and with its biggest 24-hour loss constituting a 10% drop on July 11. Bitcoin demonstrated that slump — which lasted just a few minutes — after United States lawmakers criticized Facebook’s Libra.

The price of Bitcoin grew from $3,400 to almost $13,000 over the first six months of the year, levels it had not seen since January 2018. The hike in price was accompanied by the combined and consequent growth of other cryptocurrencies trailing Bitcoin’s lead. However, the same cannot be said about the second half of the year, as the BTC market consistently experienced bearish moods.

Ether (ETH)

Year-to-date: -12%

The biggest move: +139% over six months

The number two cryptocurrency had a rather interesting year, finishing it up in the green after adding 139% over the first half of the year. However, the second half of 2019 was marked by its worst drop of 36% over a 10-day period in July.

2019 was quite a busy year for ETH, which tripled in value in the first half of the year. On June 26, the exchange rate reached its peak with a 139% spike over a six-month stretch, showering the battered crypto community with much-needed optimism.

The biggest gains of 2019

2019 proved to be quite a lucrative year for some participants of the crypto market. The biggest growth was exhibited by assets such as Luna Coin, Chainlink and Matic.

Luna Coin (LUNA)

Year-to-date: +25,000%

The biggest move: +48,900% over a day

The LUNA charts look like the cardiogram of a patient who woke up from a coma. After eight months of hibernation, the coin surged sharply by 48,900% on Aug. 19, setting the absolute record for daily growth. However, the flight was short-lived, with LUNA collapsing a day later to its previous performance levels.

Nevertheless, by the end of the year, the coin managed to regain its position and now is on the list of the most profitable assets, showing a year-to-date growth of 25,000%. Since the beginning of the year, the price of the token has increased from $0.001 to $0.25.

Bitcoiin (B2G)

Year-to-date: -99%

The biggest move: +3,500% over a week

B2G, a fork of Bitcoin, has made the list of 2019’s biggest gainers with a 3,500% return over the course of a week. The coin multiplied its price in early February, surging from $0.02 to $0.70. However, since July 2019, the project has been demonstrating almost no activity and trading volumes of between $0.50 and $5.

Seele (SEELE)

Year-to-date: +2,640%

The biggest move: +2,640% over a year

Ethereum-based token Seele made the list of 2019’s biggest gainers, with year-to-date twenty-sevenfold price growth, having entered 2019 with a price of $0.005. At the moment, Seele is valued at $0.137 per coin, which has made its investors profitable despite the cryptocurrency market’s recent overall bearish mood.

Ethereum Meta (ETHM)

Year-to-date: -98%

The biggest move: +1,100% over 2 days

On Dec. 23, the little-known Ethereum Meta token made headlines, having risen in price from $0.000001 by 1,100% in just 48 hours. Notably, the daily trading volume of the coin was only $87 at that moment. After continuing its flight to the moon on Dec. 25, ETHM dropped by 97%. Since the beginning of 2020, ETHM has been experiencing some great volatility.

ETHM has seen possible two pump and dumps since the start of the year. Source: Coin360.com

The project founders did not make any statements regarding the price fluctuations, and its social network accounts have been inactive for two months. This may indicate that the coin was intentionally pumped and dumped.

Matic (MATIC)

Year-to-date: +285%

The biggest move: +1,233% over a month

As Matic aimed to attract developers by offering them a way to deploy and run decentralized applications securely, its token price surged by 1,233% over the course of May. However, a 52% price drop over a period of one week ensued during that same month.

In late April, Matic was listed by exchanges with its initial trading price of $0.003, but its value reached a peak price of $0.04 on May 21, rising tenfold over the course of a month. In mid-November, the coin’s price started growing rapidly, setting its an all-time high of $0.042 on Dec. 8. However, this increase was razed in just a few hours, when the price of the asset fell by 70% and returned to the levels it had grazed on two weeks prior.

While market leaders such as Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao were defending the project, Matic’s operations director, Sandeep Nialwal, called the depreciation of the asset the result of “obvious manipulation” and promised to provide a detailed analysis of what had happened.

Despite the downturns, the altcoin is currently almost four times more expensive than it was during its initial exchange offering. Early investors are still in positive territory, even despite a threefold drop in the price of the coin in mid-December.

Chainlink (LINK)

Year-to-date: +459%

The biggest move: +1,186% over six months

A regular member of Cointelegraph’s “Top crypto this week” section, LINK boosted 1,186% in value on June 29 and gained 459% over the year.

Many high-profile partnerships with large companies such as Google, Binance, Oracle and Aelf allowed the coin to surge by 10 times in value in the first half of 2019. On June 29, LINK broke a historic record, growing 1,186% soon after Coinbase Pro announced its plans to list the token. The overall price growth over the course of the year was recorded at 459%.

Binance Coin (BNB)

Year-to-date: +122%

The biggest move: +548% over six months

BNB is a utility token for discounted trading fees on the Binance exchange. Given the platform’s popularity, the coin gained 548% in value over the course of the first half of the year and all-in-all grew by 122% in 2019.

Since December of last year, the price of the coin has grown to $38.48, up 548%. At the same time, BNB remains one of the few cryptocurrencies whose investors are still in positive territory. Over the year, the coin added 122% in value, and there are several reasons for this.

One of them was the launch of the Binance DEX, which held several successful IEOs, as well as the evolution of BNB as an ecosystem.

The rapid growth was also supported by a well-built economic model deployed around the BNB coin, which allows its owners to take advantage of reduced exchange commissions.

Celer (CELR)

Year-to-date: -85%

The biggest move: +214% over two weeks

The Celer network was another IEO held on the Binance Launchpad. Although it managed to add 214% in price in just two weeks in May, early investors still suffered losses. Initially, the coin was sold at $0.007. At its peak, its value reached $0.03. But, by the end of the year, the asset was valued at $0.0038, losing almost half its price since the crowdsale.

The biggest price losers

2019 saw its fair share of price drops, and the biggest investor disappointers has been compiled into the list below.

BitTorent (BTT)

Year-to-date: -99%

The biggest move: -97% over a day

BTT, which demonstrated an eightfold increase last year, broke another record in May 2019 — this time hitting the lists of losers. On May 1, its price dropped from $0.02 to $0.0006 in just one day and has been steadily decreasing ever since.

Nevertheless, Tron's BitTorrent is currently one of the most successful IEO projects. Despite an impressive drop from its highs in the second half of the year, the coin is still trading at prices twice the amount it was during the crowdsale, when it was sold for $0.00012.

FuzeX (FXT)

Year-to-date: -84%

The biggest move: -87% over six months

The FXT token is another unfortunate leader with its price drop, losing 87% over the course of half a year. Its price dropped from $0.0035 on July 8 to $0.00043 on Dec. 29.

Bitcoin Gold (BTG)

Year-to-date: -59%

The biggest move: -82% over six months

2019 was a sad year for holders of BTG, which fell by 82% in the second half of the year — from $31 on June 25 to a current value of around $5.30. The total decrease for the year was 60%, fueled by the previous delisting of BTG from Bittrex and the restriction on U.S. citizens from holding the coin.

Omnitude (ECOM)

Year-to-date: -80%

The biggest move: -65% over two months

Omnitude comes next, as October was seemingly a pump-and-dump month for ECOM traders, with the price surging and then dropping on several occasions. On Oct. 14, after the third pump, ECOM turned its trend into a bearish one and since that time has lost almost 65%, falling from $0.07 to $0.024.

ECOM price during the last 6 months of 2019. Source: Coin360.com

Lumen (XLM)

Year-to-date: -63%

The biggest move: -63% over a year

Lumen is also in the list of losers, with its 63% year-to-date price drop. In November alone, its price fell from $0.08 and is currently traded at a price of $0.044 per coin.

Ether (ETH)

Year-to-date: -12%

The biggest move: -36% in 10 days

Mentioning Ethereum for the second time, ETH demonstrated a notably sharp price reverse on July 8, dropping by 36% in just 10 days, pulling the altcoin market down along with it.

XRP

Year-to-date: -47%

The biggest move: -30% in November

XRP wraps up the list of disappointments with its 47% drop over a period of one year and a 30% drop in November. While still continuing to fall, XRP set a record for the number of transactions in early December. On Dec. 2, the total amount of transferred assets reached $1 billion, making some users believe that the team behind the cryptocurrency, Ripple, was intentionally crashing the XRP price.