2017 was the year of the ICO, or Initial Coin offering where tokenization really took hold. Investors chased profits as the price of Bitcoin made the media news cycle topping $20,000 per coin. The inevitable happened, and a “Crypto Winter” insued shaking out most retail investors who bought coins above $16,000 and sold them under $5000. It was a massive speculative bubble that has little to do with the evolution of tokenomics or decentralization.

The price of Bitcoin is driving the entire industry, everything from mining to new coin issuance is driven by one thing – the last trade in Bitcoin. If you examine a window since January 2017 to current pricing you see a bubble type culmination of greed and speculation not seen since the tulip bulb idiocy. Prices rallied from $1000 per coin after Brexit volatility and exploded in a spike folley to $20,000 that roiled global markets and entertained the talking heads in all media.

Bitcoin prices (and Alt-Coins) spent most of 2018 in a painful slow decline industry followers dubbed “cryptowinter”, and is now part of the lexicon and volatile history of Bitcoin prices who’s trading life is less than a decade. The cryptowinter turned like any change in season as prices held an important level above $3000, but this 85% decline from the top was swift and reprsentative of what speculation in digital currency is in it’s first decade. It is painful and requires steely resolve and the ability to stay away from watching prices every day investing in any cryptocurrency.

This is a market that requires a “long only” mentality where you buy, and add to your long position, in each quarter and trade with discipline. It is easy to say, and hard to do. But in Q2 2019 it looks like spring is here and the industry trees are abloom.

https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bitcoin/