Home
>News
>January Rewind: Crypto Starts 2022 with Massive Thud

January Rewind: Crypto Starts 2022 with Massive Thud

Bitcoin continued its downtrend from 2021 in January 2022, losing another 18% over the course of the month.

The entirety of the crypto market has had an underwhelming start to the year, with only a few assets in the green, and the rest seeing double digit percentage losses. Traditional markets did not perform very well either, in a month that saw a lot of red for a variety of asset classes.

Many assets that had lost value in December have continued their decline in January too. With Bitcoin trading below $40k, it will likely have to head above that mark before the markets get any real relief.

Evan Jones

Written by Evan Jones Cryptocurrency expert and consultant

Evan Jones was introduced to cryptocurrency by fellow CryptoVantage contributor Keegan Francis in 2017 and was immediately intrigued by the use cases of many Ethereum-based cryptos. He bought his first hardware wallet shortly thereafter. He has a keen and v...

| Jun 15, 2023

In this monthly segment we will be looking at the top gainers and losers of the month. This will be done in terms of dollar value with a focus on percentage gains of coins within the top 100 by market capitalization. We will also look at one asset in close detail each month, whether it is the biggest gainer or one to keep an eye on. The fast growth of the crypto and blockchain industry in 2021 means that there are more assets than ever that deserve attention and are experiencing notable gains and losses.

Each month we will also take a look at Bitcoin’s performance, and how it has performed both compared to last year at this time, and its comparative performance to the Dow Jones and S&P 500 Index.

Let us look at the biggest winners and losers of the past month.

Biggest Dollar Increases

An absolutely brutal month for the crypto markets. Only 4 assets are in the green for the last 30 days. Here are the biggest gainers from the past month:

UNUS SED LEO (LEO), ranked 35th, the native asset of BitFinex exchange has gained 2% this month after gaining over 11% last month. LEO is currently trading around $3.89 a piece.
Bora (BORA), ranked 89th, has gained about 2% this month and it is currently trading around $1.06 a piece.

Coin of the Month: FTX

The platform supports a wide range of crypto assets including its native token FTT. Holding FTT is beneficial for multiple reasons. It can give traders a discount on fees, staked for additional benefits such as waived fiat fees, and free waived blockchain withdrawals. The fiat and blockchain fees are big draws for users of Ethereum especially, as staking FTT entitles traders to a certain number of free ERC-20 withdrawals per day. This can save a trader hundreds of dollars in transaction fees.

Biggest Dollar Decreases

With Bitcoin down about another 20% for January after the same drop in December, there are quite a few assets with notable losses. We have an expanded section this month. Here are the biggest losers from the past month:

Solana (SOL), ranked 7th, has lost over 36% over the past month with network issues reoccurring. SOL is currently trading around $112.08 a piece.
Terra (LUNA), ranked 9th, has lost over 41% over the past month after gaining 40% in December and it is currently trading around $52.27 a piece.
Algorand (ALGO), ranked 25th, has lost over 41% this month and it is currently trading around 98 cents a piece.
VeChain (VET), ranked 37th, has lost 37% this month after losing 30% last month and it is currently trading around 5.5 cents a piece.
Axie Infinity (AXS), ranked 39th, has lost over 43% this month after losing 30% last month and it is currently trading around $53.91 a piece.
Filecoin (FIL), ranked 40th, has lost about 42% this month after losing 36% last month and it is currently trading around $20.95 a piece.
Elrond (EGLD), raked 41st, has lost over 36% this month after losing 47% last month and it is currently trading around $154.08 a piece.
Theta Network (THETA), ranked 45th, has lost about 40% this month and it is currently trading around $2.94 a piece.
IOTA (MIOTA), ranked 47th, has lost about 40% this month and it is currently trading around 84 cents a piece.
Curve DAO Token (CRV), ranked 59th, has lost over 43% this month and it is currently trading around $3.44 a piece.
Gala (GALA), ranked 64th, is our biggest loser of the month with over 55% lost. It is currently trading around 20 cents a piece.
Kusama (KSM), ranked 65th, has lost about 43% this month and it is currently trading around $168.24.
THORChain (RUNE), ranked 67th, has lost about 44% this month after losing 37% last month and it is currently trading around $4.19 a piece.
Zcash (ZEC), ranked 69th, has lost about 36% this month after losing 35% last month and it is currently trading around $96.95 a piece.
Convex Finance (CVX), ranked 72nd, has lost over 43% this month and it is currently trading around $27.38 a piece.
Loopring (LRC), ranked 74th, has lost over 53% this month and it is currently trading around 97 cents a piece.
Quant (QNT), ranked 76th, has lost about 44% this month and it is currently trading around $99.55 a piece.
Kadena (KDA), ranked 80th, has lost about 50% this month and it is currently trading around $6.18 a piece.
Waves (WAVES), ranked 83rd, the native asset of Waves.Exchange has lost over 41% this month and it is currently trading around $8.94 a piece.

Will Bitcoin Regain $40k in February?

Bitcoin lost another 18% over the month of January after losing the same in December. The original crypto is currently trading around $38.8k, down almost $10k from where it ended December.

With concerns over regulation mounting, it seems many investors are waiting to see what is said before investing too heavily, though pundits continue to stack Sats during this dip. If Bitcoin can climb above $40k in February and hold the line, it would be very bullish for its rest of year outlook. Of course, one regulatory news story could derail anything it does gain.

Bitcoin Loses to Traditional Markets on Monthly Charts

Bitcoin has lost another 18% this month meaning that for three months in a row now the traditional markets have been performing better than the original crypto. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 Index have both lost this month as well though.

The Dow is down just under 5% while the S&P is down over 5%, both of which are significant loses for a more stable investment class. All three markets are down, but for how long will be interesting to watch.