Top 5 cryptos to watch this week

It’s been a rollercoaster ride for crypto investors in 2022. This month, the total crypto market capitalization has grown from around $2.2 trillion at the start of the year to around $850 billion.

Several personalities bankruptcies this year has exacerbated the steep fall in valuations.

The cryptocurrency market continues to consolidate, with the majority of assets unable to make significant gains.

Despite the current crypto winter, cryptocurrencies remain by far the most profitable asset class for investment, with the ability to recoup losses and hit long-term all-time highs.

Currently, investors are predicting that the cryptocurrency market will strive to end the big sell-off in 2023.

A long crypto winter tends to test investors’ patience, but it’s one of the best opportunities to buy good cryptocurrencies at a discount.

Meanwhile, there is continued curiosity as to how certain crypto assets will fare in 2022, as their price movement will provide insight into what to expect the following year.

Here are five cryptocurrencies to watch for the week of December 26.

Bitcoin (BTC)

The year has not been kind to the cryptocurrency with the largest market cap. Since the start of 2022, bitcoin has lost more than 60% of its value.

Because of this, more than 50% of BTC investors are currently losing money, causing the market to crash. Nonetheless, there is a fair amount of evidence to suggest that bitcoin will make a strong comeback in 2023.

At the time of this writing, bitcoins is trading at $16,864, up 0.7% over the past seven days, Data emissions from Coingecko.

Benjamin Cowen, a well-known cryptocurrency scholar, predicted that once Bitcoin bulls take over the market, a “long period of accumulation” will begin.

Image: Pixabay

Ethereum (ETH)

Ethereum’s current price is $1,221, an increase of nearly 3% from last week. The 24-hour low is $1,203 and the 24-hour high is $1,222. The cryptocurrency is up 0.1% on the one-hour and 24-hour timeframes.

The Ethereum exchange reserve measure for all exchanges reveals that ETH reserves on CEX have shrunk by more than a quarter, according to on-chain data. Thus, investors acquire Ethereum and become more optimistic.

At the time of writing, bulls need to demonstrate a strong push and consolidation above the $1230 area before a countertrend strategy can be considered. The next bullish target would be $1300 and possibly $1350.

Gimbal (ADA)

Despite the turmoil of 2022, Cardano’s (ADA) onchain business continued to hit new benchmarks.

Cardano’s smart contracts exceeded 4,400 this year, an increase of 395%, and 57 million transactions were completed, an increase of around 140%.

At the time of writing, ADA was trading at $0.26, up 0.2% in the past 24 hours, after a weekly chart correction of almost 3%.

Despite its poor performance, ADA remains among the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, with a valuation of around $9 billion.

Crypto total market cap at nearly $772 billion on the daily chart | Chart: TradingView.com

Polygon (MATIC)

Several major cryptocurrencies are expected to fall below their most recent lows, but MATIC has outperformed as it attempts to establish a stable base well above its yearly low.

In its first months of existence, the price of MATIC was very constant, fluctuating between $0.01 and $0.03.

MATIC’s price, up 0.9% in the past 24 hours and trading at $8030, hit an all-time high of around $1.40 at the end of 2020, a year after its launch, as the the entire cryptocurrency market was beginning to recover.

This meant a massive increase of over 4,600% from its original price.

XRP

Since hitting the all-time high of $1.98 in April 2021, the XRP price has lost 80% of its market value.

The XRP community awaits judgment in the case between Ripple and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The final verdict will likely have an effect on the price of XRP, which made brief inroads into the green zone despite a prolonged difficult market.

Bulls aim for post-Christmas breakout as XRP price spikes to $0.35 at press time.