The most recent big bull run in the crypto markets, that of 2021, featured an absolute star, namely the Shiba Inu token SHIB. But since the bubble burst, the story has changed quite a bit, especially when comparing its performance with that of Ethereum and Bitcoin.
Summary
The trend of Shiba Inu (SHIB)
First of all, it is worth mentioning that SHIB‘s market capitalization has dropped to about $4.5 billion, after being over $43 billion in 2021 as well.
Its current capitalization puts it only 19th among the most capitalized cryptocurrencies, behind cryptocurrencies such as Avalanche, Toncoin, and BCH.
It is enough to consider that Ethereum capitalizes 236 billion, and Bitcoin as much as almost 600.
During the resounding bullrun of 2021 Shiba Inu even made it into the top 10 in this particular ranking, but with the bear-market of 2022 the project has shrunk a lot.
In particular, it is 2023 that is very different.
In fact, while BTC has gained 84% and ETH 63%, SHIB has actually lost 5% since the beginning of the year.
Indeed, ever since it touched all-time highs over the long term it has practically done nothing but lose.
The all-time high is 88.4 millionths of a dollar on 28 October 2021, but by early 2022 it had already fallen to 34 millionths, a loss of 61% in just two plentiful months.
With the implosion of the Terra/Luna ecosystem in May 2022, it fell below 11 millionths, or -87% from the highs.Â
After the Celsius failure in June 2022, it also fell below 8 millionths, and after a brief recovery in August, it was back around that figure by the end of the year.
In mid-June 2023, it also fell as low as 6.5 millionths, or -92% from the highs, although in recent weeks it has recovered to the current 7.6 millionths.
If we take the minimum peaks of each individual descent we see that they are decreasing: first 11 millionths, then 8 millionths, then 6.5. At this point it is hard to imagine that the late June bounce will be able to reverse the trend, not least because during 2022/2023 there have already been as many as two big bounces that, however, have not subsequently prevented new, even lower annual lows.
By contrast, the case for Bitcoin and Ethereum is completely different.
The trend of Bitcoin (BTC)
During the bubble of 2021, Bitcoin’s price did not rise much, when compared to that of many other major cryptocurrencies.
After returning to $20,000 in November 2020, twelve months later it stopped below $70,000, a x3.5 that is nothing exceptional in crypto markets.
But during the bear-market of 2022 it held much better, so much so that it is now “only” -55% from the highs. In the top twenty crypto assets by market capitalization it is by far the one that loses the least, except of course for stablecoins.
Moreover, in 2023 its price went up 84%, bringing it to a current value far above that $20,000 from which the bull run started.
In other words, it rose much less during the bullrun, but it then also lost much less during the bear-market. At present it is the one that is performing best of all the major ones.
What’s more, the current values are close to the annual highs, which certifies the fact that Bitcoin’s price is definitely going through a good time, despite everything.
Basically, in the entire history of Bitcoin, it was only for less than a year and a half that the price of BTC was higher than the current one.
In light of this, it is possible to say that while the growth during the bull run of 2021 was excessive, so too was probably the bear-market decline of 2022.
The trend in the value of Ethereum (ETH) compared with Shiba Inu and Bitcoin
Truth be told, the price trend of ETH has not been very different from that of BTC.Â
The proportions change, because the growth during 2021 was greater, but as a consequence, so was the decline during 2022.
The comparison varies a lot depending on the initial price that is taken into account.
For example, if you start from the highs of 2021, ETH is at -60%, while BTC is at -55% and SHIB is at -91%.
And if you start from the late 2022 price, ETH is at +63%, while BTC is at +84%, with SHIB at -5%.
However, if you take the pre-bubble price as a reference, things change dramatically.
There is actually not much sense for SHIB to take that price as a reference, because then almost no one had bought it, and so the price was derisory.
Comparing only BTC and ETH, relative to October 2020 the former is at +172%, while the latter is even at +402%, but during the previous bear-market ETH had dropped a lot.
If we take the highs of the previous cycle as a reference, namely those made between 2017 and 2018, Bitcoin is at +50%, while Ethereum is at +58%.
This means that, over the long term, the performance of ETH and BTC are similar, but the former turns out to be more volatile over the short to medium term.
SHIB, on the other hand, performs less well over the long term, except for the initial period when it was not yet a major player in the crypto markets, with an even greater volatility over the short to medium term. It is therefore primarily a speculative asset, very different from Bitcoin and Ethereum.
