Glassnode, the blockchain analysis firm, has said that several factors have contributed to making the current crypto bear market the worst ever recorded as most Bitcoin (BTC) traders are underwater and continue to sell at a loss.
It has been reported that Glassnode’s Saturday report titled “A Bear of Historic Proportions” outlines how Bitcoin’s current dip below the 200-day moving average (MA), negative deviation from realized price, and net realized losses have conspired to make 2022 the worst in Bitcoin’s history.
It stated:
“In the midst of this, Bitcoin and Ethereum have both traded below their previous cycle ATHs which is a first in history.”
However, the first and most obvious indication of a bear market is when the spot price of Bitcoin (BTC) falls below the 200-day MA and an even more extreme scenario, the 200-week MA. To highlight how rare the current price levels are, Glassnode showed that during the 2022 bear market, Bitcoin has fallen below half the 200-day MA level.
The report said that Glassnode also demonstrated that falling below 0.5 the Mayer Multiple (MM) is an exceedingly rare occasion that hasn’t happened since 2015. The MM factors in price changes above and below the 200-day MA to show overbought or oversold conditions.
It added:
“Only 84 out of 4160 trading days (2%) have recorded a closing MM value below 0.5. For the first time in history, the 2021-22 cycle has recorded a lower MM value (0.487) than the previous cycle’s low (0.511).”
Likewise, confirming the severity of current market conditions is the spot price falling below the realized price, which has forced traders to increasingly sell their coins at a loss. Glassnode noted that such a cascade effect is “typical of bear markets and market capitulations.”
Glassnode said instances, when spot prices trade below the realized price, are uncommon, noting that this is only the third time this has happened in the last six years and the fifth time it’s happened since Bitcoin’s launch in 2009.
It added:
“Spot prices are currently trading at an 11.3% discount to the realized price, signifying that the average market participant is now underwater on their position.”
Thus, the rarity of this event is illustrated by Glassnode’s model showing that just 13.9% of all Bitcoin trading days have seen spot prices dip below realized prices.
Source: Cointelegraph