cryptocurrency: Crypto traders are now moving to more stable tokens
During and after the weekend crash, ET spoke to multiple exchanges to gauge the trading volumes – most recorded higher transaction levels, but a few witnessed a dip too.
“We have seen volumes increase by around 15%,” said Avinash Shekhar, co-CEO, ZebPay.
A CEO of a top exchange said on condition of anonymity, “We saw a sharp decline in trading volumes during the weekend as most investors were trying to figure out the reasons and consequences of the current dip in crypto.”
The CoinSwitch, India’s largest crypto trading platform, said it registered a twofold increase in the number of users buying on the platform compared to its daily average and that the most traded coins during the week to January 23 were Bitcoin, Cardano, Shiba Inu, Loopring and Doge coin. “Many users on our platform are long-term retail investors. They have seen similar dips and recoveries in the past. They use the opportunity to add to their portfolio,” said Ashish Singhal, CEO, CoinSwitch Kuber, a crypto brokerage which works with multiple Indian crypto exchanges.
Some of the popular coins that were hammered in the market in the past few days witnessed some fresh buying.
“There was a lot of interest in bigger dips seen in Cardano, Shiba Inu and Polygon while selling pressure was high for Solana and Terra (Luna) along with a sharp spike in interest for Cosmos (ATOM) among new users,” said Shivam Thakral, CEO of BuyUcoin, a home-grown cryptocurrency exchange.
Traders and investors typically move to safer digital assets such as stable coins (like Tether, which is pegged to the US dollar) during times of price crash and high volatility. “We have seen investors selling assets and converting them to USDT as the rate is around the $82.5-83 mark, which is currently very favourable,” said Shekhar of ZebPay.
At 5 pm on Coinbase on Tuesday, Bitcoin was up 7.47 % ($36,316), Ethereum 7.08% ($2,419), Binance Coin 3.88 % ($359.30), Cardano 3.21% ($1.03) and Solana 7.82 % ($91.93).
Experts said Indian investors are getting used to cryptos‘ volatility. Globally, the crypto market has been roiled by tightening of monetary policies, rising geopolitical risks, regulatory confusion, a prevailing broader sell-off across assets like equities, inflation worries and Omicron-related uncertainty.
