Analyzing Bitcoin’s market cap exhibits that the 2022 bear market introduced the fourth worse drawdown from the all-time excessive in its historical past. Bitcoin’s drop to $15,500 represents a 76.92% drawdown from its ATH.
Market capitalization is without doubt one of the most generally used metrics when estimating the dimensions and worth of an asset. Outlined because the mixed worth of all items of an asset, market capitalization is calculated by multiplying the worth by the circulating provide.
In the case of Bitcoin, market capitalization and its fluctuation is commonly used to find out the power and adoption of the community. It’s additionally particularly helpful when evaluating Bitcoin to different belongings and markets.
Probably the most vital value drawdown from ATH occurred on the finish of 2011 when an aggressive bear market worn out 91.78% of Bitcoin’s market cap. Crypto winters in 2015 and 2018/2019 noticed drawdowns of 82.75% and 82.63%, respectively.
That is according to CryptoSlate’s earlier evaluation, which discovered that every market cycle posted larger lows.
Nevertheless, market capitalization fails to symbolize the precise state of the community. As a consequence of a lot of misplaced and inactive cash, market capitalization is commonly larger than the realized worth of the community.
That is the place realized cap is available in, because it exhibits the worth of the Bitcoin community based mostly on energetic cash.
In contrast to market cap, which values cash based mostly on their present worth, realized cap values every UTXO based mostly on the worth at which it final moved. This strategy is a a lot better proxy for the worth saved in Bitcoin and can be utilized as an estimate of the combination value foundation of the community.
Realized cap drastically reduces dormant and misplaced cash’ impression on the community. These cash are seen as having low financial worth, as they have been final moved at a value a lot decrease than its realized value that they’ve little impression on it. Nevertheless, if these cash have been moved after being dormant for years, their impression on the realized value can be correspondingly vital.
The magnitude of change in realized cap exhibits the distinction in value between the worth at which a coin was final spent and the worth at which it beforehand moved.
Taking a look at Bitcoin’s value by the realized cap exhibits that the 2022 drawdown was the second worse in its historical past. In November 2022, Bitcoin noticed its realized cap drop by 18.8% from the all-time excessive recorded in November 2021.
Graph displaying Bitcoin’s realized value drawdown from ATH from 2011 to 2023 (Supply: Glassnode)
The continued bear market put Bitcoin’s realized cap at $383 billion. That is $56 billion decrease than Bitcoin’s present market cap, which stands at $439 billion.
Evaluating Bitcoin’s market cap to its realized cap is believed to be a great indicator of market phases. Particularly, when the market cap is larger than the realized cap, the market is in combination revenue.
Put merely, the realized cap exhibits the worth at which the cash have been purchased, whereas the market cap exhibits the worth at which they are often offered.
Conversely, when the realized cap is larger than the market cap, the market is in combination loss, as the worth at which most cash have been purchased is larger than the worth at which they are often offered.
Information analyzed by CryptoSlate confirmed that the market is at the moment in combination revenue. And whereas that revenue isn’t as excessive because the crypto market is used to, it signifies a gradual and regular restoration from the second-worst value downturn in Bitcoin’s historical past.
