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This Week’s Summary

• The cryptocurrency market looks to end the week at a total market capitalization of $962 billion.
• Bitcoin has decreased by nearly 9% this week.
• Ethereum lost almost 20% over the past seven days.
• XRP moved up by nearly 8% this past week.
• Almost all altcoins have been trading in the red, with few exceptions.
• The DeFi sector dropped the total value protocols (TVL) to around $27 billion.

Cryptocurrency Trends for the Week of Sept. 12-18, 2022: Market Analysis and Performance

The crypto market is back to its losing ways after a highly eventful week. This period started well for most assets as the Ethereum merge was completed successfully, and a bullish breeze swept across the board. However, the celebrations did not last long as the bears quickly regained complete control. As a result, most coins lost precious gains, and the market capitalization dropped below the $1 trillion mark again.

Bitcoin has been recently trading below the psychological $20 thousand level. The king crypto has lost everything it had gained the previous week. Nevertheless, it has maintained its dominance over the market, now at around 38%. BTC has recently been seen trading at around $19,730.

Ethereum is now officially a proof-of-stake blockchain and its days as a proof-of-work network are behind it. The merge occurred formally on Monday, and its supporters praised the successful outcome. Unfortunately, the market decided otherwise and did not support the short-lived enthusiasm that followed the merge. As a result, the second crypto in command has been dropping ever since. Recently, ETH has been trading at around $1,400.

Altcoins & DeFi

The altcoin sector has been drowning in a deep bloodbath, with very few remaining afloat. For example, XRP has been boasting a nearly 8% increase. However, it is only the exception within the top-50 cryptocurrencies by market cap.

Elsewhere, BNB was down by 7%, Solana by 6%, and Cardano by 8%. Others recorded two-digit drops, such as Polkadot, Polygon, Shiba Inu, and Avalanche, all down by 11%. Meanwhile, the two tokens in the Terra ecosystems, LUNA and LUNC, moved down by 48% and 28%. This shows they are on the losing end of the market volatility that had made them surge spectacularly last week.

The Metaverse sector has also been in the same red mess as the rest of the crypto market. For example, Decentraland, The Sandbox, and Theta Network moved down by around 8% each. Meanwhile, ApeCoin has dropped by 3% throughout the week, but it has shown a 13% recovery in the past 24 hours. Lastly, Axie Infinity has decreased in value by nearly 12%.

The DeFi sector lost almost $6 billion from the total value of protocols (TVL), now standing at nearly $27.28 billion.

What’s in the News?

• The former CEO of MicroStrategy, Michael Saylor, said Bitcoin might be better than physical assets for commoners.
• The White House revealed a framework for responsible digital asset development.
• The SEC Chairman said the proof-of-stake algorithm makes cryptos more security-like.

Next Week’s Crypto Market Forecast

The crypto market cannot seem to shake the bears’ control regardless of epochal events, such as the Ethereum merge. Moreover, it seems that the upcoming Vasil upgrade to Cardano will have an even lesser impact. Nevertheless, it is interesting to see how the assets will perform in the following weeks. We can only hope for a bull run before the year’s end.

About the Author

The author was born and raised in Romania, and is currently living in Spain. Iulian discovered a knack for writing from a tender age, and won some minor awards for fiction that didn't pay much.

Iulian became a content writer in 2011, and it still doing it to some degree of success today. He is currently specialized in cryptocurrencies, technology, online marketing, and social media. In his free time, Iulian likes reading, traveling, and watching sports. His dream is to see Bitcoin reach $100,000 just so he can tell his friends “I told you so!”

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