Opinion: the crypto market has been forked

Yesterday, in just an hour, the price of Bitcoin fell by $800. The coin is currently trading at $5,590 for the first time since the October 2017 run. Investors suffer significant losses. For better or worse, the cryptocurrency market tends to follow Bitcoin's lead, especially on dips. Thus, Ethereum fell by 15%, while XRP and BTC fell by 13% and 12%, respectively. Even the cute dog-themed Dogecoin currency is falling in value.

The cause of much of the panic in the cryptocurrency community was the Bitcoin Cash hard fork

Changes in the governance protocol mean that the owners of this cryptocurrency will own tokens of two different variants of Bitcoin Cash. However, a fork is not the worst thing that can happen. BCH is a hard fork of Bitcoin whose price reached its highest level six months after the upgrade. Despite this, it is foolish to expect that investors will not worry about their assets.

Although the fork is the most obvious reason for the decline in prices in the market.

However, some analysts believe that there are other reasons for this. 

Yesterday the market lost about 15% of its capitalization, but this is not the worst news. According to eToro senior analyst Mati Greenspan, “the decline triggered liquidation among conservative traders whose stop losses were triggered automatically.” 

Cryptocurrencies are known for their volatility, but now they are mired in short-term speculation by investors who do not want to hold their assets, counting on long-term growth. This is why Metal founder Marshall Heiner believes that this shake-up will only strengthen the cryptocurrency market.

To be honest, today's failure is most likely an indicator that the latest wave of speculators has left the cryptocurrency space

However, not only are investors making short-term plans for the digital asset market, some of the projects are also staying in it for a short time. 

Yesterday, CoinDesk launched a tool that will allow institutions and investors to better analyze the potential and longevity of certain cryptocurrencies. In addition to price information, this tool provides a set of indicators - social interest, developer interest, volumes on exchanges, block rewards, number of transactions.

This tool will provide accurate information about specific tokens and companies, but the young industry still lacks a healthy market. It's much easier to predict fluctuations in traditional markets, and although the digital asset space is filled with databases, fancy charts, and research articles, it's not enough to attract institutional investors..

More nuanced and accurate information is essential for market maturation. Perhaps speculators would not rush to sell their assets if they could see all the necessary information in one click. 

According to venturebeat.com