Recently, the price of Bitcoin has risen significantly, breaking through the historical $50,000 mark, with Ethereum closely following. However, Solana has gained even more in percentage terms.
Crypto markets tend to move in a coordinated manner, albeit accidentally, but with some variations. Sometimes these variations are dramatic, while other times they are just movements of different magnitude, but in the same direction.
The price performance of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana
If we exclude stablecoins, BTC, ETH, and SOL are the three largest cryptocurrencies in the world by market capitalization.
The Bitcoin price has gained 4% in the last day, and 16% in the last seven days.
The ETH (Ethereum) price is up +7% compared to yesterday, but up +14% compared to seven days ago.
SOL from Solana is instead showing a great +8% compared to yesterday accompanied by a +20% compared to seven days ago.
The fourth cryptocurrency in the world by market capitalization excluding stablecoins, namely BNB, is only showing a +2% increase compared to yesterday and a +7% increase compared to a week ago.
To find performances similar to SOL, you have to go down to the ninth position (AVAX by Avalanche), while for higher performances you have to go down to the 22nd position of IMX (Immutable).
However, if we compare the performance during 2024, from January 1st until today, SOL stands at +11%, while BTC is at +18% and ETH at +17%.
So the real boom in this 20245 is being done by Bitcoin and Ethereum, among the main cryptocurrencies, while Solana is doing it especially in the last week.
The growth of SOL
In reality, the price growth of Solana started much earlier.
Until mid-October 2023, it was not exceeding $25.
In late October, it had already risen above $30, and during the month of November, it had doubled, reaching over $60.
However, its rise continued even in December, first reaching above $70 and then making an even bigger leap to over $120 at the end of December. This last jump recorded a sensational +120% in just over a month.
In other words, from mid-October to the end of December, it recorded an incredible +450% in less than two and a half months.
In addition, since the failure of FTX in November 2022, it had never risen above $30 until October 2023, and since the implosion of Terra/Luna in May 2022, it had never risen above $80 until December.
However, it must be said that during 2024 it has not yet risen above $120, so its performance in the beginning of this new year is not at all remarkable.
The reason why it has recently risen a lot is that at the end of January it had dropped well below $90, so the recent increase is actually a rebound after a strong 30% correction.
The growth of the price of Bitcoin and Ethereum compared to Solana
A different story can be told for BTC and ETH, because in 2024 they have already reached price peaks higher than those of 2023.
Bitcoin at the end of 2023 had gone from $27,000 in mid-October to $43,000 at the end of the year, with a +60% increase in two and a half months.
In the course of 2024, it had already made a brief jump to $49,000 on the day of the launch on the markets of the new ETFs, but only to then drop below $39,000. So the $50,000 reached yesterday is the new all-time high post-bubble, and the growth of the last seven days has not only been a rebound.
Ethereum, on the other hand, had gone from $1,600 in mid-October to $2,300 at the end of 2023, with a gain of 45% in two and a half months.
In January, it briefly rose to almost $2,700, only to then drop to $2,200. Yesterday’s return near $2,700 is a middle ground between Solana’s rebound and Bitcoin’s new annual record.
The price of ETH is currently still only at the levels of early May 2022, which is well below the almost $4,900 of November 2021.
So in the long run, Bitcoin’s performance remains the best among the three, compared to the levels of 2021, while Solana’s performance remains particularly the best in 2023.
Low interest from retailers
One really interesting thing is that there doesn’t seem to be any FOMO going on.
In fact, the interest of investors and retail speculators is still quite low, despite BTC only returning to -27% from its all-time highs.
This is probably due to the decreasing interest that retailers have in Bitcoin, as many of them are mainly looking for the big hit with stellar profit percentages that BTC probably can no longer guarantee.
If true FOMO were to arrive, perhaps brought by some memecoin or shitcoin in a rapid and astonishing rise, the crypto markets could react with further increases, even on Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Certainly what is happening in these weeks in the crypto markets is not yet able to bring real FOMO, because for many retail investors a +16% in seven days is not attractive enough.
The real madness, which has already been observed several times in the crypto markets, could only come in the face of performances like Solana’s at the end of 2023, namely with a +100% in a few weeks.
Neither Bitcoin nor Ethereum seem to be able to do similar things anymore, at this time, and Solana has already done them by the end of 2023.
The memecoins and shitcoins, on the other hand, are able to do even better, although large pumps almost always lead to large dumps.