BTC and ETH bear market started in mid-2021, data suggests

On November 10, 2021, (BTC) surpassed the all-time high of $68,600, according to. crypto slate data. On the same day, Ethereum (ETH) hit an all-time high of $4,864.11, crypto slate the data shows.

The price peaks of the two largest cryptocurrencies by market cap lead investors to believe the market is still experiencing a bull market. It has been suggested that a bear market may have started in mid-2021, months before reaching value.

Analyzing addresses is a great way to measure activity within the ecosystem and how well the ecosystem is being used. For example, according to Glassnode data, the 2017 bull market saw his active BTC addresses surpass 1 million. However, as the bull market ended in his 2018, active BTC addresses fell by nearly 50% to around 500,000, Glassnode data shows.

According to Glassnode data, active BTC addresses rose slowly from 2018 to 2021. From January to May 2021, active BTC addresses hovered around 1.2 million units, surpassing 1.3 million units twice in five months.

However, in June 2021, active Bitcoin addresses hit a low of around 500,000, potentially marking the start of a bear market. Then, in November 2021, his BTC addresses active increased slightly as BTC hit a new all-time high.

Through 2022, the number of active BTC addresses remained mostly below 1 million, according to Glassnode data. New BTC addresses remained relatively flat through 2022 at around 400,000. New BTC addresses hover around the 400,000 mark over the last five years. However, according to Glassnode data, there was a slight peak in new BTC addresses at the beginning of 2021, surpassing 600,000.

Bitcoin’s price therefore hit a new high in November 2021, but fundamentals suggest a bear market was set months ago.

ETH active addresses follow a similar story to Bitcoin. It peaks in a bull market and stagnate in a bear market.

It is worth noting that active addresses in ETH have seen the most noticeable surges in 2022 during market capitulations such as the Terra-Luna debacle and the bankruptcies of FTX and Alameda Research. This could indicate several things, such as opportunistic investors buying the decline, new investors panicking, or simply interacting with the ecosystem.

New ETH addresses such as BTC have remained fairly flat below 200,000 over the past five years, breaking records only twice, in early 2018 and around May 2021.