With crypto-market sentiment back in “Extreme Fear” territory as we round out the year, Bitcoin and friends don’t exactly look like they’ve stocked the fridge with champers just at the moment.

But crypto does have a tendency to do the exact opposite of what everyone’s thinking. Which is hardly a scientific thought, but at least it’s something to cling to. And we said “tendency”… so we’re covered.

The Fear & Greed Index has moved back deeper towards the red side of the dial over the past few days – not a bad reflector of where the price action’s at, and a potential buying signal for the particularly brave…

… as well as the true, unerring believers, such as MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor…

So where are things headed in the short to mid term? Here’s the noted Fantom-ecosystem DeFi architect Andre Cronje’s take…

… which is probably about as accurate a prediction as you can possibly get.

Both Tom Lee, the co-founder of Fundstrat Global Advisors, and Brock Pierce, the former chief strategy officer with Block One, however, are once again not shy of making a stronger call for 2022. To be precise – a US$200k Bitcoin call.

“So, maybe Bitcoin is in that $200,000 range,” said Lee in a recent Market Rebellion Roundtable discussion. “I mean, I think that’s achievable, and I know it sounds fantastical, but it’s very useful.”

Pierce, meanwhile, told Fox Business on Wednesday that it was conceivable that Bitcoin “could break $200,000 for a moment and come falling back again.”

Both Lee and Pierce had predicted, as did many others, a US$100k Bitcoin for 2021. Let’s hope they’re more on the money this year, but most participants would probably settle for them being 50 per cent correct again.

 

Top 10 overview

Here’s the state of play in the top 10 by market cap at press time, according to CoinGecko data.

The top 10 is pretty much reflecting the overall crypto market, which is down about 0.2% compared with this time yesterday.

There are no dramatic daily movers here, although all eyes are on BTC and ETH, as usual, to try to ascertain which way it’s all heading.

Here are how two full-time traders, with sometimes quite differing bull/bear views from each other, are seeing the OG crypto and its movements at the moment…

 

Winners and losers: 11–100

Sweeping a market-cap range of about US$25.3 billion to US$1.3 billion in the rest of the top 100, let’s find some of the biggest 24-hour gainers and losers at press time.

DAILY PUMPERS

• Algorand (ALGO), (market cap: US$11b) +17.5%

• Celsisus Network (CEL), (mc: US$1.85b) +10%

• Cosmos (ATOM), (mc: US$8.3b) +7.5%

• Oasis Network (ROSE), (mc: US$1.45b) +7%

• Monero (XMR), (mc: US$4b) +7%

ALGO’s positive surge comes on the back of the Algorand Foundation’s introduction of a US$3 million incentive program for Algofi, a DeFi platform offering low-cost lending and borrowing services to users.

Fellow layer 1 platform Oasis, meanwhile, can probably attribute its recent momentum to a whopping US$160 million ecosystem fund helping to grow its own network of DeFi and NFT projects. With a considerably smaller market cap than leading smart-contract platforms, the ROSE token is one to watch.

 

DAILY SLUMPERS

• Radix (XRD), (market cap: US$2.3b) -12.5%

• Convex Finance (CVX), (mc: US$1.96b) -9%

• Olympus (OHM), (mc: US$2.3b) -6%

 

Lower-cap winners and losers

Moving below the crypto unicorns (in some cases well below), here’s just a selection catching our eye…

DAILY PUMPERS

• OpenDAO (SOS), (market cap: US$233m) +55%

• Metis (METIS), (mc: US$339m) +39%

• Stake (STAKE), (mc: US$51.6m) +32%

• Maple Finance (MPL), (mc: US$59m) +27%

• Swipe (SXP), (mc: US$366m) +25%

It’s a tail of two airdrops in the lower caps, with OpenDAO’s SOS token faring particularly well today. On Christmas Day, the decentralised project gifted 50% of its entire token supply to all users who’ve traded NFTs and transacted on the OpenSea NFT marketplace platform.

Gas DAO, on the other hand, which is currently on offer to be claimed by all Ethereum-based wallets, is struggling to build any momentum…

 

DAILY SLUMPERS

• Gas DAO (GAS), (market cap: US$16.8m) -45%

• Polkabridge (PBR), (mc: US$24.8m) -16%

• Glitch Protocol (GLCH), (mc: US$39.6m) -12%

 

 

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