As Christmas is here, investing in cryptocurrencies may be the last thing on many people’s minds, especially in a year that saw digital coins getting pummelled. But Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC), Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH), and Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE) have their own holiday story to tell through the years.

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The Bitcoin Christmas Bounce: Benzinga analyzed Bitcoin prices between Dec. 20 and Dec. 31 last year. Bitcoin rose above the $50,800 mark around Christmas Eve and was buoyant around this period. However, the apex cryptocurrency closed at $46,306.45 at the end of 2021.

Overall, 2021 was a great year for cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin. But 2022 has acted more as a dampener. In 2021, investors were riding an all-time high of $68,789.63 in November of that year. Fast forward to the end of 2022, the apex coin has fallen 75.6% from that level.

BTC-USD Performance In December 2021 — Courtesy CoinMarketCap

In 2020, the trend was quite the other way around, as Bitcoin rose to $29,00.72 on the last day of that year. The coin capped Christmas Eve at $23,735.95. 

BTC-USD Performance In December 2020 — Courtesy CoinMarketCap

Ethereum Followed Big Brother: Ethereum followed the apex coin in terms of price action during the holiday season of 2021. The second-largest coin hit the $4,100 mark on Christmas eve, but on the last day of trading that year, it closed at 3,682.63.

The Vitalik Buterin-founded coin was riding the nonfungible token boom in 2021. The coin enjoyed a rise of nearly 450% during that year touching an all-time high of $4,648.54 on Nov. 10, 2021. During that month, Ethereum’s decentralized finance protocols had $122 billion locked in value. However, by the following month in December, things had cooled down for the cryptocurrency.

ETH-USD Performance In December 2021 — Courtesy CoinMarketCap

During the 2020 holiday season, things were not the same. ETH ended Christmas day at $626.41 but on the last day of trading that year, it was at $737.80.

ETH-USD Performance In December 2020 — Courtesy CoinMarketCap

Santa Loves The Good Boi: Dogecoin rose during Christmas of 2021. The meme coin, known to attract celebrity bulls such as Elon Musk and Snoop Dogg, ended Christmas day at $0.19. On the last day of trading in 2021, it had fallen to $0.17.

By Christmas 2021, DOGE had risen a whopping 4,625% buoyed in part through the year by Musk’s tweets on the meme coin. 

DOGE-USD Performance In December 2021 — Courtesy CoinMarketCap

In 2020, the meme coin was seen around the $0.045 mark on both Christmas and New Year’s eve. However, DOGE had crossed the 5-cent mark on Dec. 21, just before the holiday season.

DOGE-USD Performance In December 2020 — Courtesy CoinMarketCap

2022 Was the Year Of Krampus: November saw the bankruptcy of Sam Bankman-Fried's cryptocurrency exchange FTX, which led to a massive downturn in the prices of major coins. This year has been dominated by hawkishness from major central banks around the world. 

Glassnode dubbed 2022 one of the most “chaotic, volatile, and financially brutal” years for the digital asset industry in a report as the year drew to a close.

The on-chain analysis firm noted that the short-term realized volatility for Bitcoin is currently at multi-year lows — levels not seen since October 2020.

Bitcoin: Annualized Realized Volatility — Courtesy Glassnode.

Similarly, future volumes are depressed and are at multi-year lows with both BTC and ETH trading at similar volumes of between $9.5 billion and $10.5 billion per day. 

BTC Vs ETH Futures Volumes — Courtesy Glassnode

“This shows the massive impact of tightening liquidity, widespread deleveraging, and the impairment of many lending and trading desks in the space,” said Glassnode.

The company noted that the loose monetary policy era of 2020-21 created a record year of total realized profit on-chain. Over $455 billion yearly was taken by Bitcoin investors moving funds on-chain with the peak arriving in November 2021. 

“Since then, a bear market regime has dominated, and the market has given back over $213 Billion in realized losses. This equates to 46.8% of the 2020-21 bull profits,” noted Glassnode.

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