Altcoins & DeFi Back in the Game as Bitcoin Consolidates

After having a run-up of over 20% this week, Bitcoin is taking a breather.

On Thursday, the leading digital asset went to nearly $16,000 after starting the month just above $13,000. This started in October when BTC traded around $10,000 and got into action towards the end of the month.

Now, we are trading under $15,330, at the time of writing, in the red with $2.51 billion in ‘real’ trading volume.

But while Bitcoin is consolidating after scoring a 34-months high, this is a good time for the depressing altcoins to finally do something.

Ether that has been silent during Bitcoin’s run-up finally scored above $465, a level not seen since July 2018, which in part was because of the announcement about ETH 2.0 finally coming in December. For the launch of Beacon Chain, the core of ETH 2.0, ETH deposits have started flowing in too.

Invalidation: btc below 15k and eth below 440 for an extended period

— CryptoGainz (@CryptoGainz1) November 7, 2020

While almost everything is enjoying gains, it is yet again the DeFi party, which seems to have finally capitulated.

After dominating the Q2 and exploding in Q3, the decentralized finance sector topped out in September. While the total amount locked in the sector tried to keep up, the price of DeFi tokens took a severe beating.

CRV actually went down 99% from its high while the majority of them dropped 75% to 95%.

But now, the DeFi tokens are being exciting once again, especially YFI. The DeFi darling that went above $40,000 crashed to $7,500 on Thursday and has been looking hideous this week when the volume shot up, and YFI price started trending up.

As a matter of fact, in just two days, it gained over 118% of its value back. As of writing, YFI has been trading at $14,200.

“YFI pushed +33% in an hour. No news. Just a monster buyer/s. This is how potential trend reversals look like,” noted one trader.

Remember the way DeFi is currently constructed makes it highly reflexive, ie, price affects fundamentals.

– Higher price -> more yield -> more TVL
– Higher price -> more speculation -> more volume for DEXes and lending platforms

And vice versa.

— Qiao Wang (@QwQiao) November 7, 2020

Other notable gainers include SOL (+35%), Aave (+30%), SNX (+27%), SRM (+24%), and CRV (+20%).

“Do not underestimate the power of what may seem like superfluous narratives in this space. There's a reason alts have been pulling the same for years; it works,” said trader Hsaka. “AAVE continues to be the DeFi leader with the largest % change in OI too.”

And these gains can be seen reflected in the record DeFi TVL at $12.48 billion, as per DeFi Pulse.