Despite seeing a 3.11% drop in value in September, bitcoin still outperformed both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, the latest Cryptocompare report has shown. Ethereum, on the other hand, was named “the worst performer after the long-awaited Merge proved to be a ‘buy the rumour, sell the news’ event.” Increased tether and U.S. dollar trade volumes for bitcoin are said to suggest panicking investors were dumping depreciating currencies in favor of the cryptocurrency.
Ethereum sees ‘biggest drop’
According to the latest CryptoKitties report, bitcoin, which saw a negative return of 3.11% in September, still “outperformed both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq, which saw negative returns of 9.34% and 10.5%, respectively.” Only solana — the cryptocurrency out of four tracked that saw positive monthly returns of 5.59% — and gold (2.87%) had better risk-adjusted returns than bitcoin.
Ethereum, on the other hand, is identified in the report as “the worst performer [among four tracked cryptocurrencies], after the long-awaited Merge proved to be a ‘buy the rumour, sell the news’ event.”
To support this claim, the report points to the opposite fate of crypto assets in August and September. After seeing its best risk-adjusted returns in August, ETH still continued its “biggest drop” in September, the same month the Ethereum blockchain switched to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism.
Traders Dumped Fiat and Piled Into BTC
In terms of the different assets’ volatilities, the report said bitcoin was the “least volatile asset and the most dominant” among four cryptocurrencies that were tracked in the month of September.
Explaining the findings of the study’s volatility in the crypto market, the report states:
Volatility across cryptocurrency markets saw a slight increase in September amid the interest rates spikes and the unstable macro environment. ETH and SOL continued to be the most volatile assets, with 30-day volatility of 80.0% and 82.6% respectively. Bitcoin’s volatility rose 19.2% in September breaking a declining trend that started in June.
Meanwhile, the findings of CryptoCompare’s investigation of both USDT and US Dollar traded volumes showed that panicked investors were dumping depreciating currencies in favor of BTC. In September alone, trading volume at Tether and Greenback “increased by 15.4% and 15.1%, respectively.”
According to the report, this could mean “market participants are piling into BTC following recent volatility in fiat currencies, including the British pound and Japanese yen.”
In contrast, USDT volume for ETH “sees a significant drop of 49.4% during the same period,” while SOL “sees a significant 10.5% increase in USDT volume in September.” Both ADA and SOL saw a decline in USD volumes.
