In particular, Bitcoin, the flagship digital asset in the cryptocurrency market, saw its value drop from more than $46,000 to just slightly above $20,000 in the first half of 2022. However, considering the amount of criticism the cryptocurrency has received in recent months, major stocks in the equity market also had significant decreases in value, according to calculations by anchor and reporter Jon Erlichman. In point of fact, the price of Bitcoin dropped by 60% over the period beginning on January 1, 2022, and ending on June 30, 2022. However, this was not the most significant decrease; five large equities, including PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL), Etsy (NASDAQ: ETSY), Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX), Snap (NYSE: SNAP), and Shopify (NYSE: SHOP), all performed worse than the digital asset during this time period. Shopify, in particular, had the poorest performance among the companies whose stocks were taken into account, with its value dropping by as much as 74% in the first half of the year. Comparatively, while Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) was also in the red in H1, its shares suffered the least amount of damage out of the major stocks, with a fall of just 23%. This was followed closely by its tech giant competitor Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) in the second spot.
Commodity guru hints Bitcoin tide could turn in H2
The majority of market players are intently focusing their attention on the direction that the cryptocurrency industry is going to take in the next months as the negative trends saw in the first half of 2022 continue into the second half of the year. According to Bloomberg’s senior commodities strategist Mike McGlone, Bitcoin’s losses over the first half of the year might serve as a foundation for investors. As Finbold reported on July 6, McGlone indicated that the present market movement might be lucrative to investors who are responsive based on prior rallying fundamentals. Given that Bitcoin and wider markets have responded unfavourably to the present high inflation climate, the notion that the leading cryptocurrency is an inflation hedge has become harder to substantiate.
Bitcoin’s correlation with the stock market
It’s worth mentioning that in the first half of the year, Bitcoin’s correlation with the Nasdaq 100 index reached a new all-time high as well as with the S&P 500 index. Given the correlation, Mobius Capital co-founder, Mark Mobius noted that Bitcoin’s decline is bad for the S&P 500. Ultimately, investors and crypto traders will be keeping a close eye out to see whether the tide turns in the second half of the year for both asset classes, as persistent inflation and fears about more aggressive Federal Reserve actions continue to put pressure on the stock market and risk assets in particular. Disclaimer: The content on this site should not be considered investment advice. Investing is speculative. When investing, your capital is at risk.
