What the hell happened to the price of this coin ? Just because cryptsy is selling low doesn't mean the other Exchanges need to as you can't even withdraw your funds from cryptsy so on that exchange it is a pointless price, pretty much trading your sprouts for bottled air !
Coins on cryptsy fall into 3 categories:
1. coin that cannot be withdrawn
2. coins that are primarily traded on cryptsy
3. coins that are traded on multiple exchanges with decent daily volume
Properties of each type of coin:
Type 1: These are popular coins usually with very high marketcaps
Type 2: These tend to be smaller marketcap coins usually with low daily volumes that cannot be readily sold on other exchanges
Type 3: These coins usually have medium to high daily volumes and may typically be present on Bittrex etc
Thought exercise: "How is each category affected by Cryptsy locking withdrawals for popular coins and causing a bank run?"
Type 1: People sell these coins for fiat and type 3 coins. Fiat purchases will depress exchange rates slightly and this activity stops if fiat withdrawals become blocked. Purchases of type 3 coins can be expected to cause an increase in the price of these coins. You will also see a significant price difference between the prices of type 3 coins on Cryptsy and the same coin traded on another exchange where recent cryptsy withdrawals may be sold for BTC.
Type 2: Holders of these coins are likely to sell them for BTC and use that BTC to purchase type 3 coins. This should be expected to cause drastic price declines in type 2 coins.
Type 3: These coins are considered "exit coins". Increased short term demand for these coins should inflate exchange rates for these coins. We should expect lower exchange rates on other exchanges for the same coin. For example DOGE which has reported risen up to 40% on cryptsy while prices have declined on other exchanges.
With regard to sprouts, it is firmly a type 2 coin. So we should expect a price decline. In addition, the structure of the coin poses problems. Firstly, it is a staking coin and since cryptsy doesn't yield stakes, there has always been a lack of buy side liquidity available making the coin vulnerable to sharp declines in price. Secondly, The coin is a hyperinflation coin. This creates huge incentives to sell newly staked coins when the price on the exchange increases.
So what is the value play for Sprouts? If you believe the cryptsy situation is temporary, then the ideal play is to buy coins on significant dips such as a sudden >20% price decline. Once purchased, one would withdraw the coins to begin staking. If the price improves to a greater than a cumulative +2% per day, then you would transfer the coins back and sell them. Otherwise continue staking them and hope the eventual price improvement outpaces the current rate of inflation. If you believe the cryptsy situation is terminal, then you'd want to continue staking, only buy coins at extreme lows (1 - 5 sat maybe), and after cryptsy eventually fails process coins through other exchanges.
Personally, I don't see any foreseeable immediate profits in sprouts until the inflation rate is seriously curbed. There are too many coins in the hands of people who will sell any uptick. Additionally, I would advise buying other type 3 coins on other exchanges, move them into cryptsy, sell them for a premium, and buy sprouts at a depressed price if you wish to increase your ownership of sprouts. Purchasing and transferring BTC into cryptsy to buy sprouts directly seems wasteful when type 3 coins are providing extra opportunity.