There are two main methods used to analyze potential investment choices in stock and to and make investment decisions: fundamental analysis and technical analysis. Technical analysis is favoured by many statisticians and financial gurus, mainly if you are looking at speculation. It seems from its various characteristics that TA could fare well in this crypto space, but how come a majority of models I have seen have been abysmal in detecting some trends in the cryptosphere?
I think two key considerations are:
- Trading volumes are often thin. This means that when a coin has a certain price, that price is not firmly established. So wild fluctuations are inevitable - particularly evident with smaller coins, where a big buy or sell can potentially wipe out the whole order book.
- Every coin relates to BTC (and/or ETH) as the other half of the trading pair. So it's not the same as traditional markets, where a product can lean on the stability of a fiat currency. So what this means is that BTC or ETH price moves can dramatically affect the price of smaller coins.
An example combining these two - Say a coin has a price of 0.1 BTC, with BTC at $6,000. But that price is based on a single order, the next sell is at 0.2 BTC, and the next buy is at 0.05 BTC. In this scenario, a single buy or sell can double or halve the coin price. But maybe the order book is so thin that there are no more orders fulfilled for another week, and during that time, BTC climbs to $9,000 - so this coin at 0.1 BTC has suddenly had a 50% price rise in fiat.