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February Rewind: BTC, LUNA, XRP Among Biggest Winners

The legendary volatility of Bitcoin was alive and well in the month of February as the predominant cryptocurrency flipped between $37,000 and $45,000 several times during the month.

BTC seems to be building momentum, however, and the early signs are that March might be a good one for the crypto markets.

The war started by Russia, in conjunction with the Freedom Convoy controversy, seemingly pushed both Bitcoin and cryptocurrency in general into the mainstream. Crypto has proven to be a valuable resource when a country’s banks freeze traditional bank accounts, either as counterterrorism or in order to help save their bottom line. The end of February proved to be a boon for the crypto market, as many assets showed recovery.

Evan Jones

Written by Evan Jones Cryptocurrency expert and consultant

Evan Jones was introduced to cryptocurrency by fellow CryptoVantage contributor Keegan Francis in 2017 and was immediately intrigued by the use cases of many Ethereum-based cryptos. He bought his first hardware wallet shortly thereafter. He has a keen and v...

| May 10, 2024

Bitcoin trended up at the end of February.

In this monthly segment we will be looking at the top gainers and losers of the month. This will be done in terms of dollar value with a focus on percentage gains of coins within the top 100 by market capitalization. We will also look at one asset in close detail each month, whether it is the biggest gainer or one to keep an eye on. The fast growth of the crypto and blockchain industry in 2021 means that there are more assets than ever that deserve attention and are experiencing notable gains and losses.

Each month we will also take a look at Bitcoin’s performance, and how it has performed both compared to last year at this time, and its comparative performance to the Dow Jones and S&P 500 Index.

Let us look at the biggest winners and losers of the past month.

Biggest Dollar Increases

A much-needed recovery by the crypto market at the end of February. Many assets jumped over 25% over the past month. Here are the biggest gainers:

Ripple (XRP), ranked 6th, has gained just about 30% over the past month as it seems to be winning its court case with the SEC. XRP is currently trading around 78 cents a piece.
Terra (LUNA), ranked 7th, is our second biggest gainer of the month with an enormous 95% gain that has pushed it ahead of Cardano and Solana to take the 7th spot by market cap. It had a 41% loss in January. LUNA is currently trading around $89.09 a piece.
Avalanche (AVAX), ranked 10th, has gained over 25% this month and it is currently trading around $85.79 a piece.
Shiba Inu (SHIB), ranked 14th, has gained over 27% this month and it is currently trading around 0.000026 cents a piece.
UNUS SED LEO (LEO), ranked 28th, the native asset of BitFinex exchange has gained 68% this month after gaining over 2% last month and being one of the only gainers. LEO is currently trading around $5.94 a piece.
Waves (WAVES), ranked 52nd, is our third biggest gainer of the month with 87% gained after losing 41% last month. The native asset of Waves Exchange is currently trading around $17.36 a piece.
Gala (GALA), ranked 56th, has gained over 35% this month after losing over 55% last month and it is currently trading around 25 cents a piece.
Zcash (ZEC), ranked 62nd, has gained over 28% this month after losing 36% last month and it is currently trading around $118.11 a piece.
THORChain (RUNE), ranked 63rd, has gained about 25% this month after losing 44% last month and it is currently trading around $4.94 a piece.
Quant (QNT), ranked 67th, has gained 25% this month as well after losing 44% last month and it is currently trading around $117.88 a piece.
Anchor Protocol (ANC), ranked 83rd, is our biggest gainer of the month with a ridiculous 142% gain. The Terra-based protocol is currently trading around $3.74 a piece.

Coin of the Month: Anchor Protocol (ANC)

Anchor Protocol (ANC) is the first lending and borrowing protocol on the Terra (LUNA) blockchain. It began as a project on the Binance Launchpad. Anchor is a savings protocol that has fast deposits and withdrawals, and pays out a stable interest rate for the Terra USD (UST) of about 19.5% per year, though it used to be over 20%.

Using the Anchor Protocol, you can deposit UST to earn a yearly interest rate, or deposit LUNA to mint bLUNA. Anchor also has UST/ANC liquidity pools that are currently paying out about 60% APR, while strictly staking ANC alone will give users a 15% APR. ANC is the governance token for the Anchor Protocol in addition to creating passive income opportunities. Users can also lock collateral to take out loans using Anchor. There is currently over $1.5 billion in UST being borrowed on the platform.

Biggest Dollar Decreases

Bitcoin breaking back above $40k gave us a lot of gainers to end the month, but we still have quite a few losers to choose from. Here are the biggest losers from the past month:

Chainlink (LINK), ranked 24th, has lost about 13% over the past month and it is currently trading around $15.17 a piece.
Algorand (ALGO), ranked 29th, has lost about 10% this month after losing over 41% last month and it is currently trading around 84 cents a piece.
The Sandbox (SAND), ranked 37th, has lost about 12% over the past month and it is currently trading around $3.33 a piece.
Helium (HNT), ranked 46th, has lost about 15% this month and it is currently trading around $24.43 a piece.
Harmony (ONE), ranked 53rd, has lost about 12% over the past month and it is currently trading around 16 cents a piece.
Stacks (STX), ranked 61st, has lost about 15% over the past month and it is currently trading around $1.26 a piece.
Kusama (KSM), ranked 71st, has lost about 13% this month after losing 43% last month and it is currently trading around $140.28 a piece.
Curve DAO Token (CRV), ranked 74th, has lost about 17% this month after it lost over 43% last month and it is currently trading around $2.53 a piece.
Loopring (LRC), ranked 78th, has lost about 16% this month after losing over 53% last month and it is currently trading around 82 cents a piece.
Convex Finance (CVX), ranked 82nd, has lost about 27% this month after it lost over 43% last month and it is currently trading around $18.74 a piece.
Oasis Network (ROSE), ranked 86th, is our biggest loser of the month with 18% lost. It is currently trading around 25 cents a piece.

Will Bitcoin Hit and Hold $45k for March?

Bitcoin finally had a positive month after losing in January and December, as it has gained over 16% on the month and is now trading around $44k. It seems a foregone conclusion that BTC will at least hit $45k, possibly within the next couple days, but whether it can hold that mark will be the important factor.

One interesting note is that Bitcoin has finally fallen below where it was a year ago as last March it was holding $50,000.

If Bitcoin is able to climb back above $45k, and hold the line, it likely won’t take long for it to reach $50k in this current economic climate. With Bitcoin donations for war efforts being a saving grace for the Ukraine as it has been bombed, the decentralized nature of the king of crypto is being proven.

Bitcoin Crushes Traditional Markets on Monthly Charts

With its 16% gain on the month, Bitcoin has absolutely crushed the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 Index which have lost 6% and 5%, respectively.

Crypto appears to have weathered the conflict in Ukraine significantly better than stocks, as many publicly traded companies with ties to Russia have had to make sanctions and cut ties that affect their profits.

Bitcoin, now more than ever, is being used as it was intended, an unstoppable, uncontrollable way to send money to whoever needs it. That is something that you cannot do with traditional stocks or commodities.