March Rewind: ADA, SOL, BTC Power Strong Month for Crypto

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

Despite the negative close to March, it was an overall strong month for the crypto markets. We have very few assets in red so an expanded gains section this month.

Here are the biggest gainers:

• Solana (SOL), ranked 6th, has gained over 31% the past month and it is currently trading around $133.82 a piece.
• Cardano (ADA), ranked 8th, has gained over 22% in the past month and it is currently trading around $1.16 a piece.
• Terra (LUNA) ranked 7th, has gained just over 20% in the past month and is trading around $107 a piece.
• NEAR Protocol (NEAR), ranked 20th, has gained over 26% this month and it is currently trading around $14.06 a piece.
• Ethereum Classic (ETC), ranked 29th, has gained over 55% this month and it is currently trading around $46.50 a piece.
• Waves (WAVES), ranked 30th, has gained an enormous 198% over the past month after gaining 87% in February. The native asset of Waves Exchange is currently trading around $53.58 a piece.
• VeChain (VET), ranked 33rd, has gained over 55% in March and it is currently trading around 8 cents a piece.
• THORChain (RUNE), ranked 44th, has gained over 117% in the past month after gaining 25% in February and it is currently trading around $11.73 a piece.
• ApeCoin (APE), ranked 45th, is our second biggest gainer of the month with a ridiculous 1200% gain. APE is currently trading around $13.14 a piece.
• Aave (AAVE), ranked 47th, has gained over 75% in the past month and it is currently trading around $252.88 a piece.
• Zcash (ZEC), ranked 52nd, has gained over 50% in March after gaining 28% in February and it is currently trading around $187.26 a piece.
• Zilliqa (ZIL), ranked 53rd, has gained about 365% over the past month and it is currently trading around 20 cents a piece.
• STEPN (GMT), ranked 65th, is our biggest gainer of the month with over 1700% gained. It is currently trading around $2.86 a piece.
• Convex Finance (CVX), ranked 69th, has gained over 42% in March after losing 27% in February and it is currently trading around $29.74 a piece.
• Kusama (KSM), ranked 70th, has gained about 40% this month after losing 13% in February and it is currently trading around $192.98 a piece.
• Loopring (LRC), ranked 72nd, has gained over 46% in March after losing 16% in February and it is currently trading around $1.19 a piece.
• Holo (HOT), ranked 84th, has gained over 44% in March and it is currently trading around $0.0065 cents a piece.

Coin of the Month: Cardano (ADA)

Cardano (ADA) had an incredibly strong finish to March, moving up from about 85 cents a piece on March 18th, to over $1.24 just 10 days later.

A combination of factors has created a bullish outlook for Cardano. DeFi is finally on Cardano, meaning holders of ADA are finally able to interact with DEXs and other DeFi services. The blockchain very quickly got over $250 million dolllars locked onto the chain, with Minswap dominating the share of locked value. Institutional investors are finally purchasing Cardano as well, according to on-chain data.

With scaling set to be drastically improved in June, and many more projects planning to launch with that upgrade, the future appears bright for Cardano in 2022.

Biggest Dollar Decreases

Bitcoin having a good month of March overall has left us with few losers to choose from. Here are the biggest losers from the past month:

• Cosmos (ATOM), ranked 22nd, has lost a little over 5% in March and it is currently trading around $29.17 a piece.
• Decentraland (MANA), ranked 34th. has lost over 4% in the past month and it is currently trading around $2.64 a piece.
• Fantom (FTM), ranked 42nd, has lost about 24% in March following news that Andre Cronje was leaving the project. FTM is currently trading around $1.54 a piece.
• Kadena (KDA), ranked 85th, has lost about 12% in March and it is currently trading around $6.53 a piece.
• Anchor Protocol (ANC), ranked 115th, is our biggest loser of the month, with 35% lost in March after gaining 142% in February. A correction. ANC is currently trading around $2.58 a piece.

Will Bitcoin Break Above $50k in April?

Bitcoin had another positive month after losing in January and December and gaining in February. BTC has gained over 4% on the month and is now trading around $46k.

While the question of whether it can break above $50k is an interesting one to watch, if Bitcoin is unable to sustain $45k amidst macro factors such as the EU approving the vote on unhosted wallets in the trialogue, who knows what may happen. However, assuming no more FUD hits the news channels in April, Bitcoin seems poised to test the $50k threshold once again.

Bitcoin and Traditional Markets Have Good March Showings

Though Bitcoin only gained 4% in March, it is still a gain, and it is as good a gain as the traditional markets saw as well.

The S&P 500 Index gained 4% over March as well, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average saw a gain of over 2% during the same time. All three markets showed signs of recovery following the downtrend seen as war broke out between Russia and the Ukraine last month. Bitcoin is still outperforming the traditional markets on a year-to-date (YTD) basis, as it has barely lost a quarter of a percent. However, the Dow and S&P 500 Index are both down about 5% YTD.