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How much are cryptocurrency volumes overstated? – DIRT Protocol – Medium

How much are cryptocurrency volumes overstated? – DIRT Protocol – Medium

A recent analysis by Bitwise shows that > 95% of Bitcoin’s reported trading volume is fake (https://www.bitcointradevolume.com/). The report finds that widespread stats on sites like CoinMarketCap and other price trackers significantly overstate the true size of the cryptocurrency markets.

We built OpenMarketCap (https://openmarketcap.com) because we could not find an accurate source for cryptocurrency stats. OpenMarketCap calculates average price and total volume from data reported by the trusted exchanges identified in the Bitwise report.

Out of the 80+ exchanges on CoinMarketCap (CMC), Bitwise found ten exchanges with actual volume. By tracking data from these exchanges, OMC removes data from exchanges with fake volume and is the only price tracker that gives an accurate impression of trading volume and prices.

Compared to other trackers, OMC shows a very different picture of the cryptocurrency market (data from 3/25/2019):

  1. bitcoin trading volume is 95% lower
  2. bitcoin volume dominates—bitcoin has 6x not 2x the trading volume of ETH

Many smaller cap tokens have very low trading volume.

  1. Ethereum Classic trading volume drops by >97%, from $200M -> $5M
  2. NEO trading volume drops from $129M -> $11M
  3. Litecoin trading volume drops from $2B -> $48M

Visit our comparison tool to show how data changes when calculated from trusted exchanges: https://openmarketcap.com/exchanges/difference.

Source: https://openmarketcap.com/exchanges/difference

Does this undercount trading volume for some tokens?

Not all coins are equally represented on these trusted exchanges. Certain coins may have volumes under reported. For example, Monero is not heavily represented on the exchanges in this set. Counting Monero volume based on this methodology may not be indicative of Monero’s true trading volume.

Why is OMC’s total volume higher than the Bitwise report?

Bitwise calculates trading volume based on Bitcoin to USD / stable coin markets. OMC calculates trading volume that includes trades between cryptocurrencies pairs and as such show a higher volume count.

Why do exchanges report fake volumes?

Exchanges report false data for short term visibility gains at the cost of long term trust in the whole crypto space. CoinMarketCap is the most widely cited price tracker for cryptocurrency prices. Since CoinMarketCap ranks exchanges by trading volume, exchanges are incentivized to report false numbers to climb price tracker listings (and thus be featured more prominently to users).

As shown in the screenshot from CoinMarketCap, the higher the trading volume, the higher the rank.

Source: https://coinmarketcap.com

Why does this matter?

Even when factoring out wash trading, the daily trading volume for Bitcoin on trusted exchanges is large enough to sustain a healthy market. For most small cap coins, this is not the case. A 95% drop in trading volume means the market for most alts is extremely illiquid / non-existent.

Trading volume is critical for liquidity and the overinflation of stats on widely cited trackers gives a mistaken impression of the entire market. OpenMarketCap is the first tracker that removes the fake volume and gives users an accurate representation of the crypto markets.

Published at Tue, 26 Mar 2019 16:06:54 +0000

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Ether Price Analysis: Eve and Adam Could Be Turning Back the Bulls

Ether Price Analysis

Since bottoming out around $200, ether has spent several weeks bouncing back and forth inside an ascending channel:

Figure_1 (15).JPGFigure 1: ETH-USD, 4-Hour Candles, Ascending Channel

For the last month and a half, ether’s trend has been contained within the bounds of this ascending channel, where it has continued its bullish rally. However, today (as of the time of this article) it is starting to make moves to aggressively test the lower boundary. Specifically, as ether tests this channel, it is forming a potential reversal pattern called an Eve-and-Adam Double Top.

Figure_2 (12).JPGFigure 2: ETH-USD, 1-Hour Candles, Eve-and-Adam Double Top

At the time of this article, ether is attempting to break the neckline (the pink dashed line) of the massive reversal pattern. Should ether break this neckline, the measured move from this pattern is a $30 move downward, which would ultimately shove ether outside the bullish ascending channel it has been trending within. The price target of the Double Top breakout would bring the ETH-USD price into the upper $200s.

On a macro scale, ether has support along the following Fibonacci levels:

Figure_3 (12).JPGFigure 3: ETH-USD, 4-Hour Candles, Fibonacci Levels

Should the ascending channel break, the above Fibonacci levels will provide support and will need to be tested in order to prove a bearish continuation. As of the time of this article, the Double Top mentioned in Figure 2 is sitting right on the 23 percent retracement values where it is making attempts at breaking it. There is strong support at these values, so if ether can break and hold below $315, it will send a strong bearish signal to the market.

Should the Double Top complete, we can expect a test of the 38 percent retracement values following the break of the ascending channel. At this time, the 4-hour MACD is showing strong bearish momentum on a macro scale, and the market is picking up sell volume.

Summary:

  1. For weeks, ether has been trending within an ascending channel.

  2. Ether is currently in the process of making a strong test of the ascending channel via an Eve-and-Adam Double Top reversal pattern.

  3. If the Double Top breaks downward, we can expect a break of the multi-week bullish channel and a test of the 38 percent Fibonacci Retracement values.

Trading and investing in digital assets like bitcoin, bitcoin cash and ether is highly speculative and comes with many risks. This analysis is for informational purposes and should not be considered investment advice. Statements and financial information on bitcoin Magazine and BTC Media related sites do not necessarily reflect the opinion of BTC Media and should not be construed as an endorsement or recommendation to buy, sell or hold. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results.

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