In crypto land, a “Crypto Winter” is the bear market part of the cycle, the time prices go down, people start to doubt what they have been doing, everyone who avoided the sector comes out of the wood work and starts making fun of the industry. Its also the best time for crypto, because this market is a true free market, the down times are the times that important things get built, the terrible stuff dies, and the stage is set for the next cycle. Which is bigger and stronger.
So are we in a crypto winter right now? Its hard to tell for sure. Things are feeling muted, volumes for everything are down. Ethereum gas prices routinely get down in to the 20’s and 30’s (a couple of years ago that would have been horribly high!). I’m even hearing people who are normally always very excited talking about a bear market. I personally am still kind of neutral, I could see this being a long pause before we have another big push higher, but the longer this goes on and the more times we make new lows the more I start to think it really may be a winter.
Winter’s are the relaxing time. Things are not going crazy, you can experiment and try new projects out with out a ton of FOMO going on. You can reposition your portfolio without taking as much capital gains. You can actually start adding back to your positions. Its a time you can meet people who aren’t around just for get rich quick schemes.
This next winter, whenever that may be, I don’t plan on adding a ton to my positions unless things draw down another 50 – 70%. But I do want to spend some time deciding on where I want to place my bets going forward, and purposefully making those changes. I’m not there yet, but I do feel the beginning of a crisp wind blowing.