After the recent market collapse of the crypto industry, many have pointed to an impending crypto winter. Cryptos have been in a strong bull market for a couple of years now, as Bitcoin hit an all-time high price of $68,789 in November of 2021. Since then, it has been nearly a straight decline to its current levels of about $20,000. Bitcoin briefly dipped below $20,000 last week, as the entire crypto market fell below $1 trillion in value.
A crypto winter is generally seen as a period of sideways price discovery, with very little bullish or bearish movement. The last crypto winter lasted from January of 2018 to December of 2020, before leading into the most recent bull market. How long will this crypto winter last? It’s difficult to say for sure. In this current environment we’ve seen more volatility than ever before. With increased institutional adoption and much more exposure to retail investors, the crypto market is certainly in the mainstream compared to in 2018.
Several events have led to the crypto winter’s arrival. First, way back at the start of the year, a popular DeFi project called Time Wonderland shut down to internal corruption. This was the first in a series of other collapses including the recent Terra Luna network crash which wiped out about $50 billion in a matter of days. With the markets in freefall, several major funds like 3AC and even DeFi platforms like Celsius have all been liquidated. It’s been one black eye after another for the crypto industry, and retail is starting to look towards more stable assets.
Stocks to Target in a Crypto Winter
Let’s be honest, it’s not like the equities markets have been performing any better. The thing with stock markets is that they are much more regulated than the crypto markets. If you want some more stability, but also are targeting some more growth, check out these stocks to watch during the crypto winter.
GameStop (NYSE:GME)
Really? GameStop? Aren’t meme stocks volatile too? GameStop has actually been fairly stable and is only down by about 8.7% so far in 2022, compared to a 21% loss by the S&P 500 index. What investing in GameStop provides is exposure to the crypto and Web3 industries during a time where buying cryptos might not bring the same returns. GameStop has an NFT marketplace on the horizon and recently released a non-custodial crypto wallet that it developed with Loopring. GameStop is also set to undergo a stock split later this year, and the added opportunity for a short squeeze is always enticing. This can be a high upside investment with a risky downside as well.
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA)
Tesla is always a popular investment for retail traders. The electric vehicle industry leader also has a stock split on the horizon, and holds a substantial number of Bitcoin on its balance sheet. Tesla hasn’t really had a great year so far, but a lot of the change in investor sentiment has to do with CEO Elon Musk’s antics, including his focus on acquiring social media platform Twitter (NYSE:TWTR). Tesla was also punished for COVID-induced lockdowns in China, which is out of the control of the company for the most part. New GigaFactories in Texas and Berlin, Germany are helping to pick up the slack of the Shanghai factory as it gets back on its feet. Tesla is still lightyears ahead of its competition in terms of market share, and is trading at a 40% discount from the start of the year.
Block (NYSE:SQ)
The fintech company that focuses on Point of Service payment systems and the Cash App platform has had a tough year. It’s been a 73% decline over the past year of trading, including 62% so far in 2022. The company has switched a lot of its focus to blockchain technology including Bitcoin mining and payments. This is a large part of the reason why the stock continues to fall as it trades in sympathy with the price of Bitcoin. Block is trying to find a bottom on its charts, and investors that are bullish on the future of digital finance will want to take a look at this beaten down stock.
Some OTC Names to Watch
OTC stocks are just like listed companies: they are looking to implement digital transformation and are competing in the same markets and industries. Here are some under the radar OTC stocks to watch.
SFLMaven (OTC:SFLM)
Most investors probably haven’t heard of this company. It is an online luxury jewelry retailer that focuses on eBay marketplace sales and online auction events. So why is SFLMaven being mentioned in a crypto article? The company recently took digital transformation seriously by adding Bitcoin to its balance sheet and accepting Bitcoin as a payment method. What’s more, SFLMaven also opened the first jewelry-based Metaverse store in the Decentraland environment. These jewelry-based NFTs are meant for avatars and other playable characters, and provide a high margin revenue stream for when the NFT and crypto markets rebound.
iQSTEL (OTC:IQST)
iQSTEL Is a tech conglomerate that offers telecom, blockchain, IoT, fintech, and electric vehicle services to customers around the world. The company isn’t directly involved with cryptocurrencies per se, but does offer digital payments through its fintech platform, Global Money One. It also offers blockchain services through its BChain subsidiary, which is building blockchain-based solutions that utilize smart contracts for the global telco industry. iQSTEL is a growing name to watch and a company that has aspirations of uplisting to the NASDAQ index in the near future.
$GME $TSLA $SQ $SFLM $IQST
#OTCQXStock #ElectricVehicle #Technology #Fintech #Blockchain #B2B #B2C #global #Electricmotorcycle #telecommunication #IoT #EVOSS #Mastercard #Shareholder #ambassadors #otcmarkets #nasdaq #LUXURYGOODS #Cryptocurrency #sunkissedinc #emles #louisvuitton #hermes #subtlecodes #stocks #gia #Metaverse #Decentraland #NFT #collectibles #Stockstobuy #stockstowatch #jewelries #Ebay
