
Ask HN: Why are crypto markets down? - jaredwiener
Really just curious -- you would think this type of uncertainty that is bringing down the stock markets would have people hoarding crypto. Why isn&#x27;t that happening?
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tentboy
Because despite cryptos intended usage, most people buy it as an investment -
and are trying to cut their losses as it declines

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duxup
The actual usage of crypto is as an investment just like stock.

It doesn't matter what the ethos behind Bitcoin is, if the market uses it like
an investment just like stocks, then that's what it is, and that's how it will
behave.

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runawaybottle
Because it is a mostly speculative investment. Also because we deep down all
know a flu like virus shouldn’t be tanking the global economy, but it is, and
we simple don’t know how to measure irrational fear. It’s inertia at this
point, we’ll snap out of it when we all suddenly realize ‘ah, ok, so Cruises?
Remember those? I’d like to go on one of those again, weird how we thought
those companies would go bankrupt, guess we all got a little weird there for a
bit’.

There’s no rhyme or reason to this, Bitcoin is in flux just like everything
else.

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detaro
Theory: Do you expect there's a risk you're going to need to money you put in
crypto soon? If yes, would you rather turn it to cash now, or after the price
has fallen further?

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lucozade
I'd expect there are 2 main reasons.

The first is that investors requiring cash to cover margin calls for all the
other markets that are tanking. This is likely to be a reason for the big drop
in gold prices yesterday.

The second is a general flight to quality as evinced by the drops in Treasury
yields in US, UK and Germany.

Or it could be wibble. It's crypto so we'll never actually know.

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JohnFen
I would be very nervous about keeping money in cryptocurrency form if that
money is something the I expect I'll need access to suddenly. If the economy
crashes hard, I expect it would become extremely difficult or expensive to
convert cryptocurrency to cash.

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companyhen
One theory: Institutional investors getting into crypto the past couple years
made it more correlated to traditional financial markets.

Also could be due to leverage trading becoming super popular the past year or
two.

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liquid153
People may sell their crypto to cover their shorts in the stock market.

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sloaken
Several coins are tied to the price of energy, as you mine coins. With oil
prices collapsing because of the Russia / Saudi fight the price of energy
should go down.

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raincom
Pretty simple: More sellers than buyers. People of libertarian bent have
already loaded up with Cryptos. Not many buyers left.

You can see a similar thing with Gold, and gold miners as well.

