This post was written exclusively for Investing.com
- Time growing short for the $100,000 forecasts for Bitcoin in 2021
- The one metric that continues to rise is the number of cryptos coming to market
- Searching for the next diamond in the rough
- OMG Network is a top-tier cryptocurrency
- A choppy trading pattern since 2017
On Nov. 10, 2021, Bitcoin and Ethereum rose to new record highs. The November CME futures for Bitcoin and Ethereum—the two leading cryptos—put in bearish reversals on the daily chart on that day and have followed through on the downside. 
Source: CQG
The chart shows that Bitcoin futures reached a new peak at $69,355 per token before closing below the previous day’s low. At the end of last week, Bitcoin dropped below to the $58,000 level and flirted with even lower prices. 
Source: CQG
November CME Ethereum futures reached an all-time high of $4,902.75 per token on Nov. 10 and put in the same bearish key reversal pattern on the daily chart. On Nov. 19, Ethereum was at the $4,300 level after testing below $4,000.
The market cap of the cryptocurrency asset class rises and falls with Bitcoin and Ethereum as they comprise 61.5% of the overall value. Many of the other over 14,550 tokens follow Bitcoin’s and Ethereum’s lead in the up and downside. OMG Network (OMG) is in the top 1% of the asset class as of the end of last week.
Time growing short for the $100,000 forecasts for Bitcoin in 2021
Cryptocurrencies evoke passionate emotions from market participants. Opponents have called the asset class a “fraud,” “disgusting,” “financial rat poison squared,” and other descriptions that do not offer anything but their disdain for the asset class. Cryptos are a libertarian answer to control of the money supply. Government officials and banking and traditional finance leaders have not been fans of the rise of the asset class.
The proponents have been just as vocal. Square (NYSE:SQ) is a payments and technology company. SQ’s founder and CEO, Jack Dorsey, has called Bitcoin the “money of the internet” and said the leading crypto will “unite the world.” Elon Musk, the world’s wealthiest person, has been an advocate. When asked what governments should do to regulate the burgeoning asset class, his answer was “nothing, leave it alone.”
Meanwhile, many cryptocurrency advocates forecast that Bitcoin’s price will reach the $100,000 level by the end of 2021. Time is running out for those forecasts, with less than six weeks until the start of 2022 and Bitcoin sitting below the $60,000 per token level. Anyone who has watched the ascent of the asset class over the past years cannot definitively say that the $100,000 level is impossible, given the wild price swings in the leading cryptocurrency.
The one metric that continues to rise is the number of cryptos coming to market
Bull markets are magnetic. In 2010, one Bitcoin cost five cents. At the $58,000 level, a $1.00 investment was worth $1.16 million, an incredible and unprecedented return. I remember an old advertisement for the NY lottery with the slogan that “all you need is a dollar and a dream.” The odds of winning a lottery jackpot are low, but the ascent of Bitcoin and many other cryptos proves that dreams can come true.
While cryptocurrency values swing wildly from day to day, month to month, and year to year, the one steady bullish trend has been in the number of new tokens coming to market each day.
I began keeping track of the total number of cryptocurrencies on CoinMarketCap at the end of Q1 2019, when there were 2,136 cryptocurrencies. The Quarter-by-quarter growth has been impressive:
- Q2 2019 - 2,296 up 7.5% for the quarter
- Q3 2019 - 2,906 up 26.6% for the quarter
- Q4 2019 - 4,986 up 71.6% for the quarter
- Q1 2020 - 5,285 up 6.0% for the quarter
- Q2 2020 - 5,688 up 7.6% for the quarter
- Q3 2020 - 7,254 up 27.5% for the quarter
- Q4 2020 - 8,153 up 12.4% for the quarter
- Q1 2021 - 9,045 up 10.9% for the quarter
- Q2 2021 - 10,725 up 18.6% for the quarter
- Q3 2021 - 12,223 up 14.0% for the quarter
- Nov. 21, 2021 - 14,553 up 19.1% with six weeks to go in Q4
The growth shows the asset class’s expansion in the cryptocurrency market.
Searching for the next diamond in the rough
Many, if not most of the cryptos circulating in cyberspace, will wind up as dust collectors in wallets of investors and traders throwing capital at the asset class in the quest of finding the next huge winner. Meanwhile, out of over 14,550 different tokens, there are plenty of scams and frauds that populate the unregulated market class.
However, the demand is creating the supply, and so long as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and a host of other cryptocurrencies offer incredible rewards, the number of tokens will continue to rise. All investors and traders must understand that any capital invested is 100% at risk from Bitcoin down to the newest token.
Rewards are always a function of the risk, so expect market participants to shower the asset class with investment capital.
OMG Network: top-tier cryptocurrency
OMG Network (OMG) may sound like a shaky crypto, but it has risen in the ranks. On Nov. 22 it was the 94th leading cryptocurrency. At $9.27 per token, OMG had a more than respectable $1.30 billion market cap, making it an acceptable token for trading and investing.
The market cap means that OMG has the critical mass necessary for liquidity. Liquid markets allow participants to buy and sell on tight bid-offer spreads. However, the asset class’s volatility means that even the most liquid tokens can experience periods where liquidity evaporates, and prices vacuum higher or lower.
OMG Network’s website is a bit nebulous; it informs the world that “OMG Network is now OMG Foundation.” OMG is the native cryptocurrency of the “Network” that is now the “Foundation.”
OMG is a blockchain built on top of the Ethereum blockchain that speeds up transaction times and reduces transaction feeds by handling Ethereum transactions off of Ethereum’s main network. OMG’s supply is limited to 140,245,399 OMG coins.
A choppy trading pattern since 2017
OMG began trading at the $0.43 level in July 2017.
Source: CoinMarketCap
The chart shows OMG rose to a peak at just below $26 per token in early 2018 and made lower highs and lower lows until March 2020, when it reached around the $0.50 level. Since then, OMG made higher lows and higher highs, reaching a peak at $19.12 on Nov. 3, 2021, when the price fell to the $10 level.
OMG is a top-tier cryptocurrency with critical mass at an over $1.35 billion market cap. While the value puts OMG above nearly 99.3% of all tokens in the asset class, the cryptocurrency is still a risky asset along with every other crypto from Bitcoin down to the most recent 14,553rd token.