First Mover: Bitcoin Bounces Back Above $47K Despite Bearish Chart Pattern

PLUS: Bitcoin's Uncorrelated Returns Still Make It Attractive to Portfolio Managers
Get started at nexo.io

LAWRENCE LEWITINN

Bitcoin's Uncorrelated Returns Still Makes It Attractive to Portfolio Managers

 

For anyone who started buying crypto a week ago, the past few days have been awful. Bitcoin closed February down 20% from its all-time highs hit on the 21st of the month. However, for anyone else who bought any time before Feb. 8, it's been an investment that has paid off handsomely.

 

While bitcoin year-to-date returns may have come off since Feb. 21, they're still significantly higher than U.S. equities. And they're positive for the year, unlike safe havens gold and bonds, which have been crushed with rising interest rates.

 

Returns for bitcion, S&P 500, gold, and U.S. Treasury bonds, Jan. 1 - Feb. 28, 2021 (Data sources: London Bullion Market, St. Louis Fed, Yahoo Finance, CoinDesk Research)

 

That's not to say bitcoin comes without risk. Its realized volatility — that is, the standard deviation of returns — is astronomical relative to stocks or even precious metals. That figure over the past 30 days is close to 100% on an annualized basis. Granted, it's four times higher than it was over the summer but it's been even higher, hitting as high as 200% just 11 months ago.  

 

Bitcoin 30-day volatility, annualized (Source: Skew)

 

Yet despite the past week's tumble, there's still an argument that can be made that the most risk adverse investor should allocate a even small amount to the likes of bitcoin.

 

JPMorgan strategists Joyce Chang and Amy Ho wrote, "In a multi-asset portfolio, investors can likely add up to 1% of their allocation to cryptocurrencies in order to achieve any efficiency gain in the overall risk-adjusted returns of the portfolio," reported Bloomberg Wednesday.

 

From a portfolio management point of view, the reason is correlation. The correlation coefficients for bitcoin and other major assets like the S&P 500, gold and bonds are converging on zero. They were elevated for the S&P 500 and gold because of the massive sell-off a year ago in all "risk-on" assets while significantly negative compared to U.S. Treasury bonds (considered a "risk-off" asset).

 

Bitcoin and macro assets 90-day correlation coefficients, Jan. 2020 to Feb 2021 (Data sources: St. Louis Fed, Yahoo Finance)

Sure, for many, bitcoin's volatility offsets any possible allure its spectacular recent gains may have. Nonetheless, for a portfolio to be diversified, its assets must be as uncorrelated as possible. That feature may be enough to continue to attract portfolio managers in the weeks and months to come.

--Lawrence Lewitinn

BIGGEST MOVERS

These are the biggest movers in the CoinDesk 20 over the past 24 hours:

 

Gainers:

  • Ether (ETH): +11.19%

  • Chainlink (LINK): +8.62%

  • Bitcoin (BTC): +5.68%

Losers:

  • Cardano (ADA): -1.29%

 

The CoinDesk 20 filters from the larger universe of thousands of cryptocurrencies and digital assets to define a core group of 20. These assets constitute roughly 99% of the market by volume at eight of the largest and most trustworthy exchanges.

LATEST HEADLINES

Alternate text

Introducing Coin Toss, debating the future of money on CoinDesk TV

 

From the world leader in crypto news and events, the all-new CoinDesk TV covers the rapidly evolving world of digital finance and its role in the global economy.

 

Hosted by CoinDesk Podcasts Managing Editor Adam B. Levine, Coin Toss sets the stage for debate between guests with opposing views on policy and regulation, privacy and data integrity, fraud and crime and more.

 

Watch Coin Toss Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m. ET on YouTube or CoinDesk.com.

Disclaimer: The information presented in this message is intended as a news item that provides a brief summary of various events and developments that affect, or that might in the future affect, the value of one or more of the cryptocurrencies described above. The information contained in this message, and any information liked through the items contained herein, is not intended to provide sufficient information to form the basis for an investment decision. The information presented herein is accurate only as of its date, and it was not prepared by a research analyst or other investment professional. You should seek additional information regarding the merits and risks of investing in any cryptocurrency before deciding to purchase or sell any such instruments. 

ATTENTION: Scammers have been sending fraudulent emails with links to sites disguised to look like coindesk.com. If you are in doubt about a link, type https://www.coindesk.com directly into your browser; do not copy and paste. Remember, if something seems too good to be true, it probably is.

First Mover

 

A newsletter from CoinDesk

 

See Previous Editions

Copyright © 2021 CoinDesk, All rights reserved. 

 

250 Park Avenue South New York, NY 10003, USA

You can manage your preferences here or unsubscribe from all CoinDesk email. 

Related Posts


EmoticonEmoticon

:)
:(
=(
^_^
:D
=D
=)D
|o|
@@,
;)
:-bd
:-d
:p
:ng
:lv