There's been no shortage of hype over cryptos this year. And no shortage of opinions on where the market may be headed next year.
We'll leave those forecasts to analysts with more clear crystal balls than our own.
But we do note that 4 of the most heavily traded cryptos each reached new all-time highs in 2021.
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Breaking into new record territory
Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC), the world's first and still dominant crypto, traded for a record US$68,790 (AU$97,140) on 10 November, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH), the second biggest, also hit its record high on 10 November, trading for US$4,856.
Two other heavily traded cryptos, the so-called meme coins, hit their own record highs earlier this year.
Shiba Inu (CRYPTO: SHIB) traded for an all-time high of 0.0088 US cents on 28 October.
The original 'dog coin,' Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE), hit its own record high of 74 US cents a bit earlier in the year, on 8 May.
How did they perform in November?
Of the 4 most heavily traded, only Ethereum finished November in the green.
Ethereum commenced November trading for US$4,314. The token finished the month worth US$4,604, up 6.7%.
Ether has been outperforming Bitcoin and most altcoins this year. Analysts are pointing to its real-world use cases in decentralised finance (think smart contracts) for its outperformance.
According to Stephane Ouellette, CEO of crypto platform FRNT Financial Inc (quoted by Bloomberg):
The current BTC trading window seems to associate the asset more with global currency trends, inflation hedges, etc… While ETH has, at least from a current market perception standpoint, higher correlations with the growth of crypto sub-sectors.
Unlike Ether, Bitcoin finished the month in the red. One Bitcoin was worth US$60,269 on 1 November, falling to US$58,120 by 30 November, a loss of 3.5% for the month.
Turning to our meme coins, Shiba Inu kicked off November trading for 0.0063 US cents. The dog-themed crypto ended November worth 0.0052 cents, down 17% for the month.
As for Dogecoin, it started November worth 26 US cents and at 30 November was trading for 22 US cents, a loss of 15% for the month.
While all 4 cryptos are well up for the year, it's worth noting that each of them fell heavily when news of the Omicron COVID variant hit the wires on 26 November. Rather than acting as any sort of haven asset, they responded similarly to other risk assets.
