The cryptocurrencies space has been quite interesting in the past month, or should I say even for this year so far. While most other risky assets have risen and stayed more resilient, it has been anything but that for cryptocurrencies.
Typically, you’d associate moves in crypto together with stocks. The direction tends to correlate especially when both markets are running in tandem based on investor preference towards risk. But with US stocks holding at the highs, we’re seeing cryptocurrencies slump hard in the past one month. So, what gives?
If you recall last year, I dabbled into the discussion of collectibles and how that has been one of the hottest market trends in 2025. Fast forward to nearly a year from there, and the explosive growth in 2026 has far surpassed that even of last year. And we’re not just talking about one sale. We’re seeing these kinds of amounts being transacted on a daily basis now.
And if you are into the world of collectibles, you would also know that there is a very big following and overlap between the collectibles market and the cryptocurrency market. It is not by some pure coincidence that the money flow into collectibles came out of nowhere. The crypto bros are now flocking into the market and the numbers are showing that.
There has been a meteoric rise in the collectibles market ever since the turn of the year and that seems to coincide with a struggle in cryptocurrencies. Michael Saylor’s selling perhaps spooked the crypto market even more but it is not to say that things were going smoothly since the start of the year.
The sharp decline in January already led to Bitcoin testing the $60,000 mark and we revisited that again at the end of last week.
The drop so far is at least seeing a double-bottom form with the 200-week moving average (blue line) hold. But if that breaks, things could get even uglier for Bitcoin and the crypto market.
Risk selling and an overdue correction aside, is money flowing from cryptocurrencies to collectibles also playing a part in all of this? I won’t say it is definitive but there is perhaps some merit to the argument.
We’ve not seen hot money flows in these large amounts for any other new “asset class” until collectibles came along. And the risk profile also fits with what crypto investors like and the better thing is that they are able to physically hold on to these cards/memorabilia.
I’m not saying that everyone is jumping ship and selling Bitcoin to jump into buying Pokemon cards. However, there is surely a portion of the people entering the collectibles market that are choosing to switch their “investment” portfolio and diversifying into collectibles especially after many news outlets have been picking up on the story since last year.
Just like anything else, all it takes is a little nudge and the momentum starts to roll.
And in part, this is a potential factor of there being less dip buyers in cryptocurrencies now than over the past few years. I can’t recall a time when Bitcoin dropped by 50% from the highs and there is this little people screaming about buying the dip. It’s not just in fintwit or in the crypto community, it’s about the general public too.
In other times, you would heavy conversation about people getting into crypto on buying major dips. This time around, the air is definitely a little different. In Asia, there’s a growing market that is starting to look at collectibles as an alternative investment to their portfolios now.
Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies used to be the shiny new toy that everyone wanted to play with. Now, they definitely have some steep competition
