![](https://steemitimages.com/DQmRzAmi5zcfMpsxxZbDg5stAvsjpDEs4MJHVfgE5P6c7wF/image.png)

The picture above is **a look at the cryptocurrency market capitalization between April 26th - May 26th, 2017**. I will reference this time period throughout the article. For those of us trading in the cryptocurrency markets, **this article can give you some insights into where cryptocurrency is headed and might just urge you to hold a percentage of your investments for the long-haul** - *it seems near impossible to lose out if you choose a cryptocurrency with a strong team and use case.* I'm also writing this article as a means to **learn more about historical and existing markets**  to tease out how they can give us the acuity we need to survive in this space without losing it all. 

The cryptocurrency exchange market has;
> grown a total of 284.4% up until 28-hours ago - we saw a $15,767,100,000 decrease in overall market capitalization in the last 28-hours. 

From **over $90B to below $75B**. That's a lot of zeros. **Many of us newer traders had a very dark red night...** I'm definitely down, badly, and holding for the long-haul after doing this research. Here's why.

According to The Bank of International Settlements' (BIS) [April 2016 Triennial Central Bank Survey](http://www.bis.org/publ/rpfx16fx.pdf);

> Trading in **foreign exchange markets averaged $5.1 trillion per day** in April 2016. This is **down from $5.4 trillion in April 2013**, a month which had seen *heightened activity in Japanese yen* against the background of *monetary policy developments* at that time. 

$5.1 trillion a day? *A DAY!?* The largest 24-hour volume we can see on the chart above is $4.29 BILLION...I'm...I'm seeing this correctly, right? *$4.29 Billion divided by $5.1 trillion equals 0.0842%*. **The cryptocurrency exchange markets being less than 1/10th of a percentage the daily volume of foreign currency exchange markets and a $300 Billion drop over the past 3-years in FOREX is a clear indicator that it is likely cryptocurrency experiences exponential growth in the long-term as we adopt the technology.** *The market cap 3x over a 30-day period* is **another indicator** for exponential growth opportunities.

![](https://steemitimages.com/DQmUCPtHEtbXvpxSQ9qjAU9SekekZ4F54hjgxoJdGVkWFNG/image.png)

## A few interesting figures from the 30-day, April 26th - May 26th time period:
* **Overall cryptocurrency market 24-hour a low of $672,509,000 to a high of $3,844,220,000**
* **Bitcoin (BTC) went from $1,280.43 to a high of $2,763.71**
* **Ethereum (ETH) went from $52.73 to a high of $226.49** 
* **Ripple (XRP) went from $0.032754 to a high of $0.422412**

## In the last 28-hours:
* **Overall cryptocurrency market cap is currently sitting around $4 billion**
*  **Bitcoin (BTC)** dropped from **$2763.71 to a low of $2,071.99** and is **currently fluctuating between $2,200-2,300** 
* **Ethereum (ETH)** went from **$206.81 to a low of $150.28** and is **currently fluctuating between $165-175**
* **Ripple (XRP) went from $0.275495 to a low of $0.238308 and is currently fluctuating between $0.29-0.31**

Since I'm ultimately down about 30% since my initial buy-in right in the middle of the boom, I will be holding all of what I wanted to be day-trading funds, into a long-term investment. These 3 coins are moving quite a bit and the rest of the 700+ cryptocurrencies, "altcoins," are down a large percentage. The fluctuation in XRP is more along the lines of the way altcoins are moving. **Hope you enjoyed and please share this if you found it helpful or thought-provoking!** Investing in a new space isn't easy, specially with all of these ICO's running rampant, but **this truly is the beginning of our ability, as humans, to democratize access to capital for all.**

**P.S.** *the worst thing you can do is buy high and sell low.* **That's an insta-loss.**

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**Not quite up to speed with the FOREX and Crytpocurrency exchange markets?** Below are some resources that might help you catch up to speed:
* [Investopedia - FOREX markets explained](http://www.investopedia.com/terms/forex/f/foreign-exchange-markets.asp)
* [Linda Xie, CoinBase Product Manager, Introductory Blog to Ethereum](https://blog.coinbase.com/a-beginners-guide-to-ethereum-tokens-fbd5611fe30b)
* [ETH inforgraphic posted by Ameer Rosic on Medium](https://medium.com/@ameerrosic/what-is-ethereum-step-by-step-ethereum-infographic-34642e63a60d)
* [Blockchain For Beginners](https://decentralize.today/blockchain-for-beginners-b4a0172860df)
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*Disclaimer: None of the content in this article is intended to be investing advice. These are simply observations I have noticed in the market and what they mean to me, personally. I am currently holding all 3 coins, and about 12 others. The 3 coins listed in this article are the coins with the largest market capitlization in the cryptocurrency exchange market. Be careful when investing and only invest money you can afford to lose, specially in the high-risk cryptocurrency market.*