Top 5 Cryptocurrencies Traded in India in November

2021/12/01 10:52:47

India is one of the biggest crypto markets in the world, contributing to the largest number of crypto owners, as per data from BrokerChooser. Of course, the high number is unsurprising given that India is the second most populous country in the world, next only to China - where cryptocurrency exchanges and mining are banned. However, even when you look at the number of crypto owners as a percentage of the total population, India ranks fifth in the world, led by Ukraine, Russia, Kenya and the US.

With such a large share of crypto investors based in India, the country contributes to a significant share of trading activity in the digital assets' space. The month of November has been especially busy as far as crypto trading goes, giving Indian traders plenty of reasons to trade cryptocurrencies actively.

To recap, November started on a high note as far as the Indian market was concerned - with one of the biggest festivals in the country becoming the driving factor for high levels of interest in trading digital currencies. Shortly thereafter, the mood in the global crypto market shot up when leading coins Bitcoin and Ethereum made new all-time highs (ATHs) after the listing of the first Bitcoin-based ETF on US markets. Although, the mood started to falter towards the later half of the month on worries about the US signing the infrastructure bill into law, bringing with it tax burdens on serious crypto investors in the country.

The mood among Indian crypto traders soured further towards the end of November over emerging news reports about the Indian government planning to discuss the crypto bill in the upcoming winter session of its parliaments. Rumor mills were abuzz that the bill could enforce a ban on trading of private cryptocurrencies, causing panic sell-off across the board on leading crypto exchanges by Indian users.

Despite the rumors of tighter regulations, India still remains one of the busiest markets for cryptocurrency trading at present. Let's take a look at the five most popular cryptocurrencies traded in India through the month of November.

Bitcoin is still the most popular cryptocurrency in India

Bitcoin started November on somewhat of a weak footing, as the excitement about the first official Bitcoin ETF launch in the US market gave way to worries about the Federal Reserve - the US central bank, starting to taper its asset purchase program and consider tightening its monetary policy. The optimism surrounding the launch soon gave way to worries about the potential impact on the crypto market by the Fed's monetary tightening efforts.

Meanwhile, in the Indian markets, there was considerable enthusiasm towards Bitcoin during the celebratory week of Diwali. The positive sentiment was further bolstered after Paytm - a leading digital payment enabling firm in the country, suggested it would look to launch crypto services once the government legalizes cryptocurrencies in India. The expectations kept Bitcoin trading bullish above the $60,000 mark since the beginning of the month.

Source: Coin360

As the month progressed, several leading analysts upgraded their forecasts for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, anticipating a bull run towards the end of 2021 on reports of increasing mainstream interest and adoption of the asset class. This helped the market leader among cryptos, Bitcoin, to soar to a new ATH around the mid of November, crossing the $68,000 mark. Soon after though, prices started to pull back as investors indulged in profit taking even as other fundamental developments drove a sell-off in the market. As of this writing, the largest cryptocurrency posts a market dominance of 41.72%, trading at $56,860, recovering some of its losses in the last week.

The biggest reason which triggered the downslide was the rising inflation in the US, which further heightened expectations for the Fed to increase interest rates sooner than previously planned. This drove up the value of the US dollar, making Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies more expensive. It also drove investors away from riskier instruments like Bitcoin and towards the greenback, keeping Bitcoin under pressure.

The sell-off intensified further in the Indian market over reports that the Indian government could potentially impose a ban on trading private cryptocurrencies, causing many investors to leave the market and bring the BTC price down. After touching a new all-time high, increased regulatory concerns brought back the bears in the Bitcoin market, causing it to trade in the red towards the end of November.

Ethereum enjoys high demand due to dApps, but network congestion and high gas fees weigh

The world's second largest cryptocurrency, Ethereum (ETH), saw less volatility in comparison with Bitcoin, enjoying support from the high levels of interest in its various use cases, especially in the DeFi, NFT and GameFi sectors. After starting the month upwards of $4,300, ETH soared to an all-time high above the $4,800 level by 10 November supported by the optimistic mood in the overall crypto market in anticipation of another bull run. Aspress time, the Net DeFi Value Locked in Ethereum surged to a new high, totaling $88.88 billion, pushing ETH to become a top performer in mainstream tokens, surpassing $4750 after a few lackluster days.

The Source: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/data/decentralized-finance/

As the most popular blockchain for dApps, Ethereum offers higher levels of usability than Bitcoin, which is more appealing among serious investors as a store of value and a possible hedge against inflation, not unlike gold.

Ethereum, however, does face considerable challenges which continue to weigh on it through the remainder of the month. One of the biggest challenges is its network congestion and high gas fees - issues that are cropping up again amid rising adoption of the network. This has given rise to a whole market of potential 'Ethereum killers', such as Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA), Avalanche (AVAX), and more, which offer more attractive features such as faster and cheaper transaction processing capabilities. Ethereum's gas fees and congestion continue to mar the outlook for the coin, even though it continues to capture the attention of investors, both in India and the rest of the world.

Dogecoin sees muted action but manages to hold on as meme coin leader

The world's favorite meme coin and one of the most popular cryptocurrencies traded by retail investors across India, Dogecoin (DOGE), had what could only be termed a bit of a bearish month through November. It started the month around the $0.27 level but failed to register much gains even when the entire crypto market was trading bullish and celebrating BTC and ETH touching new highs.

Trading volume for DOGE/USDT remained high during the initial week of November, and Indian traders contributed significantly towards this, enjoying trading the cryptocurrency through the festivities of Diwali. However, by the mid of the month, trading activity in Dogecoin started to slide lower, falling sharply by the last week of November.

For a meme-based token which enjoys the attention of smaller, first-time cryptocurrencies, Dogecoin was hit pretty hard by news of upcoming regulations in the Indian crypto sector, causing sharp sell-offs among panicky investors in the country. The bearish mood brought down DOGE's price to test the $0.20 level.

A lack of fundamental drivers and boost from Dogefather - the crypto's favorite celebrity promoter and Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, further kept DOGE under pressure. In fact, it also lost its spotlight to another rising memecoin Shiba Inu which went on to briefly overtake it in terms of Dogecoin and become the largest memecoin by market cap. But, more on that later.

Shiba Inu offers tight competition to Dogecoin through November

The second most popular meme-based cryptocurrency, Shiba Inu (SHIB), saw extremely high levels of trading activity in India at the beginning of November. First-time crypto traders celebrated the token overtaking Dogecoin and successfully becoming the Doge-killer as it originally intended, and lapped up stories of rags-to-riches stories of early investors and their phenomenal rewards from the bullish rally.

High trading activity, social volume and interest among investors supported the Shiba Inu coin through most of November, preventing its price from dipping even when market leaders Bitcoin and Ethereum slid lower around the mid of the month. The cryptocurrency also enjoyed news reports of rising adoption as a payment method among several businesses, most notable being AMC Theaters, as well as it being listed in several popular crypto exchanges - although, Robinhood is yet to include it despite the ongoing campaign for it.

Shiba Inu went on to become one of the most searched cryptocurrencies in India in November as more investors bought the coin. For Indian investors, SHIB/USDT was one of the most appealing tokens to buy when entering the crypto market owing to its extremely low price offering low risk. However, the mood turned bearish over worries of upcoming regulations, causing many to indulge in panic selling and bring SHIB's price under the $0.000040 level.

Decentraland rises in rankings as Indian traders get interested in the metaverse

One of the breakaway hits of November, Decentraland (MANA) shot to fame and experienced strong performance through the month, continuing to climb higher unaffected by the sell-offs and bearish sentiment towards other crypto leaders such as BTC and ETH. Decentraland is a virtual reality platform on the Ethereum blockchain, offering users to create and experience the metaverse - a concept that is garnering considerable interest lately, especially ever since Facebook announced its plans to rebrand to Meta.

MANA, the native token in use within the Decentraland ecosystem, is an ERC-20 token whose value has shot up from less than $3.50 at the beginning of November to over $5 before sliding slightly lower by the end of the month. The metaverse has many Indian investors interested in it, especially after the runaway success of popular play-to-earn game Axie Infinity (AXS). This has made Decentraland one of the most actively traded metaverse-based cryptos on leading exchanges around India.

For a group of investors constantly on the lookout for the next big trend, MANA/USDT and the metaverse offers several reasons to be excited about. Its adoption among mainstream brands and users are on the rise, and recently, leading investment bank JP Morgan also published a report forecasting stellar growth for the metaverse. This has many investors excited about MANA's long term prospects, causing strong buying activity. What's interesting is that the coin was one of the few that did not see sharp sell-offs even amid rising regulatory concerns.

This is possibly because MANA is yet to catch the eye of the first-time crypto investors and is sought after by experienced traders, who have a far more balanced approach towards trading cryptocurrencies instead of indulging in panic selling over rumors. The more serious Indian investors into Decentraland are most likely adopting a 'wait and watch approach' instead, choosing to hold on to their investments in MANA and other tokens across the market, until more clarity emerges on the Indian government's stance towards cryptocurrencies.

Conclusion

Whatever the Indian government does decide, experts maintain that there is no need to panic just yet as it is highly unlikely that it could enforce an outright ban on digital assets, especially as interest in them continues to rise the world over. Similar efforts by China faltered repeatedly and could be a potential learning opportunity for Indian authorities to consider implementing tighter regulations instead of banning them in the country. While tighter regulations could scare away some investors from the market, the increased transparency could potentially drive up interest in digital currencies among financial institutions and institutional investors in the country, which could be a positive sign for the Indian crypto market going forward.

Notice: KuCoin does not provide financial advice. Please do your own risk assessment when deciding how to invest in cryptocurrency and blockchain technology.