On Aug. 3, CEO and founder of MN Trading, Michaël van de Poppe, reported on the current state of the crypto market and the lengthening crypto winter.

Altcoin investors are slowly losing faith in the markets as they are still not moving at all, he said.

Furthermore, altcoin markets have been trending downwards since May 2021 in a bear market that “has already lasted for more than two years.”

It has been the “longest existing bear market for cryptocurrencies.”

Investors Perspective in Crypto Markets Follows History

I’ve seen many people suggesting that we’ll see Bitcoin drop to $12,000 and altcoins to have another capitulation. I don’t think we’ll have that and in this post I’ll explain why. 👇

Altcoin investors are slowly losing… pic.twitter.com/eP6pR14Zr5

— Michaël van de Poppe (@CryptoMichNL) August 3, 2023

Longest Bear Market Ever

He added that it is hardly surprising considering what happened in 2022, with several major collapses and a raft of regulatory pressure.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has gone to war against crypto while traditional finance companies are queuing up to submit exchange-traded fund applications.

However, that doesn’t mean that markets will continue to decline, he added.

“Most of them [altcoins] have been trending downwards for 18-24 months straight. Bitcoin pairs are on cycle lows, sentiment is on the ground, but that doesn’t mean that we’ll need to continue moving downwards from here.”

We’re in the second stage of capitulation, which is time, he said. This is the “boring stage” of the cycle, but with large institutions jumping in, a change in trend could be around the corner.

Reflexivity Research founder Will Clemente confirmed the notion stating that this bear market is worse than the previous two.

“In terms of realized cap drawdowns, this Bitcoin bear market was worse than both 2015 and 2018 – meaning a ton of losses were realized from those that bought at the top of the previous market cycle.”

Meanwhile, volume and volatility remain at record lows. So low, in fact, that the 10-day realized volatility for Bitcoin is close to falling below that for stocks, bonds, and gold.

10-day realized volatility for #bitcoin near falling below average of stocks, bonds, and gold. pic.twitter.com/QKq5HItY80

— Dylan LeClair 🟠 (@DylanLeClair_) August 3, 2023

Crypto Market Outlook

Total market capitalization remains at $1.2 trillion as another week of consolidation comes to a close. Markets have been sideways since the middle of March, with the total cap hovering around this level.

Bitcoin is currently at a six-week low, trading flat on the day and week at $29,180 at the time of writing as the tedium continues. Meanwhile, Ethereum has also been down-trending for the past three weeks but has been sideways for months despite the recent slew of ETH ETF applications.