The Spanish cryptocurrency investor is more conservative than one might assume. The average user is already far from his youth, he does not risk as much wealth and opts for the most consolidated alternatives in the digital universe.
This is clear from a survey by the Bitget exchange. Based on 2,347 online responses, the platform reveals that the average investor is a man, over 45 years old and who has been investing in crypto for at most three years. “The age is surprising, something that does not occur in other countries. "Spain is a more adult audience, with more investment capacity and more developed," says Maximiliano Hinz, Bitget's expansion director for Spain and Latin America.
A contrasting fact is that almost 60% of their investment portfolio only has cryptocurrencies. Only 19% of those surveyed also invest in the stock market or 12% in funds, which would diversify the risk. In any case, they would be smaller amounts: half invest at most 5% of their assets in crypto. “We always insist that it is logical to limit exposure, it is still a volatile market,” warns Hinz. Contrary to what one might assume, everything shows that the investor is “very cautious.”
Thus, at the start, users opt for more consolidated cryptos, such as bitcoin or solana, and then expand the spectrum. 37% have bitcoin as their main investment. Now with rises, now with falls, the pull of bitcoin attracts more people. With the recent bull market, we have gone from average daily volumes of $10 billion to seeing peaks of $35 billion and even more. “The tone directly impacts the amount of money that is exchanged,” explains Hinz.
The resurgence in the price of bitcoin has surprised everyone and everyone. “The start of 2024 is something that has impressed, with a great acceleration,” comments Matteo Taronna, platform analyst. While the approval of spot ETFs tied to the cryptocurrency has helped boost it, “ETF movements are not enough to explain these movements,” he says. Buying pressure and the operations of whales, large holders, are also combined.
“Investors mainly enter bitcoin first, but right now they see it as very expensive. Now a lot of people are coming in to buy memecoins,” says Taronna. The Pepe memecoin is one of the favorites. “They are currencies that to a certain extent do not have usability. Many people focus on them to make quick money. 2% do well, 98% usually have a bad move…” she warns. Looking to make money very quickly. Hinz emphasizes caution: “Interest in memecoins responds to the bull market, they are coins created as a joke, but they have price explosions and some become millionaires. “Everyone who enters this market has to understand that it is rare to make money with them.”
Risk is not the norm. Those who follow an aggressive strategy – carrying out frequent buying and selling operations to take advantage of fluctuations – are a minority, 30%. The majority, 46%, have a moderate vision, more long-term and focused on more solid values.
After reaching records and exceeding $73,700, bitcoin has corrected 15% in recent sessions. Going into detail, Taronna frames it as a pre-halving setback, a stage prior to the technical process that every several years reduces the payment to miners and is expected in April. “It's something healthy. The falls are probably 10%, 20%, and it is totally common within the market,” he points out.
With greater focus, there are five phases surrounding the halving: the pre-halving period; the pre-halving rally; the pre-halving setback; a post-halving resistance, and a parabolic movement after the entire process. Today in the third phase, the platform believes that until August there will be little movement and that towards September-October it will enter another bullish phase due to low supply and high demand.
Attracted, some know how to dive and little else. A solution can be through copy trading, copying the operations made by a trader with more experience and knowledge. “One of the barriers to entry in buying crypto is that you don't know what to do afterwards,” says Hinz. “To be a trader you have to dedicate yourself to it fully. In such a volatile market, if you are not present all the time, you can win or lose a lot of money. With copy trading he avoids it and delegates it to someone else,” he argues.
