Editor's note: We've seen this cycle before, but not exactly like this...

Investors are fleeing the cryptocurrency market en masse right now – similar to the mass exodus we saw when cryptos entered a bear market in 2018. But Crypto Capital editor Eric Wade believes this cycle could turn out differently...

In short, Eric says today's uncertain market isn't volatile enough to keep folks away from cryptos. So with buyers still lining up to take advantage of low prices, it's important to understand how the previous bear market compares with what we're seeing now.

In today's Masters Series, adapted from the June 21 Crypto Capital issue, Eric looks back at how the crypto bear market in 2018 played out... details how a similar setup is taking shape right now... and explains why the recent sell-off might "rhyme" with 2018 instead of being a repeat...

Be Prepared for a 'Rhyming' Crypto Market

By Eric Wade, editor, Crypto Capital

There's blood in the crypto streets...

Since the beginning of the year, the overall crypto market has lost $1.4 trillion in value.

Most coins are down more than 80%. Ethereum (ETH) is down 70%, and even bitcoin (BTC) is down more than 50%.

We've also seen one of the largest stablecoin implosions ever. Last month, TerraUSD (UST) plunged... taking top 10 crypto Terra (LUNA) down with it. And now, we're seeing layoffs across big-name crypto exchanges like Coinbase, Crypto.com, BlockFi, and Gemini.

But over the long term, we're still bullish on bitcoin, blockchain, and decentralized ledger technology.

To understand why, we're going back to the last crypto bear market...

At Crypto Capital, we're long-term bitcoin holders. We first recommended the token in October 2017.

But by 2018, we were navigating what would become a deep bear market. So we had to be nimble.

Two things were happening at that time. Bitcoin seemed to be finding a floor, but then it would rally quickly and run out of steam. Between March 2018 and August 2018, we saw several bounces from around the $6,000 level. So we used one to our advantage.

On August 10, we bought a short-term position in bitcoin for $6,145.24. We sold this position on August 27 for $6,898.63... a 12.26% gain in 17 days.

I was also getting worried that the price floor around $6,000 wasn't safe. That October, I told subscribers at our Stansberry Alliance conference that I would be ready to dump bitcoin if it hit $5,825. If it hit that number, I believed a much deeper sell-off was on the way.

As you can see in the chart below, it broke that price floor on November 14.

So we recommended selling our original bitcoin position at $5,613.84. Bitcoin dropped to as low as $3,200 in the weeks that followed.

This sell-off was the final capitulation of miners and the few remaining crypto investors that were willing to sell. It was fast, deep, and over quickly...

We rebought bitcoin for $3,758.36 just 12 days later.

History rarely repeats itself, but it can rhyme. So, if today feels like it's rhyming with 2018... you're not wrong.

Last month, bitcoin seemed to be finding a price floor around $30,000. It would bounce off this floor dramatically, then drop back down again. But after nearly a month of building what looked like a level of support, the price of bitcoin plunged nearly 35% this month... falling to the psychologically important $20,000 area.

Bitcoin investors see the $20,000 level as important because it's also where the price of bitcoin peaked in the 2017 rally. So crypto bulls feel the need to defend this price level.

That's why despite global macroeconomic factors like rising interest rates, inflation, and the crypto industry working to absorb forced liquidations from overleveraged hedge funds... we've still seen an impressively high volume of traders willing to buy.

However, as much as bitcoin buyers wanted to believe that $20,000 was as low as bitcoin would drop this cycle... even that level failed to hold. In the last few days, bitcoin fell as low as $17,750 before quickly recovering to more than $20,000.

With this rampant volatility, you might be thinking it's time for another trade.

But there are some key differences between 2018 and today that you must be aware of before making any short-term trades... which we'll discuss tomorrow.

Good investing,

Eric Wade

Editor's note: As Eric explained, some folks see volatility as an opportunity to buy. And the crypto space offers the chance to make massive gains... as long as you know what you're doing.

If you want to learn how to navigate the current cryptocurrency market, check out Eric's research. In fact, Eric recently revealed the incredible story of how one subscriber went from nearly broke to turning his last $50,000 into a $54 million fortune. Click here to learn more.