ABSTRACT
The purpose of the article is to identify the determinants of cryptocurrency returns. To achieve this goal, the article presents an attempt to create factors that reflect the characteristics of the cryptocurrency market, and uses Fama–French type multifactor models for analyzing the returns of cryptocurrencies. Standard factors based on capitalization indicators, cryptocurrency trading volumes and the third momentum were built. The paper also presents an estimation of the impact of these factors on various groups, or portfolios, of cryptocurrencies in certain periods of time (the period of market formation and the period of high price volatility of the market, including its division into two sub-periods: before the coronavirus pandemic and during the pandemic), which allows us to consider the heterogeneity of data both in time and for certain indicators. As a result of estimating regressions on daily data, empirical evidence in favor of a positive relationship between the excess return of cryptocurrency groups with the constructed factors was obtained. In addition, the paper checks the relationship between the cryptocurrency market and the stock market. Prior to the beginning of high volatility period, cryptocurrencies could be considered as an asset for the diversification of market risk, but later there could be found co-movement of the cryptocurrency market and the stock market, seen from the appearance of the statistical significance of the coefficient before a variable reflecting the market risk premium. In addition, it was shown that the frequency of data can affect the estimates of the coefficients but does not affect the fundamental conclusions of the analysis. The findings indicate the need for further analysis of the cryptocurrency return factors on more homogeneous samples © 2022, Ekonomicheskaya Politika.All Rights Reserved.
ABSTRACT
The cryptocurrency market debate resumed in 2020 with renewed vigour as the price of Bitcoin surpassed late 2017 highs. This study aims to analyse possible factors of Bitcoin's pricing at various cryptocurrency market development stages - before the 2017 price bubble, after and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The main method of analysis is a generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity model with conditional generalized error distribution (GARCHGED). Two groups of indicators are used as possible factors related to the Bitcoin dynamics. The first group consists of various quantitative indicators directly related to Bitcoin (the so-called internal factors) - the volume of exchange trade, the volume of transactions in the Bitcoin blockchain, the number of new and active wallets, hash rate, the sum of fees paid in the blockchain, as well as the dynamics of Google Trends search queries. The second group is the return on various financial assets - stock and bond indexes, commodities, and currency markets. The results of the analysis demonstrate the absence of a stable correlation between any of the factors under consideration and Bitcoin returns in all the periods that we focus on. In the period before the 2017 price bubble, the internal factors and Bitcoin returns showed generally co-directional dynamics, but the situation changed in 2018. In early 2021, the correlation between Bitcoin and traditional financial assets returns has increased significantly. We can conclude that Bitcoin is becoming a popular means of diversification as a high-risk asset, which, however, follows the pattern of a speculative bubble at the beginning of 2021. The increased demand for the need to invest in Bitcoin using various exchange-traded instruments (ETFs for cryptocurrencies) may soon lead to a further increase in the price of this cryptocurrency if such instruments are registered on the exchange. © Shilov K. D., Zubarev A. V., 2021.