The crypto market is a platform with a lot to learn and explore, even if you are not investing yet. After gaining an understanding of bullish and bearish patterns (candlesticks), as well as ascending and descending lines, we will now shed light on All-Time High and All-Time Low in the crypto market. 

All-Time High

ATH refers to the highest price an asset has reached since its inception. It is often quoted globally in financial assets showing the theoretical potential of said asset. However, there is no guarantee that it will remain at this level forever. In the case of crypto-currencies, however, a coin is said to be at its ATH when it has surpassed its previous price peak, thus finding new support at a higher level. In addition, the ATH value represents the maximum price at which a particular asset could be sold. It also represents the maximum price another trader was willing to pay for that asset over a certain period of time. However, it is possible for an ATH to be derived not from the entire asset but from a fraction of it.

ATH and bull market

During the bull run at the end of 2017, many crypto-currencies set new all-time records. Note that each crypto-currency exchange has a different All-Time High for crypto-currency. For example, at the height of a bull run, before the big drop, a crypto-currency trader can buy 0.1BTC at $5,000. Proportionally, this will give bitcoin a new ATH at $50,000 per unit of BTC, although only 0.1BTC was traded at that price. 

All-Time Low

The concept of ATH can also be applied to market cap stocks. The opposite of All-Time High is All-Time Low (ATL) which refers to the lowest price at which an asset has been traded, and this is recorded after an asset has been listed and begins trading on an exchange. Unlike stocks that are growing steadily, stocks that have reached their all-time lows are characterized by a steady decline in price, most often with small pullbacks. All-time lows can be recorded on a monthly, weekly, or daily basis.

ATH is a handy way to see if you should invest in cryptocurrency now or if you should wait because the price of this or that coin has not fallen much from its historical maximum. But it is not worth looking only at this indicator and buying all coins with indicators ATH -90%, 95%, 99%! Many coins from this list may already be completely unprofitable. 

This indicator is definitely very handy, but you need to pay attention to other factors like the open or closed team of developers of the project, social networks of the project. More exchangers on which the coin is presented and many other factors. ATH is only a tool that allows you to successfully invest in a good coin at the time of its fall. To see the ATH of an asset, it is usually enough to switch the price chart to the maximum time frame.

Why it is happening?

The All-Time Low price is usually set when the asset enters the market. Investors may not trust new assets, and this is the reason why the price of a new asset remains low. Another possible reason why an asset sets a new All-Time Low is when a country (using a cryptocurrency) introduces new laws that make the new asset harder to use and it loses in value. The All-Time Low value can be used to show the minimum theoretical price at which an asset could be sold for.  An asset can reach All-Time Low several times a year, month, or day. When an asset reaches an All-Time Low, it can be seen as a loss of interest in the asset. When the price of an asset reaches an All-Time Low, it can be a signal to investors and lead to a large amount of selling, which in turn can lead to an even larger decline in the price of the asset. Sometimes the asset may not rebound or recover in price.

However, in crypto-currencies, historical lows are indicators of a bear market and usually lead to further declines. An example with bitcoin shows that when investors receive news that bitcoin is at an All-Time Low, they usually panic and start selling coins for better-performing ones. Many traders are also watching ATLs closely and using the low price as leverage to make decisions. With bitcoin, ATLs usually correspond to an event that triggers large-scale selling. For example, news about exchange hacks, government regulation, and news about forks are some of the causes of major ATLs. 

In short, ATHs are the highest price of an asset, while ATLs are a drop in the price of an asset. This can affect the asset in a negative or positive way. However, note that price corrections will always occur until the utility of each cryptocurrency settles to a stable price when volatility becomes zero.