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As of September 2025, the cryptocurrency market was worth over $4 trillion, and hundreds of digital coins were available. This creates many chances for traders to earn profits. However, to make the most of these opportunities, it’s crucial to understand how crypto cycles work and what causes them.
The Phases of the Crypto Market Cycle
All financial markets move in four phases that make up the market cycle. They go from accumulation to manipulation and on to distribution, before making a reversal. Visualising these cycles is easy using TradingView charts that simplify data.
Understanding these phases improves trading results because traders can find trends before they begin and stack positions.
Accumulation: This is the phase where traders are largely uninterested in buying or selling, so the price moves within a range with no clear direction. Low prices, low interest, and low trading volume characterise the accumulation phase.
Manipulation: In this phase, crypto prices start moving with an initial momentum driven by optimism. Institutional investors typically move prices with huge funds, trapping traders who join the trend.
Distribution: Once the prices move higher, the early investors quickly take profits. This triggers more sell-offs and short-term longs, driving volumes higher. Some traders get trapped here, trying to trade both ways.
Reversal: The price eventually falls lower as selling pressure persists. This drives down the volume and trading activities as traders stop and wait for a consolidation.
Every market cycle phase is driven by sentiment, which traders gain from technical and fundamental analyses. Crypto traders typically monitor macroeconomic data and news events to determine a market direction and then use technical analysis to determine their entry and exit prices.
Macroeconomic Indicators Influencing Crypto Sentiments
Several macroeconomic indicators frame crypto sentiments. These could directly influence the demand for crypto or influence the price of assets that, in turn, affect crypto prices. Here’s how to use them to make profits
Interest rates: Since the crypto market is heavily linked to fiat, especially the US dollar, changes in interest rates affect liquidity flow and reflect on prices. Lower interest rates increase liquidity in financial markets as investors turn to crypto for higher returns. Traders can monitor Federal Reserve announcements and interest rate changes to anticipate liquidity shifts. When rates drop, it often signals the start of a bullish crypto cycle as institutional money flows into risk assets.
Inflation rates: Many investors consider crypto, especially Bitcoin, an alternative to fiat during inflation. This is supported by the resilience of crypto prices during the inflation period. Yet, the inherent volatility of crypto makes this a potential solution and not a fact. By tracking Consumer Price Index (CPI) data and inflation expectations, traders can identify periods when crypto demand typically increases as a hedge against currency debasement.
US Dollar Index (DXY) sentiments: There is precise liquidity flow between US-denominated assets and cryptocurrencies. Investors monitor the DXY to frame their sentiment on crypto prices because there is usually a weaker demand for crypto when the Index is strong. Traders should watch DXY breakouts above resistance levels as early warning signals for potential crypto selloffs. Conversely, DXY weakness often coincides with crypto rallies.
Institutional adoption: When big companies buy or sell massive amounts of crypto, the price tends to move in that direction. For example, the recent Solana (SOL) purchase worth $1.8 billion pushed the price higher. Smart traders monitor SEC filings, corporate earnings calls, and official announcements from major institutions to spot these adoption signals before they fully impact market prices.
Regulatory status: Investors also consider the status of cryptocurrency, which is why regulatory clarity is crucial. The SEC vs. Ripple case is a good example. Traders can identify market cycle turning points by following regulatory hearings, court case developments, and policy announcements from financial authorities worldwide.
News and events: Events that affect investors’ sentiments range from negative to positive. These include political news, security breaches, theft, scams, adoption, etc. Successful traders use news aggregation tools and social media sentiment analysis to gauge whether negative or positive events will likely trigger broader market cycle shifts.
Technical Indicators of Crypto Sentiments
On the other side, crypto traders consider the following technicals:
Price and volume: Price is king, as traders say. This means that they study historical prices to find repeatable patterns. Traders also study volume charts and indicators to know the direction with more volume.
Crypto Fear & Greed Index: This Index shows market sentiment. It is rated from 0 to 100, showing extreme fear and greed. The midpoint shows neutral sentiments. The Index is a valuable tool for measuring what millions of investors think about the market, but it is not specific to a token.
On-chain data: The crypto market works with hype and real-life utility. Traders usually watch on-chain metrics like network value to transaction ratios, market value to realised value ratios, and active addresses. They also track transaction volumes and count, hash rate, total value locked (TVL), exchange flows, whale activity, etc.
There are many metrics that traders may consider before buying or selling a token. Keeping up with them is tricky. However, TradingView makes it easier to analyse crypto and identify signals.
How TradingView Helps Traders Identify Market Signals
There are six important tools/features that crypto traders use on TradingView. These are:
Depth of Market (DOM): Also called the order book, the DOM shows traders where buys and sells occur. This helps traders understand the supply and demand dynamics and know where liquidity rests. Traders can spot potential cycle turning points by identifying large bid/ask walls that may act as support or resistance during market transitions.
Charting tools: TradingView also offers advanced charts and tools for marking key levels, identifying trends, drawing objects, and framing entries/exits. These charting tools help traders to see price action clearly and to be specific with trades.
Social community: TradingView allows traders to connect socially, exchange ideas, and share knowledge on the platform. This is an excellent source of investors’ bias for traders monitoring fundamentals.
News portal: There is also a news portal where traders can find the latest news that affects the crypto market. The portal is built to deliver relevant news only. There is also an economic calendar that guides traders on high-impact events.
Closing thoughts: Find Market Signals Easily
TradingView lets you easily identify market trends and find specific levels to buy or sell crypto. Finding market signals efficiently begins with learning how charts work and using the right platform where data and technology meet: TradingView.
