The cryptocurrency market: A network analysis

Abstract

In this paper we examine the characteristics of the daily price series of 16 different cryptocurrencies between July 2017 and February 2018. The methodologies used for the analysis are the so-called Minimum Spanning Tree (MST) and hierarchical analysis by dendrogram, both obtained from Pearson correlations between daily returns. This methodology visualizes the market relationships between the assets analyzed, identifying a high correlation between price movements for all the currencies. In addition, it has been possible to identify Ethereum’s position as a benchmark currency in the cryptocurrency market, rather than Bitcoin, as one might expect, due to its popularity and trading volume.