Is high volatility inherent in cryptocurrencies?
My short answer is no! The long answer needs more clarifications. After 18 months or so of observing the globally aggregated crypto data posted in real-time, I haven't seen yet anything intrinsic to mineable cryptocurrencies that could be considered as a built-in cause of the stunning market volatility. In my perspective, the current high volatility could be explained by 2 factors that are only partially present in the conventional stock markets: [1] Massive market manipulation via bot-based automation enabled by High-Frequency Trading (HFT) context, and broadly exacerbated [2] By the cryptocurrency holders' demographics often made of a very young and largely unsophisticated cohorts who tend to develop swarm-styled collective behaviors induced by social media's echo chamber effect. While the behavioral determinants could and would eventually evolve over time, the market abuse tends to remain immutable until a regulatory intervention supported by trade surveilla