When Bubbles Pop: An Infographic

When the bubble pops, people don’t realize it at first. When the bubble pops, it’s always just another volatile day. “It’s just a correction. A road bump on the way up. Buy the dip! It’ll bounce back, just you wait.”

Until it doesn’t and it becomes painfully apparent that the bull run is over and it’s a long — a very long — way down. And not just for the red candle addled price, but for the network, its transaction counts, and general interest as well.

No one likes the bear. But here’s some solace: It acts pretty predictably. Network data and activity follow the price, things bottom out, the ecosystem re-achieves an equilibrium and then it makes another run — rinse and repeat. It’s happened several times before.

Here’s an infographic we made to illustrate what the numbers looked like when three big bitcoin bubbles popped.