Internet Computer secures the lead as the metaverse project, bullish recovery is…

• Internet Computer is currently the metaverse project with the highest market cap.
• ICP is at the deep end of the bear market, hence it is heavily discounted.

If you are looking to spread out your investments in the crypto market, the metaverse is one of the segments to consider. The Internet Computer (ICP) might be one of the crypto projects to consider especially now that it tops the list of metaverse projects by market cap.

Read Internet Computer [ICP] Price Prediction 2023-2024

According to one of the latest analyses, the Internet Computer is currently the metaverse project with the highest market cap. This evaluation means ICP has outperformed other popular metaverse projects such as Axie infinity and The Sandbox.

Top 10 #Metaverse Coins by Market Capitalization
https://t.co/Jb9xRHfJSy@TheSandboxGame $SAND @AxieInfinity $AXS @decentraland $MANA @enjin $ENJ @RenderToken $RNDR $MC @RealFlokiInu $FLOKI @Treasure_DAO $MAGIC $ICP $ILV pic.twitter.com/tKy88QGA4I

— Ben GCrypto (@GCryptoBen) December 21, 2022

While this is a win for ICP in the short run, what does it mean in the long run? Perhaps its current lead might be an indication of what to expect especially since the network has taken the lead during the bear market.

Many projects focused on long-term performance maintain strong active development. The same case applies to ICP during the last four weeks.

Source: Santiment

Most, if not all of this development is focused on reinventing the internet with WEB3 underpinnings. Perhaps this is the reason why ICP has managed to hold on to a sizable chunk of its market cap.

A 139.56x hike on the cards if ICP hits ETH’s market cap?

Taunting the ICP bulls

Well, ICP’s market cap has certainly tanked in the last four weeks, as has been the case with many other crypto projects. Nevertheless, ICP’s market did manage to bounce back strongly by as much as $67 million in the last two days. It had a $1.02 billion market cap at press time.

Source: Santiment

The above observation, especially the market development, are the underpinnings of ICP’s favorable long-term outcome. We can expect strong growth in the long run including for its price action, now that the project is focused on aggressive growth in the short term. But what about the short-term price action?

Like most of its peers, ICP is at the deep end of the bear market, hence it is heavily discounted. Its $3.70 press time price was still within its 2022 low.

Source: TradingView

A key observation about ICP’s current price range is that the bears are losing their momentum. Meanwhile, the market sentiment has improved in the last few days. The Binance funding rate was up by a substantial margin in the last five days, confirming the return of bullish demand in the derivatives segment.

Source: Santiment

Despite this surge in demand in the derivatives market, ICP’s on-chain volume is still playing in the lower range. In other words, we may not see a sizable bullish recovery unless there is a noteworthy volume uptick.