About
The Project
This DS105 group project explores how mimetic (herd-like) behaviour influences trends in the digital assets market. We chose this topic because cryptocurrency is a fast-moving and sentiment-driven space, making it a rich context to study behavioural patterns in trading.
Our aim was to analyse how market sentiment — particularly fear and greed — correlates with trading volume, price movements, and volatility. By focusing on Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana over the past year, we were able to examine a range of responses across coins with different user bases and market dynamics.
We combined sentiment data from the Fear & Greed Index with historical pricing and trading data from the CoinGecko API.
Why Mimetic Behaviour?
Mimetic behaviour is especially relevant in the cryptocurrency space, where information spreads quickly and investors often react to perceived crowd consensus. Understanding this dynamic can help explain irrational surges or crashes in the market, and may inform both academic and real-world discussions about market psychology.
Scope
| Timeframe analysed | Previous 365 Days |
| Coins analysed | Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana |
| APIs used | CoinGecko, Fear & Greed Index |
| Tools | Python, SQLite, Pandas, Lets-Plot, Quarto |
Meet the Team
Each member brought a unique skill set to the project, contributing to data collection, analysis, visualisation, and web design.