EVER WONDERED WHAT IS A CYPTO HISTORICAL SNAPSHOT!

What is a crypto historical snapshot
A crypto historical snapshot is a backup[capture] of data about prices,market cap,supply and volume of all crypto currencies registered on coinmarketcap.com at a certain period of time.

Source

The snapshot takes place every seven[7] days on coinmarketcap.com and you can view this price thereafter if you wish after the snapshot to make some research or just for fun of checking back in time.

The first snapshot was taken in 28th of april 2013 and the process has maintained occurrence till date,the hierarchy of coins are left unchanged during the snapshots.

That was the first snapshot taken in 2013,you can see bitcoin sitting at around 135$ and litecoin at a ridiculously low 4.3$ alongside some few other coins and the volume is pretty low

Where can it be found
Historical snapshots can be found in 2 major places which is coinmarketcap.com and quandl.com ,but is free and easily accessible on cmc than quandl because you need an account on quandl as well as upgrade your account to premium before you can access their data.

USES OF CRYPTO HISTORICAL SNAPSHOTS

1》To keep track of crypto currencies:these snapshots are useful to keep track of a crypto currency over time to study its price movement without the need to visit a chart.

All you have to do is evaluate the weekly prices and it seems to keep on going higher every week than the previous weeks,then it might be a good coin to buy or do some really serious research into

2》Serves as a research and analysis instrument:almost the same thing with the above mentioned usage,crypto historical snapshots can be used for basic analysis and research about various coins by studying its past performance.

You can extensively view the prices,volume and marketcap at various times,compare and contrast between these variables and then give you a glimpse about the coin performance.

3》provides accurate details of all coins:this might not look like a use case but isnt it just awesome for you to be able to view the price of any coin at a certain period of time,you can check the price of bitcoin in 2013 which will just absolutely amaze you!

SETBACKS OF CRYPTO HISTORICAL SNAPSHOTS
1》It is prone to damage/data loss:this valuable information is hosted on a website which might incur problems/issues at pointin time or even a hack which will affect its relevance.

I think a better option to tackle this issue will be a decentralised blockchain technology that captures and stores the prices of cryptocurrencies automatically.

2》cmc is a centralized body:yes,centralization is a problem in a decentralised world,how are we sure that cmc wont at any point in time compromise these prices or even manipulate for some reasons.

Credibility is very essential in information provision and the best way to sustain that is through an open decentralised website that automatically does the work.

I read an article some days ago where an individual accused coinmarketcap.com of updating false values and volumes of coins.

3 》It can lead crypto newbies into traps:enough of the nice talk about snapshots,it could be misleading attimes especially in cases where a coin usually increases over time through the help of weekly scheduled pumps.

In reality the price might crash and dump anytime which signifies its not a good coin to buy but the researcher might be deceived by his snapshot analysis and fall into a dump trap.

Those that bought in before the pump will definitely want to dump their bags on unsuspecting new investors who think the coin is good for purchase and has a healthy price movement.

4》It is not fully effective in analysis:it is definitely not sufficient for coin analysis but just a supplement,technical analysis should be used after basic analysis to confirm for sure whether he/she should buy the coin

Note:historical snapshots could be a really useful tool to monitor and evaluate the price of various cryptocurrencies over time but at the same time could be misleading,

Disclaimer
Am not a professional financial adviser and all information been shared here are just what a noob like me thinks and not what you should follow as investment instructions,make sure you are not under any pressure at all before you decide to use historical snapshots as a research instrument.