The 2022 crypto bear market was one for the history books, with few digital assets managing to end the year in positive territory. Below we analyze the year's top performers and biggest losers, along with the factors behind their price movements.

Top 5 Gaining Tokens

1. Trust Wallet Token (TWT) – 87.52% Gain

TWT emerged as 2022's unlikely winner despite market conditions. According to market data, the token surged by 308% during H2 2022 before stabilizing.

Key catalysts included:

• FTX collapse in November driving demand for self-custody solutions
• A viral tweet by Binance CEO CZ endorsing non-custodial wallets
• 70% monthly growth in November before December corrections

👉 Why self-custody wallets gained prominence in 2022

2. GMX – 84.6% Growth

The decentralized perpetual contracts protocol mirrored TWT's trajectory with:

• Strong summer rally starting June

• 1 ranked protocol on Arbitrum by TVL

• 4x growth in total value locked versus January

3. OKB – 10.46% Decline

While ending the year down, OKB showed resilience with:

• 114% rebound after June's market lows
• Temporary price spike when Elon Musk briefly followed OKX's Twitter account

Top 5 Losing Tokens

1. Terra Classic (LUNC) – 99.99% Collapse

The May 2022 Terra death spiral:

• Algorithmic stablecoin UST lost peg
• Former top-10 coin (LUNA) rebranded to LUNC
• Price dropped from $89 to $0.0001449

2. FTX Token (FTT) – 98.12% Drop

The exchange token's:

• Pre-FTX collapse: "Only" 40% down at $26
• Post-collapse: Liquidity crisis and frozen assets

3. Solana (SOL) – 94.42% Decline

Perfect storm of:

• Network outages
• FTX contagion (SBF was major SOL backer)
• TVL crashing from $6.68B to $200M

👉 How Layer 1 protocols adapted post-FTX

FAQ Section

Q: Which token had the most surprising 2022 performance?
A: TWT's 87% gain in a bear market shocked many analysts, proving utility tokens could thrive despite macro conditions.

Q: Will LUNC ever recover?
A: At 99.99% loss, recovery seems improbable without massive ecosystem rebuilding.

Q: What lessons can investors take from 2022?
A: Diversification and fundamental analysis became crucial as "blue chip" tokens like SOL underperformed while niche utility tokens like GMX excelled.

Risk Disclosure
Cryptocurrency investment involves substantial risk of loss. Always conduct independent research before investing.