Regime Change
Regime change in finance refers to a shift in the underlying state of the market, where the statistical relationships between assets and volatility move to a new, distinct phase. A market might transition from a low-volatility, bull-market regime to a high-volatility, bear-market regime, causing historical correlations to break down.
In the cryptocurrency sector, regime changes are often driven by macro-economic factors, such as interest rate changes, or protocol-specific events like a halving or a major hack. When a regime change occurs, strategies that were previously successful may suddenly become unprofitable.
Traders must be able to detect these shifts in real time and adapt their models accordingly. Failure to recognize a regime change is a common reason for significant trading losses, as models continue to trade based on outdated assumptions about how the market should behave.