The Market Crystal: A Spin-Lattice Model for Collective Cryptocurrency States

Abstract

Collective dynamics in financial markets can emerge through synchronized movements of large groups of assets. Motivated by analogies with interacting many-body systems, we introduce a spin-lattice representation for analyzing collective states in cryptocurrency markets. In this framework, assets are encoded as binary spin variables according to the sign of their returns, while correlations between assets determine effective interaction strengths. A correlation-based breadth-first search (CBFS) procedure embeds 169 cryptocurrencies into a $13 \times 13$ lattice, enabling the construction of an Ising-like Hamiltonian describing the market configuration, which we call the \emph{Market Crystal}. Macroscopic observables such as magnetization and energy provide a statistical-mechanical characterization of collective market states. The resulting phase-space structure highlights regimes of strong alignment and fragmentation among assets, with an energy--magnetization pattern suggestive of predominantly ferromagnetic interactions. This framework offers a statistical-mechanical viewpoint for studying collective behavior in financial systems.