Analysis of Cryptocurrency Investment Risk Based on Multi-Scale Volatility and Technical Indicators

Abstract

Cryptocurrency markets are characterized by high volatility, rapid price fluctuations, and substantial uncertainty, creating challenges for investment risk interpretation. This study develops a descriptive risk-interpretation framework, rather than a price-prediction or decision-optimization model, by integrating multi-scale volatility analysis with technical indicators. A quantitative descriptive design was applied to approximately one year of historical hourly price data for Bitcoin and Ethereum, covering open, high, low, close, volume, and percentage change attributes. The data were chronologically sorted, numerically cleaned and normalized, transformed into log returns, and analyzed through rolling standard deviation. Volatility was estimated across three explicitly defined horizons: short-term 7-period, medium-term 30-period, and long-term 90-period rolling windows. Moving Average (MA), Relative Strength Index (RSI), and Average True Range (ATR) were then incorporated to contextualize trend direction, momentum, and fluctuation intensity. The results show that volatility is strongly horizon-dependent: short-term movements responded more sharply to market shocks, whereas longer horizons produced smoother risk patterns. Across the analyzed Bitcoin and Ethereum hourly series, the reported 42.3% short-term and 21.7% medium-term increases were calculated as relative differences against long-term rolling volatility during identified high-uncertainty intervals, not as predictive accuracy measures. These findings indicate that combining rolling volatility with MA, RSI, and ATR can improve the transparency of descriptive cryptocurrency risk assessment. The framework may support preliminary interpretation for novice or risk-averse investors, although it does not empirically test investor comprehension or subsequent decision quality.