September has been a rough month for bitcoin and the wider cryptocurrency market, but ether has weathered the storm better than most.
Bitcoin, (BTC), the leading cryptocurrency by market value, is on track to post a monthly loss of more than 16 percent – the biggest since November 2018, according to CoinMarketCap. As of writing, BTC is trading around $8,070, having hit a 3.5-month low of $7,838 earlier today.
Meanwhile, the total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies has currently shed nearly 13.7 percent on a month-to-date basis, standing at $215 billion at press time.
Ethereum’s native cryptocurrency ether (ETH), however, is currently reporting a monthly gain of 0.30 percent. As of writing, the world’s second largest cryptocurrency is changing hands at $174.
In fact, ETH is the best performing top 10 cryptocurrency of September, as seen in the chart below (note, the tether stablecoin has been excluded).
- Bitcoin SV (BSV) is the worst performing cryptocurrency this month, with a 35 percent monthly drop. BSV fell to a six-month low of $75 last week and is currently trading around $84.
- Six out of the top 10 are reporting double-digit monthly declines.
The broad-based losses could be associated with the risk aversion triggered by bitcoin’s recent slide.
Big drop for bitcoin
Bitcoin fell by $2,000 last week, confirming a bullish-to-bearish trend change on technical charts.
The month had begun on a positive note, with BTC picking a bid around $9,500 and clocking highs near $10,900 on Sept. 6.
The bullish momentum, however, ran out of steam in the following two weeks, leaving BTC directionless despite the strengthening narrative that the surging hash rate or computing power would draw bids for the cryptocurrency.
The consolidation ended with last week’s 20 percent slide – its biggest weekly drop of 2019.
Mixed fortunes
Ether also fell by 20 percent last week to register its biggest weekly loss in over two months. Even so, the cryptocurrency is currently reporting marginal monthly gains at press time.
This is because the last week’s sell-off merely erased the gains seen in the preceding two weeks. The cryptocurrency had rallied from $178 to $222 in the 12 days to Sept. 19, before falling back to lows below $170 last week.
Ether’s price rise seen in the second and the third week of September had seemed to bode well for other alternative cryptocurrencies. For instance, XRP clocked a one-month high of $0.32 on Sept. 18 before sliding to a 658-day low of $0.22 on Sept. 24.
Litecoin’s corrective bounce also topped out at a one-month high of $79.45 on Sept. 18, before falling to $52.38 last week, the lowest level since March 6.
Most alternative cryptocurrencies are based on ethereum’s blockchain. Hence, many observers often consider ether’s rise, especially against BTC, a positive sign for alts.
ETH/BTC turned higher from Sept. 6 lows near 0.016 BTC and rose to a seven-week high of 0.02038 BTC on Sept. 19. As of writing, ether’s bitcoin-denominated exchange rate is seen at 0.02145 BTC.
Disclosure: The author holds no cryptocurrency assets at the time of writing.
Ether/bitcoin image via Shutterstock; charts by Trading View
