Market Watch: Bitcoin Records Highest Ever Market Cap, ATH Price Next?
Following the recent roller-coaster that resulted in a few massive four-digit price movements, Bitcoin appears to have calmed north of the $18,000 price tag. The alternative coins also followed the volatility ride but have ultimately lost market dominance against BTC.
More interestingly, Bitcoin has managed to reach an all-time high value in terms of its market capitalization, despite the price being lower than back in 2017.
Bitcoin Calms After The Storm
People use many words when describing the cryptocurrency market, but “boring” should not be in their vocabulary. The past 24 hours have only proven this.
The first-ever and most popular representative of the crypto market is a prime example. Bitcoin traded at $16,600 yesterday before initiating its first leg up towards $17,850. At the time, this became the new yearly high.
Although this would be impressive enough on its own, BTC didn’t stop there. Just a few hours later, the primary cryptocurrency exploded even further and peaked at nearly $18,500. In other words – the second consecutive yearly high painted in less than a day.
This time, however, the bears decided to join the party and shortly after drove BTC down to $17,400. So, in the span of 24 hours alone, Bitcoin firstly gained about $2,000 of value from $16,550 to $18,500, then lost over $1,000, and has now calmed above $18,000.
Although BTC is still trading below its December 2017 ATH of $20,000, the cryptocurrency marked another significant milestone. Bitcoin’s total market capitalization reached a new ATH of around $337 billion and it surpassed the previous record (around $334 billion in late December 2017).
This has become possible because the number of bitcoins in circulation has increased in the past three years. Consequently, the higher number of coins now multiplied by the price has taken down yet another record.
Altcoins Follow Suit, New Yearly High For Ethereum
Most alternative coins followed their leader with some impressive fluctuations. Ethereum briefly spiked to $495 (on Binance), which became the new 2020 record after surpassing the previous high in early September at $490. Nevertheless, ETH also slumped to $455 before recovering to $480.
Chainlink is the other impressive top ten gainer on a 24-hour scale. LINK has pumped by 6% and sits at $13.5. The remaining top ten tokens have remained relatively stagnant.
Ripple (-0.3%) trades beneath $0.30. Bitcoin Cash (-0.3%) is below $250. Binance Coin (0.0%), Polkadot (0.2%), Cardano (-0.6%), and Litecoin (0.0%) have stayed at essentially the same price levels.
Nexo is the most significant gainer with a 15% surge. Bitcoin Gold (10%), DigiByte (10%), and Reserve Rights (10%) follow.
In contrast, several DeFi tokens have lost substantial chunks of value after the recent price increases. SushiSwap leads with a 14% decline, Curve DAO Token (-12%), HedgeTrade (-10%), and Blockstack (-10%) are next.
As a result of the aforementioned price developments, Bitcoin has increased its dominance over the market. The metric comparing BTC’s market capitalization against all other altcoins has expanded to 66.5%. Just a few days ago, it had fallen to 64.5%.
