These Altcoins Soar as Bitcoin (BTC) Holds Steady Above $97K (Weekend Watch)

The cryptocurrency sector has witnessed minor volatility in the past 24 hours, with its total market capitalization hovering at approximately the same level observed yesterday (February 14).

However, some alternative coins have charted substantial gains, while Bitcoin (BTC) has been trading well above $97,000.

BTC Remains in Green Territory

The primary cryptocurrency experienced some setbacks throughout the ongoing week, with its price briefly plummeting below $95,000.

This happened on February 12, shortly after the US Bureau of Labor Statistics released the January Consumer Price Index data. The actual inflation rate was higher than expectations, which caused the entire crypto market to bleed.

The bulls, though, reacted quickly, pushing the valuation to $98,000. Despite the consequent volatility in the following days, BTC continued the slight uptick, with its price rising to as high as $98,700 several hours ago. Currently, it trades at roughly $97,600, representing a 1% increase on a daily scale.

The asset’s market capitalization has risen to $1.93 trillion, while its dominance against the alternative coins remains unchanged at approximately 59.6% (per CoinMarketCap’s data).

Mantra (OM) Leads the Altcoin Pack

Some of the well-known altcoins have outperformed BTC in terms of daily gains. An evident example is Mantra (OM), whose price exploded by 35% to hit a new all-time high of $7.90.

Another top performer is Ripple’s XRP, which shot 8% in the last 24 hours, reaching a two-week high of $2.82. Its rally was most likely fueled by the US SEC’s decision to acknowledge 21Share’s application to convert its XRP Trust into an exchange-traded fund (ETF).

Other cryptocurrencies witnessing solid increases in the last 24 hours (albeit not as substantial as OM and XRP) include Chainlink (LINK), Dogecoin (DOGE), Shiba Inu (SHIB), and more.

On the other hand, Ethereum (ETH), Binance Coin (BNB), Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA), and others have charted some minor losses.

The total cryptocurrency market capitalization currently stands at roughly $3.24 trillion, representing a 0.3% increase for the day.