Although most people are focusing on the current Bitcoin price momentum right now, most altcoins in the top 10 are performing quite well too. In fact, they are all in the green for the first time in as long as anyone can remember. Although not all currencies have noted similar gains, it is evident things continue to look pretty good for cryptocurrency as a whole. The US$170 billion market cap for all tracked cryptocurrencies combined shows things have come a very long way. It will be interesting to see which currencies can piggyback on Bitcoin’s success.
The Game of Altcoins Continues Unabated
While most people look negatively upon alternative cryptocurrencies, they should not be ignored by any means. In fact, every single cryptocurrency in the top 10 has noted significant gains in the past 24 hours. For some altcoins, things are going a lot better than others, but the general momentum is pretty positive for all currencies. Ethereum and Dash have the smallest gains right now, which will confuse a lot of people, to say the least.
At the same time, aside from Bitcoin, those two cryptocurrencies noted the vast majority of gains throughout 2017. Ethereum saw a near 2,000% value increase and Dash has been on a similar ride. It is to be expected that those bullish trends will not repeat themselves all that soon, although some holders would like to see another outcome. Then again, one can’t have the proverbial cake and eat it at the same time, for obvious reasons. That being said, both currencies still note gains of around 1.77% and 1.9%, respectively, which is more than acceptable.
Bitcoin is, surprisingly enough, the currency that is third from the bottom in terms of gains ranked by percentage. It is surpassed by Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Ripple, and IOTA in that particular order. Considering how Bitcoin already has a much higher value than all of those other currencies combined, it is not entirely surprising to note that its gains are – relatively speaking – smaller compared to most altcoins. A 2% Bitcoin gain still means a $90 price increase, whereas a 2% IOTA increases means a gain of $0.017.
What is rather remarkable is how NEO is starting to make a comeback after nearly a week of severe volatility. For a currency that once had a value of around US$50, things have certainly started to fall apart a bit. Right now, one NEO is valued at just US$34.17, which is still a decent amount considering how this altcoin still has a lot to prove to investors and the public. Claiming it can become the Ethereum of China and actually doing so are two very different things, to say the least.
Monero is also making a strong comeback after losing a fair bit of value over the previous three days. Then again, XMR hit an all-time high not too long ago and a market correction was bound to occur sooner or later. That correction turned out to be quite steep in the end, although the value never dropped below US$125. Right now, XMR is slowly making its way back up to around US$140. It is possible a new all-time high could be reached in the near future, although it is still too early to tell what the future may hold.
The biggest gains so far have been noted by NEM, of all currencies. With a 12.75% gain over the past 24 hours, NEM is certainly trying to reach that US$3 billion market cap in the coming days. Its cap sits at US$2.945 billion right now, thus it shouldn’t be that hard to reach by any means. Then again, cryptocurrency markets are notoriously volatile, which means they can go up and down pretty quickly in rapid succession without prior warning. If the Bitcoin price breaches US$4,750 at some point today, we may see most altcoins go deep red in a matter of minutes.
