There has been a lot of talk about Ethereum lately, and how the addition of Ether to BitFinex would shake up the exchange scene. As it turns out, very little has changed so far, although Bitfinex has overtaken BitTrex regarding trading volume by quite a margin. But the top three Ethereum exchanges remained unchanged, with Poloniex still leading the charge.
Also read: Altcoin Platform CoinExchange Now In Public Beta
Bitfinex Impact on Ethereum Trading Volume
When the news broke regarding Bitfinex adding Ethereum to their exchange – which was greeted with both joy and dismay at the same time – a few people expected this exchange to overtake some of its major competitors fairly quickly. Even though Bitfinex is still not in the top three, they are catching up slowly, and have overtaken BitTrex in trading volume already.
Overtaking BitTrex is a big step, though, as this altcoin exchange has been a valuable addition to Ethereum traders for quite some time now. To this very day, this platform generates close to 2,000 Bitcoin worth of ETH trading volume every 24 hours, which is not bad at all. However, they are now in fifth place on the CryptoCompare charts, as Bitfinex outpaced them by quite a margin already.
So far, there has been slightly over 4,380 Bitcoin in ETH trading volume on BitFinex in the past 24 hours. Although that is a very respectable amount, they still have quite the battle ahead to catch up to Gatecoin, who are sitting at close to 6,500 BTC in 24-hour trading volume. Oddly enough, hardly anyone ever mentions this exchange when talking about Ethereum.
The top two remained unchanged as well, as Kraken is sitting in second place with quite a lead over Gatecoin. In the past 24 hours, over 17,340 Bitcoin has been traded on this exchange, according to the data provided by Cryptocompare. However, Poloniex remains firmly in first place, with over 51,740 Bitcoin of ETH trading volume.
On the USD side of things, however, there is an immediate impact by Bitfinex, as they have claimed the second-place spot from Poloniex in the first 24 hours. With over US$400,000 in 24-hour trading volume, the exchange is off to a good start, Catching up to Kraken will take some time, though, as they still generate close to US$1.2m in trading volume every 24 hours.
CryptoCompare CEO Charles Edward Hayter commented:
“BitFinex is showing a strong trading debut, gaining the number two slot on our the USD/ETH pair. Homestead seems to be a case of sell on news – although Poloniex’s second day of DDOS attacks will have spooked the market.”
By the look of things, the addition of Bitfinex is generating a lot of interest from people looking to get involved in Ethereum. Additionally, more exchanges help decentralize the trading of the Ether token, which can only be seen as an added benefit. However, it looks like the Bitfinex news has also caused a lot of downward pressure on the Ethereum price, which was to be expected somewhat.
Source: Cryptocompare
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