A lot of interesting things are happening in the world of cryptocurrency right now. Although the Bitcoin price is still of great interest, IOTA is certainly making its mark on this ecosystem as well. More specifically, the IOTA price has surged to US$3.15 after reaching an all-time high of US$2.40 just yesterday. With another strong 30.86% gain overnight, IOTA’s market capitalization is on track to surpass that of Ripple. It’s an intriguing development, assuming this is not a pump-and-dump cycle.

IOTA Rally is far From Over

Ever since the IOTA cryptocurrency was released to the public, it has cemented its place in the cryptocurrency top 10. Although very few people knew what was going on behind the scenes of this project, investors are flocking to this altcoin like there is no tomorrow. This would certainly explain the meteoric IOTA price rise of the past few weeks, as every coin is suddenly worth around US$3.15. For a currency with a total supply of nearly three billion tokens, that is quite a steep gain.

There are still some legitimate concerns as to whether or not the recent IOTA price gain is a result of a pump-and-dump scheme. Based on the gains of the past week alone, one would certainly be inclined to think along those lines. However, we have seen a growing demand for different cryptocurrencies which serve specific markets. In the world of the Internet of Things, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, and even Ripple are simply not usable in any meaningful capacity. IOTA is targeting this industry specifically, which means it may very well have a bright future ahead.

Thanks to another 30.86% gain against USD and a 27.75% gain against Bitcoin, the IOTA price is soaring to astronomical heights right now. Moreover, its market cap is quickly approaching the US$9 billion mark, and it may very well surpass that of Ripple in the coming days. A thorough shakeup of the cryptocurrency top 10 could be a good thing, as the current rankings don’t necessarily make a lot of sense. 

With over US$1.11 billion in 24-hour trading volume, the demand for IOTA seems pretty genuine. Although it is traded on fewer exchanges than most other cryptocurrencies, it has had no problem attaining such high volume numbers in short order. It is one of the few days the IOTA trading volume has surpassed the US$1 billion mark, but at this rate, it won’t be the last.

Unsurprisingly, the majority of 24-hour trading volume originates from the Bitfinex MIOTA/USD pair. Comprising over 57.59% of all trades, it is evident the recent price rise would never have been possible without the Bitfinex exchange. Its other IOTA pairs constitute another 21.6% of all IOTA trades in the past 24 hours, which is pretty interesting. Binance is the only other exchange making an impact in this regard, even though it only provides ETH, BNB, and BTC trading pairs.

How high the IOTA price can go in the next few days and weeks remains to be determined. Anything that rises in value beyond normal proportions will have to correct eventually. With this much positive momentum in place, though, reaching US$5 per MIOTA may not be an unrealistic target. Then again, cryptocurrency markets often evolve in illogical ways as well.