Cryptocurrency speculators are keeping a close eye on the Monero price right now. It is evident this particular currency has caught a lot of people’s attention thanks to a sharp rise in price earlier in the week. Now that Bithumb deposits have opened up, many are expecting even bigger XMR gains. So far, the value of Monero has gone up by 14.4% in the past 24 hours, but there is still a ton of work to be done before we can speak of any major gains.

Monero Price Attempts to Surpass $100 Again

Earlier this week, a lot of people were pleasantly surprised to see the Monero price surpass US$100, even though that momentum didn’t last all that long. After a few days of consolidation in the US$90 to US$95 range, it seems the currency is preparing for the next leg up. Unfortunately, it appears this new bull run is mainly fueled by the hype over Monero getting listed on the Korean Bithumb exchange. Although users can already deposit XMR on the platform, the trading itself will not go live until 24-48 hours from now.

Many speculators have high hopes for what Bithumb will do for the XMR price; that much is evident. It is certainly true the speculation of XMR getting added to this exchange has already sent the price upward over the past few days. More specifically, when the announcement regarding Bithumb was made, Monero went from 0.0113 BTC to 0.022 BTC very quickly. Interestingly enough, the price hasn’t dropped from that level ever since. That is not entirely strange either, as its trading volume has tapered off quite a bit. Perhaps people have been moving their XMR to Bithumb.

Still, it is pretty interesting to note a 14.4% gain over the past 24 hours for Monero. Keeping in mind that the currency achieved that with a trading volume of only US$92 million, one starts to wonder what would happen if that trading volume approached US$1 billion or more. No one doubts there is a legitimate opportunity to see one XMR hit US$200 value in the coming days, but it is equally possible the Bithumb listing has been factored into the current price already. Only time will tell how things play out.

At the price of US$97.86, many people will argue Monero is still undervalued. There is a lot of merit to that sentiment, considering there are under 15 million XMR in circulation. Additionally, one can effectively spend Monero at every merchant or retailer who also accepts Bitcoin payments these days. The number of use cases for XMR has slowly started to grow, which indicates the project will not go away anytime soon. Unfortunately, a lot of people are losing track of the long-term value of Monero and are looking for short-term profits more than anything else right now.

The majority of XMR trading volume has been coming from the Poloniex exchange, followed closely by Bittrex and Bitfinex. The latter exchange in particular could be quite important for Monero, as it is the first time we see a major fiat currency trading market in XMR’s top 3. This seemingly indicates some people are diversifying their cryptocurrency portfolios. It never hurts to hold some Monero alongside other coins, as no one really knows what the true value of XMR should be right now. Moreover, the Bitfinex XMR/BTC market is almost six times as popular as its nearest competitor, HitBTC. Kraken is also in the top 10 with its XMR/USD and XMR/EUR trading markets.

It is important to keep in mind that Bithumb trading may do absolutely nothing for the Monero price in the coming days. It is equally possible we would see a major pump which won’t be sustained for long. The next two to three days will be quite interesting as far as XMR is concerned; that much is evident. Traders and speculators need to be very careful to not get swept up in fake hype and promotions. Anything can happen in cryptocurrency, and money is often lost a lot quicker than it is made. Monero certainly has a ton of potential, and getting listed on an exchange is nothing new.