Crypto market cap tops $240 billion with bitcoin’s 5% weekend rally
Story by: AARON HANKIN
Bitcoin moved sharply higher over the weekend, rising as much as 5% and bursting through its 50- and 100-day moving averages, two closely watched momentum indicators.
In early Tuesday trading, a single bitcoin BTCUSD, +1.11% was last changing hands at $7,382.39, up 1.1% since Monday at 5 p.m. Eastern Time on the Kraken crypto exchange and is 5.1% higher than Friday’s 5 p.m. close.
Despite the resurgence, which took bitcoin to a four-week high of $7,389.26, one analyst says investors should temper their excitement as the overall trend is still intact. “I can’t look away from the broader trend,” said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda. “We are seeing these intermittent rallies but the broader movement is extremely consistent like the move to $8,500 [in late July], which didn’t last long.”
Erlam did add that if $6,000 holds, digital currency owners “do not have too much to worry about.”
Four week winning streak in sights
Despite the short-term volatility, digital assets, especially bitcoin, are pointing in the right direction. Should the price of the No. 1 digital currency finish in the green for the week it would log its fourth consecutive wining week for the first time since April. Over this period, bitcoin has added as much as 26% from its August 14 low.
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Bitcoin would need to close above $7,300 to achieve this feat.
Read: Opinion: If you want financial secrecy, bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies can’t deliver it
Ether underperformance continues
Altcoins, or digital currencies other than bitcoin, moved higher over the weekend, helping the total market cap for all cryptocurrencies reach a four-week high of $240 billion, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
Ether ETHUSD, -0.76% is trading back toward $300, but continues to underperform most altcoins, trading at $287.72, down 0.9%, Bitcoin CashBCHUSD, +0.92% was up 1.2% to $639.10, Litecoin LTCUSD, +4.83% is higher by 4.6% at $68.61, and Ripple’s XRP coin XRPUSD, -0.31% was trading at 33 cents, down 0.7%.
Bitcoin futures are trading higher Tuesday. The Cboe Global Markets Group Inc.’s September contract XBTU8, +4.65% is up 4.6% at $7,370, while the comparable CME Group Inc. contract BTCU8, +4.68% is up 4.8% at $7,385.
Original story: https://tinyurl.com/y8ac3gdd
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