What Is Going On With Bitcoin-Rival Stellar?

Story by: Billy Bambrough

Bitcoin-rival stellar, a top ten cryptocurrency by value that’s seen its price plummet since peaking in early 2018, suddenly soared today–only to fall back almost instantly.

While the bitcoin price remains mostly flat, and other major altcoins including ethereum, Ripple’s XRP, and litecoin, make some reasonable gains, stellar jumped a massive 30% in the last few hours, just to fall back again, according to the latest prices on the U.S.-based bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase.

Despite giving up most of today’s gains, the stellar price is still up a staggering 40% over the last couple of days–though there’s no clear reason for the massive rise.

Ahead of its rapid rise, the stellar price hit year-to-date lows of $0.05 this month.

The stellar price has plunged some 91% since its all-time high, a fall not dissimilar from many other mid-tier cryptocurrencies which rode bitcoin’s coattails during its epic 2017 bull run.

Bitcoin and cryptocurrency market watchers on Twitter were quick to point to a so-called pump-and-dump moving the price today, where a trader buys a significant amount of an asset in order to push the price higher then sells even more of it at the inflated price.

However, a Twitter bot which tracks big trades in most major cryptocurrencies, has not recorded any sizable stellar transactions today.

Original story: https://www.forbes.com/sites/billybambrough/2019/09/18/what-is-going-on-with-bitcoin-rival-stellar/#2ddd9bca3d25

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