Cryptocurrency Market Cap Climbs to $600 Billion as Bitcoin Price Recovery Continues
The cryptocurrency markets continued their Christmas recovery on Wednesday. Led by strong performances from both the bitcoin price and ripple price, the cryptocurrency market cap recovered back above $600 billion for the first time since Dec. 23.
At one point this morning, the cryptocurrency market cap rose as high as $620 billion, although it has since ebbed to $608 billion, which constitutes a single-day increase of $30 billion and represents a 44 percent increase from the low it set during last week’s correction.
Bitcoin Price Tests $16,000
The bitcoin price continued to inch higher on Wednesday, enough so that it briefly rallied past $16,000 on Bitfinex. However, it was unable to sustain that mark for long, and it has since dipped slightly lower to $15,881. Despite this minor dip, the bitcoin price is still up six percent for the day, and the flagship cryptocurrency currently boasts a market cap of approximately $266 billion.
The rally enabled bitcoin to raise its market share to 45 percent, a 24-hour increase of about three-quarters of one percent.
Ethereum Price Continues to Tread Water
The ethereum price continued to tread water on Wednesday. After spending the day fluctuating between $733 and $766, ethereum is now trading at $751 on Bitfinex, which represents an increase of roughly one percent from yesterday. Ethereum’s market cap currently sits just below $73 billion.
Altcoin Markets Approach Record Highs
Despite sluggish performance from ethereum, the wider altcoin markets continued to approach their all-time highs. The combined value of all altcoin market caps increased by $12 billion, raising it to a four-day high of $334 billion. The total altcoin market cap is now just $30 billion below the all-time high it set last week.
Every top 10 altcoin posted a 24-hour increase, although several of those advances were muted compared to those experienced in recent weeks.
The bitcoin cash price increased by about one percent, bringing it to a present value of $2,830. It continues to retain the third position on the market cap charts, but its closest competitor now looms large in its rear-view mirror.
Ripple, ranked fourth, climbed nearly 15 percent to $1.14, increasing its seven-day return to 67 percent. This would be impressive even in a normal week, but it is particularly exceptional considering that no other top 10 cryptocurrencies has risen more than two percent against the dollar during the same period. Ripple now has a market cap of $43.7 billion, placing it just $4.1 billion below bitcoin cash.
Litecoin, like bitcoin cash, posted a single-day increase of just one percent, enabling both IOTA and EOS to make up some ground. IOTA rose 14 percent for the day, raising its market cap to $11.2 billion, while EOS — a token for a platform that has still not received a mainnet release — leaped 11 percent to bring its market cap to $9.2 billion.
With this advance, EOS edged past eighth-ranked dash, which rose four percent for the day and is currently trading at $1,182. NEM, ranked ninth, rose about a one-and-a-half percent but continues to trade below dollar parity. Monero rounded out the top tier with an increase of nearly 10 percent, raising its market cap to $5.9 billion.
Write to Josiah Wilmoth at josiah.wilmoth(at)CCN.com.
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