Bitcoin Holds Strong In Shaky Cryptocurrency Market
Scroll DownThe cryptocurrency market as a whole has seen yet another slump after a short lived attempt at recovery. Bitcoin however, is a notable exception, uniquely managing to hold its gains, for now at least. Nevertheless, on the day this represents a gain of only 0.1% and for the week as a whole Bitcoin is down 8.5% from $8,230 on July 25. Despite this volatility, in the longer run, Bitcoin remains up by 1% over the past 30 days. Ethereum has notably been suffering the heaviest losses, plunging from around $400 to $327. A look at the larger picture is even less promising, with the crytocurrency having lost 25% of its value over the course of the past month and more than half of its value in the last three months. Beyond the more mainstream currencies, within the top 20 altcoins EOS and IOTA suffered the greatest losses in the last week, having lost 25% and 36% value respectively. The total market capitalization fell as low as $206 billion, though much of those losses have since become recovered, with the market settling out at $216 billion. While the total number of cryptocurrencies is now over 1,800, Bitcoin's dominant position within the market has only increased. At the beginning of the year, Bitcoin's share of the total market cap was 37%. However, today, for the first time in 2018, Bitcoin represents a full half of the market. According to Tom Lee, head of research at Fundstrat, Bitcoin's dominance has been the defining factor in how the market is "reacting to what's been taking place" in the crytocurrency industry. In addition, CEO of Pantera Capital Dan Morehead has claimed that the falls in crypto markets are the consequence of overraction on the part of investors to the recent postponement of the SEC's decision on a Bitcoin exchanged fund by companies SolidX and VanEck. As well as recommending investors focus on Intercontinental Exchange's announcement of its own cryto platform, Morehead has said that Bitcoin is up 82% over the last year, remarking that "it's all perspective."
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