The combined value of all publicly traded cryptocurrencies
has set a new record, surpassing $150 billion for the first time today. At press time, the value of ether, bitcoin and more than 800 other blockchain-based assets had reached a high of around $154 billion, according to CoinMarketCap. Overall, the figure indicates that the cryptocurrency market continues to grow at a steady pace. At $154 billion, the market is up 13 percent over the last seven days, 67 percent over the last month and an astounding 1,240 percent year-over-year. What might be most notable, however, is that the new high came during a trading session in which there were no individual all-time highs for major cryptocurrencies.
At $4,275 and $324, bitcoin and ether were edging up at press time, though still short of their highs above $4,500 and $400, respectively. Further, the new combined record came in spite of the fact there were no big gains in litecoin, monero or dash, some of the more popular alternative cryptocurrencies among traders. The lone breakout, in fact, was Ripple's XRP token – a cryptographic asset issued by a San Francisco startup seeking to build enterprise blockchain solutions. On the day's trading, XRP was up more than 50% to $0.28, a movement that built on impressive gains yesterday as well.
Bitcoin Prices Are Up Over $100 Already Today
The average price of bitcoin across global exchanges in trending up, having already climbed over $100 during today's trading. At press time, bitcoin prices were trading around $4,265, a figure that was up nearly $130 from the day's open of $4,137. The uptick, while slight in comparison to the cryptocurrency's 300% appreciation in 2017, nonetheless comes during a period in which bitcoin has had difficulty building support above $4,000. Over the last seven days, bitcoin has dipped below $4,000 several times, most recently during August 22's trading session.
Overall, bitcoin appears to be settling into a period of sideways trading after rising 55% over the last month and nearly 90% over the last three months, according to data provider CoinMarketCap. By contrast, this week, bitcoin is up only 2.3%. As such, it remains to be seen whether the market lull is merely a pause in the rally, or a broader sign of potential fatigue in the nascent asset class. Suggesting the former is that the increase also coincided with a broader movement of capital into alternative cryptocurrencies, with the value of the entire asset class reaching an all-time high of more than $150 billion earlier today.
Chuck Reynolds
Marketing Dept
Contributor
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