Bulls Are Back in Town: Cryptocurrency Market Cap Achieves $89 Billion Recovery
The bulls are back in town — or at least, that’s the impression one gets from the charts this morning. Remarkably, the 100 largest cryptocurrencies all rose against the US dollar on Wednesday, and — even more astonishingly — each one achieved a double-digit percentage advance, excluding the USD-pegged Tether.
For the Bitcoin price, the day brought a 26 percent recovery, while Ethereum managed to achieve a 30 percent return. Altogether, the cryptocurrency market cap surged by $89 billion, a 24-hour increase of 29 percent.
The rally appeared at least partially linked to Tuesday’s US Senate hearing on cryptocurrencies, which some feared would inject more uncertainty and bearish news into the already-battered cryptocurrency markets. However, regulators largely stuck to the script during the meeting, and some cryptocurrency enthusiasts joked that Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo should run for president after he used the word “hodl” and reminded the committee that blockchain originated from Bitcoin — not the other way around.
While it’s unlikely that the positive reaction to this hearing affected the global cryptocurrency markets to such a great degree, it did provide investors with hope in what has been an otherwise-difficult week for hodlers.
Bitcoin Price Recovers Past $8,000
The Bitcoin price lagged the index slightly on Wednesday, but no one will complain about the flagship cryptocurrency’s 26 percent recovery. Bitcoin is now trading at $8,069, just one day after slipping below $6,000 for the first time since November. Bitcoin now has a market cap of $138.7 billion.
Ethereum Price Posts 30 Percent Advance
The Ethereum price, meanwhile, outperformed the index and achieved a 30 percent recovery. The second-largest cryptocurrency is now priced at $815 on Bitfinex and has a global market cap of $81.1 billion, making it more than twice as large as Ripple, its closest competitor.
Altcoins Climb Back into the Green
The rally extended throughout the altcoin markets, and every top 10-cryptocurrency rose by at least 20 percent.
The Ripple price increased by approximately 23 percent for the day, while Bitcoin Cash’s 22 percent gain was smallest among top-tier coins.
The Cardano price rose by 26 percent, bringing it to a present value of $0.36, and EOS’s 28 percent gain enabled its price to climb back to $8.70. The Litecoin price once again cracked the $150 threshold on the heels of its 32 percent surge, while NEO’s 52 percent rally was far and away the top-tier’s best performance.
Stellar, now ranked ninth, rose by 27 percent to $0.37, while 10th-ranked NEM soared by 41 percent to $0.57 to round out the top 10.
Featured image from Shutterstock.
