Balancer Token (BAL) surges 40% — has altcoin season arrived?

DeFi protocol Balancer shot up by 25% in just two hours and is now 40% up on its price from 24 hours ago

Altcoin season appears to have arrived as several coins see major action to post monstrous gains. Dash has spiked over 10%, IOTA 6%, NEM 8%, Monero 6.5% and EOS 5.5% to lead the list of gainers among the top coins.

Bitcoin, which has recently stagnated around $11,500, is currently trading above $11,800.

However, these gains pale in comparison to some of the top gainers in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space. After Band Protocol shot nearly 50% in minutes on Thursday, another massive rally has been recorded by Balancer.

The Ethereum-based project’s governance token BAL has surged to local highs above $15 in the past 24 hours. The token rose from lows of $10 to highs of $15.42 — the highest price level for the token since plunging to a low of $7.88 on July 15. The monthly high was also reached as BAL/USD rose from a  seven day low of $9.73.

Balancer’s price is now up by more than 40% against the US dollar over the past 24 hours.

BAL pumps on Binance listing news

“The Coinbase effect’ in the crypto market refers to sudden jumps in token prices seen whenever the US-based crypto exchange announces it’s adding support.

Now, the effect has been observed after BAL’s listing on Binance, as its price began to rally soon after the exchange announced its support for the token. BAL/USD has been bullishly poised for several weeks now, and this price swing could be a result of steady accumulation around $9.00.

However, its surprise run above $10 reflects the 2017-2018 altcoin rallies that sprung out of listings on the two leading cryptocurrency exchanges, Coinbase and Binance.

Coinbase has recently teased the listing of several altcoins, including Curve, Ampleforth, Wrapped Bitcoin, UMA and Blockstack among others — so these could be projects to watch out for in the coming weeks.