Some of the leading cryptocurrencies experienced mass movement in prices early Monday although the gains have now been reversed. Bitcoin Cash was leading the surge in the early hours having shot up 10% to trade at $1192.7 on Bitfinex.
Ethereum was another major mover having climbed $4% to trade at 618. Its price is down to $583 after losing momentum for the larger part of Monday. Ripple’s XRP had gained 7.5% to trade at $0.69 at 0500H GMT Monday but is now down to $0.64.
Zilliqa and Ontology also made outsized gains of between 10 and 12 per cent against the US dollar.
Ether is one of the more outstanding performers in the last 7 days posting gains of nearly 25%. This is the first notable correction since early April. The second largest cryptocurrency was particularly hit during the market slump seen in the first quarter.
The coins recorded marked gains since Sunday but the momentum slowed down early Monday morning.
Total market capitalisation currently stands at $333 billion. About $12 billion has been shaved off in the last 24 hours. The surge peaked at $355 billion at 03.42H GMT Monday. BTC dominance has now reduced to 38.1 per cent.
Bitcoin Losing Influence
Leading cryptocurrency Bitcoin was remarkably going in the opposite direction while other leading cryptocurrencies were surging. Typically, Bitcoin sets the trend with altcoins making huge gains or losses depending on which direction Bitcoin goes. It is one of the few times the phenomenon is being witnessed.
As Ripple CEO and founder Brad Garlinghouse said last week, we could be seeing the end of Bitcoin’s influence over other cryptocurrencies.
Volumes do not, however, offer much reassurance the current upward trend will continue for long. Ether for example still lags behind BTC and Tether in terms of daily trading volumes at just $1.9 billion. Price movements in Tether suggest that traders are using it to hedge other cryptocurrencies in the short term.
Tether is the second highest mover after bitcoin with over $2.8 billion traded in the last 24 hours. Tether’s value is pegged on the US dollar.
Despite the price gains in the last one week, volumes are just a third of those seen on April 7. Bitcoin’s daily volumes are also substantially low at around $5 billion, about half of what it was just a few months ago. The low volumes and weak performance of bitcoin means the market will continue to struggle in the few coming days.
Large institutional investors could bring renewed optimism but it will be months before we see big money being pumped in.