The bitcoin price made another bullish run on Thursday, reaching above $18,000 for the first time in its brief history. Friday morning, however, the bitcoin price began to ebb from this peak, providing altcoins with an opportunity to begin to mount a recovery after Thursday’s carnage.
At the height of the rally, bitcoin carried the cryptocurrency market cap above $450 billion, briefly making the sum total of all cryptocurrencies more valuable than tech conglomerate Alibaba. However, at the time of writing, the cryptocurrency market cap was valued at $415 billion, which nevertheless represents a 24-hour increase of approximately three percent.
Bitcoin Price Pierces $18,000
Thursday was a frantic one for the bitcoin markets, as traders once again grappled with outages at some of the world’s largest exchanges. Altogether, the global average bitcoin price reached a new all-time high of $18,353, with U.S. exchange GDAX pricing it as high as $19,697 at the height of the rally. Friday morning, however, the bitcoin price began to decline, and by the time of writing, it had settled down to $15,532 — a mark just above its previous-day level.
Nevertheless, this week’s movement has been sufficient to propel bitcoin into 18th on the list of the world’s most valuable liquid currencies, placing it ahead of Australia and Luxembourg.
Ethereum Price Recovers to $450
Ethereum, like all cryptocurrencies not named bitcoin, has struggled to tread water this week as traders have consolidated their holdings into bitcoin amidst its breakneck climb. On Friday, some of that capital began to flow back into the wider markets, enabling the ethereum price to recover to $450 from its previous mark of $423. This movement raised ethereum’s market cap to $43.3 billion.
Ethereum Price Chart | Source: CoinMarketCap
Altcoins Plot Minor Recovery
Fueled by ethereum, altcoins made a $5 billion advance on Friday, raising the altcoin market cap to $152 billion. However, those gains were not evenly distributed, and several top-tier coins continued to decline against the value of the dollar.
The bitcoin cash price rose nearly seven percent to $1,452, raising the third-largest cryptocurrency’s market cap to $24.5 billion. The IOTA price leaped 22 percent, shaking off Thursday’s temporary pullback.
Ripple and dash each rose more than eight percent, and the litecoin price rose just enough to broach the $100 mark once again.
However, bitcoin gold, monero, and cardano continued to post moderate declines on Friday to round out the top 10, although their one-hour charts signaled that a recovery may be imminent.
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