Neither the ethereum nor the bitcoin price managed to make progress on Thursday, but both cryptocurrencies successfully overcame temporary dips to hold at their previous-day levels. Meanwhile, the bitcoin cash price and Ripple price have been making significant movements–in opposite directions.
Yesterday, the combined value of all cryptocurrencies was $144.2 billion. After remaining close to that mark for the majority of the day, the crypto market cap stumbled at 3:00 UTC on Thursday morning, although it has begun to recover in the past several hours. Altogether, the crypto markets lost close to $2 billion for the day, bringing their present value to $143.5 billion.
Bitcoin Price Dips Below $4,200
Thursday morning, the bitcoin price dipped below $4,200, eventually reaching a six-day low of $4,164. After remaining at that level for several hours, the bitcoin price achieved a moderate recovery and currently sits at $4,248. This represents a daily decline of about one-half of one percent and brings bitcoin’s market cap to $70.5 billion.
As CCN has reported, analysts believe that the bitcoin price has the potential to reach $6,000 by the end of the year, but the possible SegWit2x hard fork — which is scheduled for November — continues to concern traders and investors alike.
Ethereum Price Awaits Byzantium
The ethereum price continued to track with that of bitcoin on Thursday, ending the day with a one-half of one percent decline following a dip below $290. Ethereum is currently trading at $293, which translates into a $27.8 billion market cap.
Ethereum investors will be pleased to learn that Byzantium — the first hard fork in Ethereum’s “Metropolis” protocol upgrade — has been scheduled for a tentative release of October 17. The ethereum price has historically benefited from major releases like this one, so investors should not be surprised if ETH begins to trend upwards over the course of the next week.
Ripple Price Posts Double-Digit Gain
The Ripple price defied an otherwise-stagnant market to post a significant single-day rally. Wednesday, the Ripple price climbed from $0.204 to $0.235, although it has since tapered to $0.226. Even after this pullback, Ripple is still up 11% for the day and more than 14% for the week. Ripple’s market cap is now approaching $9 billion, cementing its status as the third-largest cryptocurrency by market cap.
There is no clear impetus for the recent upswing, other than continued rumors that Ripple will make a major announcement at “Swell,” the startup’s upcoming Toronto conference that is scheduled for mid-October. Most XRP trading volume is currently concentrated on Korean exchanges, so there is a strong possibility this is a pump-and-dump and not a sustained price trend.
Altcoins Trend Down
Though Ripple was an outlier, the majority of altcoins posted slight pullbacks on Thursday, and bitcoin cash led the retreat.
The bitcoin cash price fell more than 10% on Thursday, reducing its value to $354. Bitcoin cash now has a market cap of just $5.9 billion, putting it nearly $3 billion behind Ripple.
Fifth-ranked litecoin dropped another 2%, although it continues to hold above the psychologically-important $50 mark. Dash fell 3%, putting its price just a few cents above $300. NEM fell 4%, while NEO dipped 6%. IOTA and Monero, on the other hand, managed to return minor gains to round out the top 10.