There’s never a dull moment in the crypto economy. Following weeks of steady advances, the bitcoin price encountered a significant correction last weekend — its first since early September — at the hands of a surging bitcoin cash.
But, following a flurry of trading that briefly saw bitcoin cash surpass Ethereum for the second position in the market cap rankings, things appear to be settling down closer to their previous levels.
Against this backdrop, the crypto market cap made only a minor movement for the day, even as order-book exchanges processed a record $25 billion worth of trades. After beginning the day at $200.6 billion, the total value of all cryptocurrencies now sits at $202.6 billion, for a 24-hour gain of roughly 1%.
Bitcoin Price Recovers to $6,550
To the surprise of many, the cancellation of the SegWit2x hard fork triggered a bitcoin price decline and led to a significant transfer of capital from bitcoin to bitcoin cash. The decline was so precipitous that bitcoin dropped below $5,600 — a pullback of nearly $2,000 from its all-time high. As recently as yesterday, the bitcoin price was trading as low as $5,714, but Monday morning it initiated an $800 rally that has returned it to a present value of $6,564. Bitcoin now has a market cap of $109.5 billion, which account for approximately 54% of the total crypto market cap.
Bitcoin Cash Price Drops 22%
Bitcoin’s rally, like its weekend decline, was inversely correlated with the trajectory of the bitcoin cash price. Bolstered by bitcoin’s reluctance to implement scaling solutions that would immediately reduce transaction fees to levels that would enable it to function as “electronic cash”, the bitcoin cash price exploded to a new all-time high just below $2,500. However, since then, the bitcoin cash price has plunged back to a present level of $1,136, which translates into a 24-hour decline of nearly 22%. This leaves bitcoin cash with a $19.1 billion market cap.
Many observers believe that a significant portion of the bitcoin cash price rally was inorganic — the result of market manipulation by large stakeholders. However, manipulation or not, this weekend’s events demonstrate that the so-called war for the “Bitcoin” brand did not end with the cancellation of SegWit2x; in fact, it may just be getting started.
Ethereum Price Trends Up
All eyes were on bitcoin cash, but the ethereum price quietly joined bitcoin in posting a moderate 24-hour gain. After beginning the day at $305, ethereum received a slight bump when bitcoin cash fell into decline, and the ethereum price is currently trading at $319. This gives ethereum a market cap of $30.5 billion.
Dash Makes a Move
Despite intense volatility at the top of the chart, altcoins managed to post a near-comprehensive advance.
The ripple price led the way with a minor gain, rising 2% to $0.202. The dash price, fueled partially by the news that the coin would be added to cryptocurrency exchange OKEx, surged by nearly 25% to $423. This raised its market cap to $3.3 billion and enabled it to supplant litecoin for fifth place in the rankings.
Despite falling to sixth in the rankings, the litecoin price still posted a 4% increase, bringing it to a present value of $61. The monero price, meanwhile, leaped by 9%, enabling the anonymity-centric coin to climb to seventh place. The NEO price rose by 6%, NEM added 8%, and IOTA ticked up by 4% to round out the top 10.