Things have been going south for nearly all digital currencies for the best part of this year. This culminated with a recent 2018 low of $US100 billion in total market capitalization which is over 87% down from its peak of over $US830 billion in January.
Markets on Tuesday appeared to have bounced back from that brink as a cash injection of almost $12 billion as resulted in many digital currencies posting double figure gains over the past 24 hours. Bitcoin is the leader of the pack and when it moves the rest usually mimic the action.
Over the past day Bitcoin has climbed around 10% from $3,260 to just below $3,600. It hit a low for the year on December 15 of $3,195 but found support there and did not fall any lower. A number of prominent technical analysts have called for a bottom of around $3,000 for Bitcoin. They also said that it would remain there for several months before showing any signs of a recovery so this bounce could be very short lived.
According to coinmarketcap.com Bitcoin is currently around 82% down from its peak of almost $20,000 this time last year. This recent bounce has injected a little hope into what has been a wretched year for all cryptocurrencies.
Bitcoin is not the only digital coin doing well today. Ripple’s XRP token, the second largest cryptocurrency in the world, had made 18% on the day at the time of writing. Ethereum is up over 10% but it is still below $100 and around its lowest levels for at least 18 months. Fears of more selloffs from initial coin offering (ICO) projects that have failed to get off the ground have kept Ethereum depressed.
Alternative decentralized application platform, EOS, has had the best day with a gain of almost 30% propelling it above its brethren in the market capitalization charts. Stellar, Litecoin, Cardano, Iota and Neo are all having a good price boost with gains of around 15% over the past 24 hours.
From a 2018 low point of just over $100 billion total market capitalization over the weekend, cryptocurrencies have rebounded nearly 14% to today’s levels four days later.
Falling to double digits would break through this psychological support barrier and may send digital coins tumbling further. For now though a rare ray of light is shining on crypto markets as they bounce back from the digital abyss.