Monday, May 27 — following a mild correction yesterday, the crypto markets have seen strong positive momentum today, with bitcoin (BTC) soaring to its highest price point in over a year. Virtually all of the top 50 cryptocurrencies are seeing solid green, as Coin360 data shows.
Market visualization courtesy of Coin360
Bitcoin has reported over 9% in growth on the day and is trading at $8,727 by press time. Having briefly dipped below $8,000 yesterday, May 26, the top coin saw a sharp rally kick in towards the evening. Bitcoin has seen considerable volatility this week, posting an intra-week low of around $7,550 on May 23 before surging to today’s new price peak.
Bitcoin last traded in the $8,700-800 range over a year ago, in the second week of May 2018.
On the week, Bitcoin has sealed a bullish 10.5% gain.
Bitcoin 13-month price chart. Source: CoinMarketCap
In his own technical analysis, trader Peter Brandt has cautioned that bitcoin’s surge ostensibly represents “the FOMO phase of the advance,” and that “once the majority of sold-out crypto bulls capitulate and chase this rally a more sizable correction will likely occur, stopping out the same bulls, who are chasing this advance.”
Largest altcoin by market cap ether (ETH) has also seen solid gains, growing 7.1% on the day to press time to trade at $267.50. Ether has seen strong correlation with bitcoin’s price surge, which kicked off during later trading hours yesterday. Today’s gains brings the altcoin back to its mid-month (May 18) earlier price peak, and in a longer view, to price levels last seen in early September 2018.
The top altcoin is now trading 7.22% up on the week.
Ether 7-day price chart. Source: CoinMarketCap
XRP has seen a 6.9% gain on the day to trade at $0.41 by press time. Yesterday’s renewed upturn has reversed all of the asset’s midweek losses, with XRP now sealing a 3.5% gain on the week.
XRP 7-day price chart. Source: CoinMarketCap
Among the top ten cryptocurrencies at press time, all are green. The market-wide price rally includes a 12.1% gain for fifth largest crypto litecoin (LTC), a 9.6% gain for sixth ranked coin eos (EOS) and an 8.2% gain for bitcoin cash (BCH), ranked fourth. Bitcoin cash’s gains come despite new reports of an apparent double spend that followed its mid-May hard fork, as Cointelegraph has reported.
Widening out to the top twenty, all coins are again unanimously green, with several posting double digit gains. These include bitcoin sv (BSV) — ranked 12th and soaring almost 25% on the day — an 11% gain for 19th largest coin nem (XEM) and an over 9% gain for tron (TRX), ranked 11th.
The total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies is currently around $269.6 billion — back to levels last seen in early August 2018 — with bitcoin dominance at 57.3%.
Total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies. Source: CoinMarketCap
As Bloomberg today reports, bitcoin’s rally over the past month is ostensibly its strongest since before its historic late 2017 price surge — with an almost 70% gain on the month.
The report cites eToro analyst Mati Greenspan, who commented on the rally:
“Easier to spend means a greater-use case and a greater level of adoption. The tipping point is likely very close now.”
In traditional markets, European stocks have steadied following the continent-wide elections, as Bloomberg reports today. As of press time, the Stoxx Europe 600 Index increased 0.2% and the euro has held steady on forex markets.
Shares in French car manufacturer Renault soared 13.4% in early Paris trading hours, ostensibly buoyed by news of a potential merger with Fiat Chrysler. If finalized, the deal would see the merged companies become the world’s third largest car maker.