For the third day in a row crypto markets have hit a new 2019 high in terms of market capitalization. This time Ethereum is in the driving seat as it surges 20 percent in a day. Will the other altcoins follow suit when Bitcoin corrects?
BTC Correction Inevitable
Markets always pull back; we have seen it countless times over the past few years. The Bitcoin parabola cannot continue and a correction is inevitable. However, a few hours ago during Asian trading Bitcoin hit another new high for the year at $8,300. This is its highest level for a year aside from a brief spike in July 2018. It has since retraced back to $8,000 where things are holding for the time being.
Ethereum is getting the FOMO today as it pumps a whopping 20%. From an intraday low of $225 ETH surged to $270 before pulling back slightly. This is the highest price Ethereum has seen since August 2018. Daily volume is currently at record levels of over $15 billion which is higher than it was during the 2017 bull run.
Comparatively, however, ETH prices are still on the floor and down over 80 percent from its all-time high above $1,400. Bitcoin has now recovered to a 60 percent drop from its peak of $20k in 2017. As traders take profits from Bitcoin’s recent rally they are likely to look towards lower priced altcoins rather than converting back into fiat.
Altcoins To The Moon
This appears to be what is happening at the moment as altcoins start surging, led by Ethereum. Stellar is a train at the moment, surging over 30 percent today to reach an intraday high of $0.157. XLM has not been at these lofty heights since before the big November dump. As a result it is poised to knock Tether off eighth spot in terms of market cap.
Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, EOS, Binance Coin, Cardano, Tron, Bitcoin SV and IOTA have all pumped a further 7 percent today as altcoins lift off. Ethereum Classic is shadowing its big brother with a 15 percent surge and NEM has gone to the moon adding 35 percent on the day.
Managing partner at BlockTower Capital, Ari Paul, is extremely bullish tweeting;
“In the last bull cycle, crypto got big enough to threaten securities regulators. In the next bull cycle, it will get big enough to threaten central banks. Things may get ugly. Major shifts in power usually don’t happen without a fight.”
Tyler Winklevoss added to the sentiment with this;
Total market cap for all crypto assets has hit another 2019 high of $264 billion – a level not seen since July 2018.
