Throughout this week, as CCN reported, the cryptocurrency market has been eyeing a move towards the $350 billion region. Earlier today, on April 20, strong performances of major cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and Ethereum have led the valuation of the cryptocurrency market to surge to $365 billion.
Altcoin Season is Back
Throughout 2018, amidst extreme volatility and recovery, investors inclined towards bitcoin as the safe haven asset. With the deepest liquidity and largest volume in the global market, bitcoin was able to sustain some stability while many cryptocurrencies recorded a free fall. Most assets declined by more than 80 percent from their all-time highs and struggled to record gains against bitcoin.
Over the past seven days, alternative cryptocurrencies (altcoins) and other major cryptocurrencies have consistently reported gains against the most dominant cryptocurrency in the market. The daily trading volume of the global cryptocurrency market crossed the $20 billion mark for the first time in April and the valuation of the market achieved a new monthly high. In March and early April, investors were skeptical towards investing in cryptocurrencies other than bitcoin and Ethereum because they were uncertain about the short-term future of the cryptocurrency market. While altcoins tend to have intensified movements on the upside, it also has larger movements on the downside, and investors thought the risk was not worth taking. Traders have started to take more risk than before by investing in cryptocurrencies like Ripple, Zilliqa, Nano, OmiseGo and others. As the volumes of altcoins across major exchanges surged, altcoins began to outperform bitcoin on a weekly basis, and it is possible that ERC20 tokens outperform major cryptocurrencies on a monthly basis by the end of April. The next major target for the cryptocurrency market is the $400 billion mark and by surpassing that threshold, the cryptocurrency market would achieve a two-month high. At this juncture, it is safe to conclude that bitcoin has bottomed out at $6,000 and the market has begun a rapid recovery to its previous levels.
If the bitcoin price breaks the $9,500 level in the short-term, ideally within the next week, it is entirely possible that the cryptocurrency market surpasses $400 billion within April, in the next 10 days. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) of bitcoin is in the 57 range and is signifying a neutral zone. Bitcoin is neither oversold or overbought based on current levels, as demonstrated by two momentum oscillators RSI and Williams’ Percent Range. Both simple and exponential moving averages are indicating buy signals for bitcoin, as it continues to gain strong momentum. From this point, traders are expecting the bitcoin price to cross $8,500 and potentially make its way into the $9 billion region.
Ripple, Rchain, Verge
Non-ERC20 tokens like Ripple and Verge were the best performers on April 20, with solid 20 percent gains. Both Ripple and Verge have performed strong against bitcoin throughout April and they are continuing to build momentum against bitcoin and Ethereum.