Market cap for cryptocoins hit lowest level for 2018
The news appeared to trigger a fall not just in the price of bitcoin but the entire crypto market area. On Wednesday the total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies fell to just $228,528,969. This is the lowest level this year indeed since November of 2017 according to CoinMarketCap.
On just a 24-hour basis the low represents a 10.7 percent drop. As of press time for the CoinDesk article on which this information is based, 14:31 UTC, the total market capitalization had risen back somewhat to $228,639,159,194.
Even though the ETF decision was just about bitcoin, nevertheless many other cryptocoins are experiencing even worse losses. Investors are showing a worsening risk assessment with respect to the cryptocoin market. While bitcoin is going down its dominance rate is going up to an eight-month high of 48.6 percent suggesting that investors are actually moving into bitcoin out of alternative cryptocoins. They may then be selling for fiat currency.
As of going to press, the total market value of all cryptocoins except bitcoin was just over $118 billion, an 8-month low. However the total market cap of bitcoin was above $111 billion a figure seen less than a month ago and still above the annual low of $99,915,112,929 according to CoinMarketCap data. The dominance rate is no about 48.9 percent and could even rise to 50 percent giving a boost to demand for bitcoin and perhaps other well established cryptocoins as risk aversion continues to grow.
The price of Ripple hits a new 2018 low
The price of Ripple XRP faced a devastating drop on Wednesday hitting a low of 0.35. This is seven cents below the previous low for the year back in July. The last time the price was this low was back on December 12, 2017. This was just a few days before it reached an all-time-high of more than $3 dollars. XRP is now down 89.2 percent over an 8 month period.
Litecoin also sets new low for the year
Litecoin also set a new record low. The price declined 8.78 percent from its earlier low of $72.65. This made it one of the largest losers of the day so far. Other important coins such as ethereum the second largest by cap were also down. Ethereum was down 6.89 percent.
Bitcoin also continues to drop
As noted earlier the decision by the SEC to defer a decision on granting a right to offer shares in a bitcoin ETF until September probably caused the sudden drop in price. This happened just as a minor corrective rally had been expected. Instead,, the price closed on a negative note at $6,719 and has fallen today to $6,360. Actually, it has since fallen even lower to $6,133. The CoinDesk article from which the data is derived went to press at 11:00 UTC at which time bitcoin was trading at $6,500 on Bitfinex.
The sell-off may indicate that in large part the July rally had been fueled by speculation that a bitcoin ETC would be approved by the SEC. It still could of course but it was expected to be approved within weeks.
The bear grip appears to be getting tighter during the last 24 hours as the price dropped to a three-week low below $6,400. It has now retraced more than 70 percent of its July rally to just over $8,500.
Present bitcoin situation
BTC began the day at $6,717 the high so far today. It has dipped as low as $6,133 so far. As of 20:20 UTC, the price was at $6,304 down over $400 dollars so far on the day. It looks good for the bears and bad for the bulls so far today. There are still about four hours left before the close. The present price of bitcoin can be found here.
