Bitcoin Back Over $4K as Crypto Markets See Fifth Day of Green

Thursday, Dec. 20 — crypto markets are seeing their fifth day of green, with virtually all of the top 20 cryptocurrencies showing a strong burst of growth, as data from Coin360 shows.

Market visualization by Coin360

In terms of 24-hour growth, fourth-largest cryptocurrency Bitcoin Cash (BCH) has soared ahead of other assets, seeing an astonishing 36 percent spike to hit $165 as of press time. Today marks the coin’s third day of double-digit growth, and fifth day in the green. With 7-day growth over 80 percent, the coin still remains close to 50 percent down on its monthly chart.

Bitcoin Cash 7-day price chart. Source: Cointelegraph’s Bitcoin Cash Price Index.

Newly-forked Bitcoin SV (BSV), currently ranked 9th largest cryptocurrency, has also seen notable volatility, up 13 percent around $102, according to CoinMarketCap data.

Largest cryptocurrency Bitcoin (BTC) has rebounded to trade around $4,100, up a solid 6 percent on the day, and almost $1,000 higher than its intraweek low at $3,185, Dec. 14. The top coin is today in its fifth day of green, reversing a protracted bearish downturn.

Bitcoin historical price data, Dec. 13 — Dec. 20. Source: Cointelegraph’s Bitcoin Price Index.

On the week, Bitcoin is now up by almost 22 percent; monthly losses nonetheless remain close to 27 percent.

Second-largest crypto by market cap Ripple (XRP) is up a milder half a percent on the day, trading at around $0.38 as of press time, according to Cointelegraph’s Ripple Price Index. Nonetheless, the asset’s cumulative fortunes over the week have brought its 7-day chart to a strong 29 percent in the green. Ripple’s monthly chart remains solidly red, indicating a loss of just over 20 percent.

Ripple 7-day price chart. Source: Cointelegraph’s Ripple Price Index.

Ethereum (ETH) — ranked third crypto by market cap — has comfortably reclaimed its three digit value, trading at $111 and up close to 5 percent in the 24 hours to press time. Like Bitcoin, the altcoin is now seeing its fifth day of solid growth — having dipped to as low as around $82 Dec. 14.

While Ethereum is now up close to 22 percent on its weekly chart, it remains down a stark 28 percent on the month.

Ethereum 7-day price chart. Source: Cointelegraph’s Ethereum Price Index

All of the remaining top ten on CoinMarketCap are in the green — although growth is more tempered, with Litecoin (LTC) up 4.6 percent at close to $32.50 and Stellar (XLM) up 2 percent at $0.12.

The remaining coins in the top twenty by market cap are all seeing growth of between 2 and 6 percent. Ethereum Classic (ETC) is the strongest performer, up almost 6 percent at $4.76.

Privacy-focused altcoins Monero (XMR) and ZCash (ZEC) are up 4.5 percent, at $51.73 and $63.51 at press time.

Waves (WAVES) is the only top twenty crypto in the red, down 2.5 percent at $4.14, after bullish funding and development news saw it spike by over 30 percent yesterday.

Total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies is at around $132.2 billion as of press time, up over $30 billion from an intra-week low of $101.16 billion on Dec. 14.

7-day chart of total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies from CoinMarketCap

In an interview published yesterday, Changpeng Zhao, CEO and co-founder of major cryptocurrency exchange Binance, dubbed 2018  a “correction year” for cryptocurrencies. Despite recent mid-term bearish trends, Zhao, aka CZ, expressed optimism for the future of the crypto industry, arguing that strong development and burgeoning “real use cases” will drive further adoption of cryptocurrency.