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The cryptocurrency market, which came into the spotlight in late 2017 and early 2018, lost some of its appeal in the course of the past year. Despite reaching all-time highs in early 2018, prices later fell - and with them, mainstream investors' interest in the market. However, over the past few weeks, the crypto market has shown an impressive rally, which some investors say is reminiscent of the previous bull run. Will Bitcoin and its peers once again peak this year? Only time will tell.
King Bitcoin
Naturally, the first to garner attention was Bitcoin, the original cryptocurrency and the largest by market cap. Bitcoin had been struggling to break out of its resistance levels, mostly staying below the $4,000 mark throughout the first quarter of 2019. This price point represents a major decline from Bitcoin's all-time high of nearly $20,000, recorded in late 2017, and even from its 2018 high of $11,000.
However, Bitcoin broke resistance this April and climbed to $5,000, a price level not seen since November of last year. This breach opened the floodgates and Bitcoin prices rose steadily over the weeks to follow, pushing the world's largest crypto to above $8,000.
Bitcoin's recent rally is attributed to several main factors. Many analysts believe that the crypto has matured as an asset, increasing its appeal in the eyes of mainstream investors. Turmoil in the mainstream market has also contributed to Bitcoin's rise: The ongoing trade dispute between China and the US has been generating volatility and instability in the markets, prompting more investors to buy Bitcoin. Since Bitcoin is still considered the yardstick by which all of the other cryptos are measured, its rising prices rekindled interest in other cryptos, and the altcoin market soon followed suit.
The Altcoin Boom
As seen in previous bull runs in the crypto market, when Bitcoin rises, other cryptos often follow suit. Such is the case with the current rally, as investors are not only buying Bitcoin, but are also inclined to buy Ethereum, XRP, Bitcoin Cash, and other altcoins. Over the past few weeks, many of the top ten cryptos have recorded tremendous gains, even surpassing those of Bitcoin.
The world's second largest cryptocurrency, Ethereum, has joined the party, displaying double-digit daily gains several times over in the past few weeks. At the time of writing, Etherum is trading well above the $250 mark -- a feat not reached in more than 8 months.
XRP is just below Ethereum on the top ten list as the third largest crypto by market cap. XRP was one of the last major altcoins to join the recent rally, remaining in the red for weeks after Bitcoin started to climb. However, once it did start showing gains, XRP skyrocketed to make up for lost time, climbing around 50% in less than a week.
Are the bulls back?
There's no doubt that the recent rally in markets has generated renewed mainstream interest, driving many investors to buy cryptocurrencies. However, it is not certain that the market is on a fully fledged bull run just yet, and there are no guarantees of cryptocurrency prices rising to past all-time highs. Opinions and analyses suggest many possible scenarios and, as always, only in retrospect will it be possible to understand why the market behaved the way it did. But for the time being, the crypto market is experiencing its most impressive rally since the great bull run of late 2017 and many new investors are choosing right now as the best time to invest in cryptoassets.
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This is not investment advice. Past performance is not an indication of future results. Your capital is at risk.
