Crypto Rally Puts Bitcoin Back Above $4000 – 2019’s Highest Prices (So Far)
February 24, 2019 by Jon Southurst
A weekend rally has seen the Top 20 crypto assets rise by double-figure percentages in just 24 hours — taking the overall crypto market cap to $143 billion USD. Though this party may yet end with another face-in-toilet hangover, it’s notable that bitcoin (BTC) sits at $4,155 at press time, its highest point since Christmas Eve 2018.
Also read: Bitcoin Block Size: Getting Fatter, But Decrease Chatter Growing
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Crypto’s Rising Tide Floats All Boats
Bitcoin’s gains were moderate compared to assets like EOS (up 12.9 percent), ETH (up 9 percent), and NEO (up a whopping 19 percent). Tether (USDT), for better or worse still the favored parking lot for fiat value in bad crypto times, was down 1.01 percent — though still worth very close to its “pegged” USD value, at $0.999.
Why the sudden rally, though, after so long enduring crashes and stronger-than-expected gravity wells? As usual, there hasn’t been any single news event to suggest any cryptocurrency is on the verge of world domination — some of them aren’t even supposed to be currencies, and most aren’t accepted any place other than exchanges. There aren’t any hot new use cases that didn’t exist before last week.
Also as usual, most of the Top 20 digital assets on CoinBillboard’s charts show a similar price trajectory, which suggests positive emotions directed at “crypto” in general and not new information regarding any one project.
Sure, other investments like the stock market and real estate have appeared decidedly sketchy lately. But then, that’s been happening for a while now and it hasn’t caused any great rush to crypto yet. Besides, anyone who fears traditional market instability is unlikely to rush into the notoriously volatile world of digital asset trading.
Rally Excites a Few
A skeptical crypto community greeted the record (by 2019 standards) rally with its usual measured and conservative approach:
But then, we’ve all seen this story before, right? Before anyone rushes out to put a downpayment on that new Lambo, take a cold shower and remember there have been plenty of bumps since all cryptos began sliding in December 2017. And Lamborghini thinks you’re too crass for its cars anyway. Though most have forgotten it these days, even BTC pumped by four figure dollar amounts a few times throughout the 2018 “bear market” (even reaching $11,500 in March). For anyone who bought in during those rallies, it all still ended in tears. This one could simply present another opportunity for the earlier investors to do some profit-taking.
This article is, of course, not investment advice and anyone considering a cryptocurrency portfolio should think very carefully about who they listen to — we’d probably say “no-one, no matter how sure of their predictions they sound on YouTube and Twitter.”
In the meantime, enjoy some good news even if it’s fleeting, and keep on studying the history of money and economics. It’s the only way anything about crypto truly makes sense.
What will happen next in the crypto markets? Feel free to share your thoughts below.
Images via Reddit, CoinBillboard, Pixabay
