All but two of the top 15 cryptocurrencies are trading upwards today as altcoins continue their bull run, while Bitcoin (BTC) is down 0.45%.
Many analysts are predicting that the altcoin bullish run recently indicates the beginning of altcoin season, a period in which traders tend to get overly excited about Bitcoin alternatives so they can increase their Bitcoin holdings in the long run. Unlike the name suggests, altcoin season is not something that happens at the same time every year, as seen by the fact the market for alternative coins had been bleeding for most of the last two years.
With Bitcoin consolidating its price range between $9,000 USD and $12,000 USD in recent weeks, boredom has led traders to turn to altcoins such as Ethereum (ETH) and Ripple (XRP) in an attempt to increase profits. One Twitter analyst expects Bitcoin to continue to stagnate over the next two weeks, paving the way for altcoins to take advantage. Crypto Bitlord, another prominent Twitter analyst with over 100,000 followers, said, “I’m telling you now, this is the bottom for most alts. If you’re not yet “all in” yet, now is the time to do it.”
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Ethereum, the second-largest coin after Bitcoin, has been leading the charge among altcoins, having just yesterday surpassed the $200 mark. This can be somewhat attributed to Tether’s decision to migrate to ETH, which could lead to its surpassing BTC for daily transactions. Bitpay, a leading crypto payments processing service, also recently announced its intention to start supporting ETH in the near future.
Ripple has been the biggest gainer of the top altcoins so far, currently trading up 8.67%. The surging value of XRP could be put down to fears that a fork of the token was coming being put to bed. Many XRP investors felt that those in charge at Ripple had been dumping the coin by selling it to clients to fund various investments. These fears have been allayed after a change.org petition garnered over 3,600 signatures since its publication last month.
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