The crypto markets have gone through a clear revival in the past six months, breaking above $300B in overall market capitalization for the first time in over 6 months.
Crypto Markets Show Renewed Optimism
Both Bitcoin (BTC) and altcoins moved up from bottoming out in December, and the markets seem to be on the path of recovery. Led by BTC, almost all assets are breaking out of their lows. Previously losing altcoins actually achieved robust returns on a year-long time scale.
On Wednesday, after the latest BTC hike above $10,000, the overall market capitalization reached just around $300 billion. Soon after that, the markets dipped a bit, but stayed close to that range. At this valuation, the crypto market is worth just a fraction of the price in comparison to some the biggest companies, as in the case of Apple, Inc. (AAPL), which is valued at $1.39 trillion.
#cryptocurrency market cap is again above $300 billion!! Congratulations ??? #Bitcoin #Ethereum #Tezos #Chainlink pic.twitter.com/ZVuby3q9B3
— W€N L€MBO (@wenlembo) February 12, 2020
But the hopes for the crypto market are that $300 billion is just a small milestone on the way to a valuation of up to $1 trillion. While market cap is not a reliable measure, and does not match the liquidity for all assets, it is still helping to reveal a trend. In December 2017, the overall market cap briefly reached above $790 billion, showing the markets were capable of nearing the $1 trillion landmark.
After two years of altcoins bear market, and a relatively tame year for BTC, 2020 opened with significant optimism. A selection of top altcoins also show support for significant liquidity. BTC still contributes the most to the weight of the entire crypto market, with a dominance of 62.6%.
Smaller Altcoins Reveal Growing Activity, Promise Price Action
In the past months, however, the market cap of all small altcoins has also grown slightly, showing a revival of interest for smaller assets. In 2020, most small altcoins are of an entirely different crop, with some older assets highly illiquid or forgotten. But the trend shows that the small altcoin market is not dead and may be open for new returns.
Ethereum (ETH) is also expanding its share of the overall market cap, though without challenging the dominance of BTC too much. Today it is leading the rally among the top 5 cryptocurrencies with a 14.63% gain (at the time of writing). EOS is also performing well, nearing double digit gains and a $5.40 valuation per token. Tezos (XTZ) is by far the strongest performer in the top 10, however, with a 25% surge in the last 24 hours.
For more than six months now, USDT has been the most actively traded token, and currently reaches $51 billion in daily volumes, compared to $46 billion for BTC. It was precisely in those months of increased USDT activity that altcoins started to decouple from BTC and increase their own liquidity. The boost also came from a growing futures market, which expanded the price discovery mechanisms for most leading altcoins.
What do you think about the growing market cap of global crypto markets? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!
Images via Shutterstock, Twitter @wenlembo
