In case you haven’t noticed already, the crypto markets have been absolutely on fire over the last couple of days. The entire market for all digital coins and tokens has increased by more than an impressive $22.1 billion in just the first few days of April.
Whilst most the top ten digital assets by market capitalisation have increased by double-figure percentages over the same period, Bitcoin Cash (BCH) appears to be leading the charge. The controversial hard fork of Bitcoin launched in August 2017 has almost doubled in value over the last couple of days!
Green Day: Bitcoin Cash Outperforms Rest of Crypto Top 10
Bitcoin Cash started April trading sideways at around $168. At around 5:00 am on April 2, the price began shifting upwards rapidly and it has barely come up for air since. At the time of writing, less than 48 hours following the start of the uptrend, the fourth most popular digital asset by market capitalisation has increased to $323. This represents very close to 100 percent growth in less than two days.
Economist, trader and crypto commentator Alex Krüger brought attention to this short run of parabolic growth earlier today via Twitter:
$BCH +100% in 2 days
– short term algo driven buyers, or
– long term holdersWhat do you think? pic.twitter.com/ej79eSkECt
— Alex Krüger (@krugermacro) April 3, 2019
The epic move by Bitcoin Cash over the last couple of days is consistent with the trend observed in the entire digital currency market. The likes of Bitcoin, Ether, and Litecoin have posted 8.52%, 10.3%, and 31.15% gains over the last 24 hours respectively. However, of the entire list of top 100 crypto projects, Bitcoin Cash sits at the top for its over 50 percent gains over the last day.
Despite there obviously being a huge growth in buying pressure, there is no clear indication as to where it is coming from. Some, such as Lucid Investments’s Tyler Jenks, believe the current move is no more than another bull trap and that we will see lower prices before any real bullish momentum can grow.
Meanwhile, other, more typically anti-crypto voices, have also chimed in:
Bitcoin Is Surging Again. Just Ignore It
https://t.co/8ZXc8zwuZb— Nouriel Roubini (@Nouriel) April 3, 2019
However, there are been no shortage of optimists to balance out the short-term pessimism of Jenks or the doom-laden prophecies of Nouriel Roubini. Many are now claiming that the bear market of 2018/19 is finally over. Anthony Pompliano of Morgan Creek Digital has stated that “Bitcoin is back, baby” and John McAfee is claiming to have called the bottom of the crypto market prior to the current uptrend:
Everyone trashed me two weeks ago when I said: "The market has now turned", so I've kept my mouth shut. I will now say it again: "The market has now turned". The bow of thr bear market was pulled to its max. Now watch the arrow spring to life. pic.twitter.com/X22ybS4B8g
— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) April 2, 2019
Max Keiser, another long-term crypto bull, is also of the opinion that the market may be entering a new phase:
#Bitcoin momentum has shifted bullish. As I tweeted a few months ago, when the Fed indicated they were moving to “permanent QE,” BTC bottomed out and the stage is set for new ATH.
— Max Keiser, tweet poet. (@maxkeiser) April 2, 2019
Along with differences in opinion over what the move means for the short, medium, and long term prices of different digital currencies, there seems even less consensus as to what has actually caused the sudden surge in Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and other crypto assets. Often such swings coincide with a news event causing a mass of buying or selling. However, there seems to be little evidence of any such positive development that might account for what is certainly the largest pump thus far in 2019.
Related Reading: Crypto CEO: Current Bitcoin Industry Resembles 2016, Prior To BTC’s $20,000 Rally
Featured Image from Shutterstock.
