Cryptocurrency bull run? Bitcoin rising and market following
The coins with some kind of official recognition in China seem to be seeing the most growth today.
Many people have been predicting another December-style cryptocurrency bull run for a while now, and have so far been disappointed. The finger has mostly been pointed at the tightening regulatory lens which has burnt some enthusiasm out of the market, and the unrelenting shower of "FUD" that's accompanied it.
Even after stabilising from freefall the cryptocurrency markets remained sluggish, and hampered by sluggish trade volumes.
Three of the easier to spot signs which some might construe as indications of a bull run are:
- Increasing trade volume. More volume, more interest, more eagerness.
- Bitcoin rising. Although it's showing signs of slipping away over time, the rest of the cryptocurrency market still follows bitcoin prices. And the original crypto has just cracked $10,000 again with potential signs of more to come.
- General optimism. Crypto CFD traders tended to remain overwhelmingly optimistic about cryptocurrency compared to conventional markets, going emphatically long even while the market was slack.
Today's winners
The biggest increases over the last 24 hours within the top 20 coins by market cap, according to CoinMarketCap, include:
- VeChain: Up about 20% in the last 24 hours, on top of similar-sized gains made the day before. There might be a few drivers behind this rise, including the upcoming late February rebrand. But more likely it's VeChain's partnerships with China's government, which give it some immunity to the FUD around China's potentially hoaxed crypto-bans.
- Tron: Another made in China coin, and up around 15%. The Tron cryptocurrency might be rising on the back of similar official recognition, of a more tentative nature than VeChain's, from the Chinese government.
- Lisk: A system building type token, up about 10%, possibly following news that its ecosystem is growing.
- Bitcoin and Monero: These well known classics are both up about 9% in the last 24 hours.
Latest cryptocurrency news
- Bitcoin price sees volatility around $37,000 with Pantera Capital projecting $115,000
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- Bitcoin falls 10% in weekend trade as alts run
- Ethereum price: Upward surge noted but fears of near-term volatility continue to persist
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Disclosure: At the time of writing the author holds ETH, IOTA, ICX, VET, XLM, NANO, SALT