Crypto market value stands at $220.2 billion stuck in a tight range
Bitcoin prices traded higher Monday as investors looked for a catalyst to break prices out of a lengthy lull.
In early Monday trading a single bitcoin BTCUSD, -0.50% was changing hands at $6,634.73 up 1.4% since Sunday at 5 p.m. Eastern Time on the Kraken exchange.
While traders pine for volatility, proponents of the underlying technology are relishing the suppressed price swings, pointing to growing use cases for an asset that doesn’t possess intraday swings of around 10% like it has in the past.
“As we’ve stated many times, a stable price is great for adoption, and great for development of the network. So, we really are in a positive place for bitcoin right now,” wrote Mati Greenspan, senior market analyst at eToro.
The total value of all cryptocurrencies was last at $220.2 billion and has traded between $215 billion and $225 billion for the most part of October, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
Altcoins, or coins other than bitcoin, are moving higher with bitcoin Monday. Ether ETHUSD, -1.02% was up 2.4% at $228.49, with chartists pointing to a potential breakout to the topside for the second-largest digital currency.
Elsewhere, Bitcoin Cash BCHUSD, -2.17% was up 3.1% to $527.00, Litecoin LTCUSD, -1.31% had gained 2.6% at $58.77 and XRP XRPUSD, -2.89% the coin of the Ripple protocol, was the best performing altcoin, trading up 4.6% at 49 cents.
Bitcoin futures tracked spot prices higher on Monday. The Cboe Global Markets October contract XBTV8, -0.45% finished the session up 1.4% at $6,625 and the comparable CME Group October contract BTCV8, -0.68% ended Monday up 1.5% at $6,630.