August 10: Crypto markets are tentatively holding gains today, as they stake their recovery from the week’s earlier plummet. On August 8, total market capitalization had shrunk to $219 billion –– its lowest level since mid-November 2017 –– but today has seen that figure peak as high as $233 billion.Bitcoin (BTC) is attempting to hold the $6,500 support at press time, trading at around $6,485 and up a fraction of a percent on the day. The leading cryptocurrency has seen a 24-hour high around $6,610, but has been trading jaggedly over trading hours, briefly dipping as low as around $6,332, before spiking upwards to re-attempt $6,500. Weekly losses remain at a weighty 13.8 percent, yet on the month Bitcoin is up around two percent.
In an interview with CNBC, head of technical research at Renaissance Macro Research Jeff deGraff said that “game‐over” for Bitcoin is on the cards if BTC/USD break year-to-date support levels.
Ethereum (ETH) is currently trading around $360, losing around one percent on the day to press time. The altcoin’s attempt to break through to a higher price point were concentrated during early hours, spiking as high as $369 before dropping back below the $360 mark. The hours just before press time have seen another push upwards, yet these fleeting gains have failed to hold. Ethereum’s losses on its weekly chart are around a stark 13 percent, with monthly losses just under 18 percent.
On CoinMarketCap’s listings, the top ten crypto assets by market cap are mainly in the red, seeing losses no greater than six percent.
The most bullish performance on the day has come from Stellar (XLM), which is up about 3.2 percent to trade around $0.22 at press time. Stellar’s recovery from mid-week losses has been strong, particularly on the XLM/BTC charts.