The price of Bitcoin reached 6,100 USD last week, price not seen for almost six months. That’s the good news. The bad news is, Steem is not really moving forward, seems to be stuck by approximately 0,34 USD.

Steem/Bitcoin (Chart: Coinranking)

But there are some other changes in the air. In 2017 and 2018, Bitcoin and most cryptocurrencies were heading in the same direction. When Bitcoin rose, its alternatives, the “altcoins” rose as well. In addition, they rose much more than their big brother. Later, during the huge fall of prices, Bitcoin was followed by the others. Most of the major players in the altcoin-market have also overtaken the great predecessor in the downtrend.

Not following the leader

Following the leader, the Bitcoin, which has approximately 56 percent weight in the capitalization of all cryprocurrencies, and falling even more than the first crypto. (See here: Is Steem A Large Cap, Or A Mid Cap Cryptocurrency?)

Tron/Bitcoin (Chart: Coinranking)

But this seems to change these weeks, maybe big part of this year. Not all altcoins are following Bitcoin right now. As you can see on the charts, not only the Steem/BTC price, also the Ether/BTC, the Tron/BTC, the XRP/BTC, the EOS/BTC is on, or at least near one-year lows. (Litecoin, not, it is much higher.) And this prices seem to be moving all in downtrend. So, in reality, all these cryptos are underperforming, not only Steem.

Ether/Bitcoin (Chart: Coinranking)

The cow of the neighbor

Three men who died recently are brought before the throne of God and told that they may each have one wish. The Briton asks for an end to war. The American asks for an end to hunger. The Russian smiles slyly and says, “In my village, I have a neighbor who has a cow. I do not have a cow. I wish that my neighbor’s cow shall sicken and die.” (Source)

Shall we be glad that others are in trouble, too? Certainly, not. I think the most important task should be understand what is happening and why. Read what explanations I found for now.

The One Ring

Forbes, for example wrote, citing asset managers:

BTC is so far ahead of any other digital asset in terms of adoption and use cases (…) when Bitcoin is on the rise, there is a general move out of altcoins and into BTC (…) Altseason is over and the market is now consolidating back into Bitcoin

XRP/Bitcoin (Chart: Coinranking)

Nice, but this was all true last year, too. Bitcoin is getting stronger because Bitcoin is stronger? Maybe. For me, that doesn’t explain much from the processes. The current situation reminds me of the 2015-2017 Bitcoin slow recovery, before the huge hype at the end of 2017. Altcoins were not broadly known nor in the center of attention in those old times.

Smart money?

There are signs that large institutional investors, also called “smart money”, could have rebalanced their portfolio, increasing Bitcoin stake and dropping some XRP, Ether. At least by Grayscale, a “major crypto fund” manager. (See here.) Maybe this one company can’t change very much the market. But if other asset managers are thinking corresponding to it, that can be a reason for the moves.

Litecoin/Bitcoin (Chart: Coinranking)

I appreciate articles of Victor Dergunov on SeekingAlpha because he is often right. And I also appreciate all attempts to explain the fundamental value of cryptocurrencies. He wrote about a week ago:

The Bitcoin bull market is back, but is still in its very early stages. Bitcoin' s blockchain continues to attract 10s of millions of new accounts, 50% YoY growth. Bitcoin's value is still minuscule relative to alternative assets, including investable gold and fiats. Also, about 99.5% of Bitcoin's applicable market remains untapped.

I suppose the growing number of accounts can trigger a new, stronger bull market. The other facts are here also known from earlier.

(Picture: Own Work, with GIMP G’Mic effects plugin pack.)