The cryptocurrency markets are at last witnessing solid two-way business after a rough week across the markets.
The market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies fell 40 percent to $276 billion on Feb. 6 – the lowest since Nov. 26. However, the value has recovered over the last seven days of trading to $400 billion, a figure that, while not quite the weekend low, is still 13 percent below weekly highs.
Despite the turmoil, a few names (from the top 25 currencies as per market cap) like bitcoin cash, lisk, and litecoin managed to etch out gains on the back of the upbeat fundamental news. Meanwhile, the losers are dominated by small caps like populous and ICON.
Let’s look at the numbers of the most notable on both sides for this week:
Best performers
Lisk
Weekly Performance: 20.92 percent
All-time high: $39.31
Closing price on Jan. 2: $21.41
Current market price: $25.89
Rank as per market capitalization: 14
As the broader market recovered, lisk’s native currency LSK witnessed a solid rally from $11.97 (Feb. 6 low). The token has moved above its 50-day moving average (MA) and is very close to breaking above the current monthly high of $20.65. Currently, its market capitalization is $3 billion.
Lisk’s upcoming relaunch on Feb. 20 seems to be garnering plenty of attention from the investor community.
“On Feb. 20, the company will unveil an entirely updated and improved Lisk platform, new brand identity and website,” according to company’s blog.
Bitcoin gold
Weekly Performance: 12.98 percent
All-time high: $484.78
Closing price on Jan. 2: $110.23
Current market price: $124.54
Rank as per market capitalization: 19
Bitcoin’s offshoot, bitcoin gold (BTG), is up 66 percent compared to its weekly low of $72.12. Despite the strong performance, the cryptocurrency is reporting a 70 percent decline on a three-month basis. Further, it is down 74 percent from its all-time high.
Litecoin
Weekly Performance: 12.82 percent
All-time high: $375.29
Closing price on Jan. 2: $131.38
Current market price: $148.23
Rank as per market capitalization: 6
Litecoin (LTC) is up more than 35 percent from the weekly low of $106.94.
The last week has turned out to be pretty eventful for LTC. The cryptocurrency ran into bids on Sunday amid false reports that LTC was to undergo a hard fork. However, the rumor was soon dismissed by Litecoin founder Charlie Lee as a possible scam attempt.
Later, Lee tweeted about the launch of LitePal – a new litecoin-based payment processor – that seems to have the investor community a little excited.
Worst Performers
Populous
Weekly Performance: -35.40 percent
All-time high: $75.67
Closing price on Jan. 2: $53.35
Current market price: $35.46
Rank as per market capitalization: 24
Populous is a smart contract-based invoice discounting platform on the ethereum blockchain, according to the official website. Its PPT token hit a low of $23.52 on Feb. 6, but the ensuing recovery has been shallow. Comments on social media indicate investors are worried about the delay.
Nano
Weekly Performance: -31.31 percent
All-time high: $34.43
Closing price on Jan. 2: $16.51
Current market price: $11.34
Rank as per market capitalization: 22
Nano, formerly called RaiBlocks, was listed on the cryptocurrency trading platform Binance last Friday. However, that failed to keep the cryptocurrency bid. Prices hit a low of $6.54 on Jan. 6.
ICON
Weekly Performance: -18.86 percent
All-time high: $12.04
Closing price on Jan. 2: $5.3
Current market price: $4.3
Rank as per market capitalization: 21
The goal of the ICON project is to provide an intermediary blockchain which acts as an open source ecosystem to allow different communities, institutions, and block chains to interact while maintaining their autonomy, according to reddit page. The project is powered by ICX cryptocurrency, which fell to a low of $3.77 on Jan. 6.
Prices correct at time of writing and sourced from CoinMarketCap
Chalkboard chart image via Shutterstock