In the past week, financial markets around the world have experienced numerous losses that have sent investors scurrying all over. While Coronavirus concerns are rising, financial bodies have been trying to find out how to arrest the fall. The cryptocurrency market recovered on the last weekday in the midst of this turmoil.
It was found on March 20 that in the span of 24 hours the cryptocurrency market had expanded by more than $20 billion. This rise during the time of ‘ social distancing ‘ was one of the few silver linings.
The cryptocurrency industry was hit recently when people began questioning its strength during global struggles. Several personalities even questioned Bitcoin’s secure-haven asset credential as the world’s largest cryptocurrency fell just like other mainstream assets. Digital assets saw a sharp rise after violent selling in the last two weeks.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin was trading for $6638. This was a substantial increase from the sub $5400 levels it was holding earlier. Bitcoin’s market cap had risen to $121.3 billion after a 21.8 percent increase on Thursday.
The 24-hour market volume increased by billions to settle at $56.9 billion. Bitcoin’s surge also triggered a bull run among other altcoins. Ethereum, XRP and Bitcoin Cash rose by 22.6 percent, 15.39 percent, and 28.6 percent respectively.
Ethereum investors were urging it to cross the $150 mark as the cryptocurrency rose to sell for $146.9. The largest altcoin had a market cap of $16.18 billion and a daily trading volume of $18.7 billion. While this was still not enough to catch up to Bitcoin, it still helped ETH get a boost over XRP.
XRP received a much-needed bull run when the cryptocurrency increased by 15 percent. Several members of the XRP Army hit the panic button after the cryptocurrency fell to 12 cents. The market cap and price recovery was a much-needed reprieve during a time of an intense market squeeze. XRP’s market cap was $7.5 billion while the daily volume had increased to $2.939 billion.
The market bounce was needed after the industry lost almost 26 billion dollars in value on March 8. This came after crude oil prices had tanked world over, pulling the Nasdaq and the Dow along with it. The next few days resulted in a bear market that removed another $92 billion from the cryptocurrency market. Bitcoin’s 48 percent plunge caused it to fall to its $3867 annual low.
Mainstream stocks were still struggling as the Coronavirus continued to spread to new regions. The American markets are expected to take another hit as 4000 new cases were reported in the mainland. On March 19, the seriousness of the situation was elevated again when the global death toll surpassed ten thousand.