Making Waves: Crypto market analysis

Cryptocurrencies rose up from yearly lows on Sunday, with Litecoin and Bitcoin SV emerging as the biggest winners following an early weekend retreat. Another shake-up in the top 20 suggests 2019 will be a pivotal year for altcoins and tokens, which have struggled to remain relevant in the face of increasing Bitcoin dominance and declining interest among retail investors.

Bitcoin recovers

The leading digital currency experienced a modest relief rally on Sunday after setting a new yearly low the previous morning. BTC has since seen some spikes in price over the last couple of days, and is currently standing at around $3,500.

Trading in BTC on virtual currency exchanges had previously declined sharply over the weekend. On Sunday, total daily turnover reached $3.8 billion, according to CoinMarketCap. Spot trading as a share of overall market activity rose by more than 80%, with BTC/USDT, ETH/USD, and BTC/KRW the most dominant pairs.

With a market cap of nearly $57 billion, Bitcoin exerts a strong gravitational pull on altcoins and tokens. Bitcoin’s share of the overall market cap, now at 55%, has risen steadily during the last leg of the bear market.

Bitcoin SV leads rally

In terms of best individual performers, Bitcoin SV launched an 18% gain on Sunday as the protocol’s backers remained committed to achieving market dominance in the long term. Craig Wright, one of SV’s most prominent backers, says he’s in it for the long haul in the wake of last month’s hard fork. This comes despite overwhelming support for Bitcoin Cash ABC, the primary implementation of the BCH hard fork.

Wright appears no longer keen on attacking the competing protocol, but will instead focus on brand and business development to attract new users.

In its short history, SV has demonstrated an ability to move inversely with the broader market. This has allowed it to quickly scale the market cap rankings but also fall just as quickly. On Sunday, the coin was worth $77.50 for a total value of nearly $1.4 billion.

Waves coin skyrockets

The Waves coin briefly cracked the top 20 over the weekend, adding to a string of gains since the end of November that have set the digital currency apart from its peers. At the time of writing, Waves has slipped back to 22nd place with a value of $2.47 and a market cap of $247.4 million. Astonishingly, the cryptocurrency has gained nearly 160% since November 25th. Over the same stretch of time, the broader cryptocurrency market fell by 13%.

As a token customisation platform, Waves operates its own decentralised exchange where new tokens can trade alongside major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Litecoin. At last check, the decentralised exchange had 69 crypto listings and over 20,000 custom tokens.

Those are pretty impressive stats, which lead me to think there’s definitely a bright future ahead for Waves!