Ripple and Stellar surge as crypto market recovers from Thanksgiving dip
Bitcoin’s wild ride has continued this week as the cryptocurrency flirted with all-time highs before suddenly dropping as Americans sat down for their Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday.
Prices stayed relatively low on Black Friday, giving traders a chance to buy at a discount before the market bounced over the weekend, boosted by news that Wall Street giant Guggenheim Partners wants to make an allocation to Bitcoin.
As of Monday, Bitcoin has recovered to finish the week flat, and several altcoins have swung even higher. Stellar is up 55% over the last seven days, Cardano is up 10%, and Dash has risen 14%.
This Week’s Highlights
- Bitcoin recovers after rumors of regulator crackdown
- Ripple races against Stellar
Bitcoin recovers after rumors of regulator crackdown
After such a mammoth rally, a pullback was widely expected. Yet traders couldn’t have anticipated the trigger, with the crypto market falling as rumors swirled that outgoing treasury boss Steven Mnuchin was attempting to rush out new regulation on self-hosted crypto wallets.
In response, Bitcoin dropped like a rock, falling almost $3,000 from close to all-time highs in the biggest downturn since Black Thursday. This presented a great buying opportunity for traders, who soon stepped into the market to push prices back up.
Ripple races against Stellar
Altcoin price action is making even Bitcoin look tame, with Stellar and Ripple surging ahead of the broader crypto market this week.
Ripple rose 70% in an impressive rally to two-year highs, supercharged by the prospect of the upcoming Spark token airdrop, which has a distribution snapshot scheduled for December 12th.
At the same time, competing cryptocurrency Stellar shot upwards to make similar gains. According to on-chain analysis firm Santiment, both rallies were preceded by a growing buzz of conversation on social media.
The Week Ahead
If prices can hold at these levels, Bitcoin will set two new records as November draws to a close — marking the highest monthly dollar gain ever at almost $5,000, and the highest monthly close since 2017.
This would set a positive tone moving into December, and set the stage for more upside amidst significant fundamental developments. Tuesday will mark the start of the biggest update in Ethereum’s history — Ethereum 2.0, and Facebook’s Libra is now said to be launching as soon as January 2021.
On the flipside, such a red hot rally could be expected to be followed by a cooling-off period, while Bitcoin digests recent gains and establishes stability.