Crypto Markets See Mixed Signals, Gold Hovers Near Multi-Week Low

Thursday, March 7 — cryptocurrency markets have recorded moderate gains and losses on the day, with Binance Coin (BNB) being the major gainer on the day, according to Coin360.

Market visualization from Coin360

The leading cryptocurrency Bitcoin (BTC) started the day around $3,901, subsequently reaching its intraday high of $3,938. At press time, BTC is trading at around $3,922, up a modest 0.36 percent over the last 24 hours.

Bitcoin 1-day price chart. Source: CoinMarketCap

Ethereum (ETH) is currently trading at around $138.52, having increased by 0.08 percent over the last 24 hours. On its weekly chart, the coin is up almost 1 percent, while its monthly chart shows gains of almost 30 percent.

Yesterday, the Ethereum Foundation awarded a grant to researchers at Columbia and Yale universities for the compilation of a new smart contract programming language into the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). The new grant forms part of the foundation’s fifth wave financing devoted to supporting Ethereum 2.0 and Layer 2 scaling efforts.

Ethereum 7-day price chart. Source: CoinMarketCap

Ripple (XRP) has taken a downturn and is trading at around $0.315 at press time, down 0.63 percent on the day. On its weekly chart, the coin is up 0.29 percent, while its lowest price point was around $0.303 on March 4.

Ripple 7-day price chart. Source: CoinMarketCap

Among the top 20 digital currencies, Binance Coin (BNB) is experiencing the most considerable growth, up by over 8.4 percent on the day, and is trading at around $15.38 at press time. On the week, BNB has skyrocketed by nearly 50 percent.

This week, cryptocurrency exchange Binance began offering rewards in BNB for testing the company’s new decentralized trading platform Binance DEX.

Binance Coin 7-day price chart. Source: CoinMarketCap

Total market capitalization of all digital currencies is around $133.7 billion, while at the beginning of the day the figure was around $132.8 billion. Daily trade volume is around $31.5 billion, up from around $30.5 billion at the beginning of the day.

Total market capitalization 1-day chart. Source: CoinMarketCap

Earlier today, CNBC reported that gold dipped, hovering near a multi-week low as the U.S. dollar strengthened against the euro after the European Central Bank postponed an interest rate rise.

Spot gold is trading at around $1,285 per ounce, down around 1.4 percent on the day. U.S. gold futures have also recorded a decrease, by 1.7 percent to $1,285 at press time.

Oil futures have moved up today, following a fall in February OPEC output to its lowest in almost four years, according to MarketWatch. West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery reportedly was up 22 cents, or 0.4%, at $56.44 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. May Brent climbed by 9 cents, or 0.1%, to $66.08 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe.