Bitcoin Cash Grows as Major Oil Futures Show Mixed Movements

Monday, March 18 — most of the top 20 cryptocurrencies are reporting slight to noteworthy losses on the day by press time.

Bitcoin is down just over one tenth of a percent on the day, trading at around $4,024, according to CoinMarketCap. Looking at its weekly chart, the current price is just under three percent higher than $3,906, the price at which Bitcoin started the week.

Bitcoin 7-day price chart. Source: CoinMarketCap

Co-founder of advisory firm Fundstrat Global Tom Lee today noted the apparent correlation between Bitcoin’s price action and emerging markets in a tweet.

Ethereum (ETH) is holding onto its position as the largest altcoin by market cap, which is at about $14.6 billion. The second-largest altcoin, Ripple (XRP), has a market cap of about $13 billion by press time.

ETH is down by about one percent over the last 24 hours. At press time, ETH is trading around $139, after having started the day at $140. On its weekly chart, Ethereum has seen its value increase by over four percent.

Ethereum 7-day price chart. Source: CoinMarketCap

Ethereum core devs approved once again the proposed application specific integrated circuit-resistant proof-of-work algorithm ProgPoW during their weekly meeting on March 15.

Second-largest altcoin Ripple has lost about three quarters of a percent in the 24 hours to press time, and is currently trading at around $0.315. Looking at the coin’s weekly chart, its current price is over one and a half percent higher than $0.310, the price at which it started the week.

Ripple 7-day price chart. Source: CoinMarketCap

Among the top 20 cryptocurrencies, the only ones reporting gains are Bitcoin Cash (BCH), which is up nearly five and a half percent, Ontology (ONT), which is up over two percent, Dash (DASH) and Maker (MKR), both up over one and a half percent.

The total market cap of all cryptocurrencies is currently equivalent to $139.3 billion, which is over four and a half percent higher than $132.8 billion, the value it saw one week ago.

As Cointelegraph reported earlier today, Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, Bitcoin bulls and founders of the Gemini crypto exchange, say that while Facebook’s secretive crypto project is positive for the industry, crypto will ultimately usher in something greater than the social networking era.

In traditional markets, the stock market is seeing discreet growth so far today, with the S&P 500 up 0.15 percent and Nasdaq up 0.17 percent. The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), on the other hand, has gained a solid 2.87 percent on the day at press time.

Earlier today, CNBC reported that European markets are seeing growth, for Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank shares surged three percent as the banks discuss a merge.

Major oil futures and indexes are showing mixed movements today, with WTI Crude up 0.05 percent, Brent Crude up 0.22 percent and Mars US down 1.42 percent. Opec Basket is also up 1.04 percent and the Canadian Crude Index has seen its value increase by 0.37 percent, according to OilPrices.