Key takeaways:
- It took Bitcoin more than half a year to reach prices this high again
- In April, the list of the top 10 cryptocurrencies looked a lot different than it does today
- Altcoins and stablecoins have been gaining popularity over recent months
Are you wondering about how the market has changed since Bitcoin last hit $60K in mid-April? We’re taking a look at historical market data to see what has changed in the last six months.
Notable changes in the cryptocurrency top 10
Let’s start the comparison by looking at a list of the top 10 cryptocurrencies on April 12. The total market cap had just surpassed $2 trillion a few days before, and Bitcoin was trading above the $60K mark for the second time in history at that point.
Like now, the trio of Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Binance Coin (BNB) was occupying the first three spots on the list of largest digital currencies. The first thing that jumps out is that Ethereum was trading far below today’s levels as it had an 80% lower market value than it does today.
Bitcoin dominance was approaching new heights as Bitcoin went on to reach its all-time high price of $64,800 just two days later, on April 14. The 4th to 6th spots belonged to XRP (XRP), Cardano (ADA), and Tether (USDT). Polkadot (DOT) was trading near its all-time high, while Litecoin (LTC) was experiencing a strong rally that pulled its price from $196 on March 25 to $250 on April 12. ChainLink (LINK) and Stellar (XLM) rounded up the top 10 list.
Altcoins have gained ground on Bitcoin in the last six months
We’re fast-forwarding to October 15, when Bitcoin managed to again break $60K on the heels of positive news surrounding the first-ever ETF launching in the US. The same trio of cryptocurrencies still sits at the top; however, both ETH and BNB now enjoy a much high market cap. Ethereum’s London hard fork that went live early in August is mainly responsible for the almost 80% price increase.
The remainder of the list has seen some significant changes in the period of the last six months. For starters, XLM, LINK, and LTC have slipped out of the top 10 and have been replaced by newcomers to the list.
Solana (SOL) has managed to become the 7th largest digital currency by market cap after gaining a whopping 10,400% since the start of the year. Dogecoin is the first ‘memecoin’ to break into the top 10.
Stablecoins have been gaining popularity in recent months. USDT’s market cap has increased by a third, while USD Coin managed to join the group of 10 largest coins on a $21 billion valuation.
While Bitcoin has almost the same market capitalization in our two market snapshots, the total cryptocurrency market cap is 17% larger in October than in April. The reason for this is simple – altcoins have been gaining momentum. For reference, on October 15, Bitcoin dominance was 15% smaller than in April.
At the time of this writing, Bitcoin is exchanging hands at $63,840 and is just 1.51% removed from its previous ATH. Furthermore, the cumulative value of digital assets has reached a new peak above $2.6 trillion on October 19. Let’s see where this bullish momentum can take us and how it will shape the industry’s landscape over the next six months.
