Crypto Today: Bitcoin in consolidation near record highs
|The total market capitalization of all digital currencies increased by nearly 18% in the last seven days, rising from $206 billion on November 14 to an all-time high at $244 billion in the second half of the day on November 21, according to the latest available data on coinmarketcap.com. Although it's still recovering from the sharp volume loss that was witnessed earlier this month amid the cancellation of the SegwWit2X upgrade, bitcoin remains as the most dominant digital currency with a 56% market cap. Excluding bitcoin, the market cap sits at $106 billion, a tad below its highest-ever recorded level of $108 billion.
Despite the increasing market cap, the price volatility remained relatively low for the BTC/USD pair, which moved in a $250 pip range on Monday. After touching its fresh record high at $8280, the pair went into consolidation and started to move sideways in a very tight band. As of writing, the pair was trading at $8270, gaining 2.7% on the day. On the other hand, the ETH/USD pair rose more than 4% to refresh its highest level since late August at $370 while the BCH/USD pair added 1.6% to $1195.
On Monday, the CME Group shared fresh details about their bitcoin futures plan. "Effective Sunday 10 December 2017 for trade date Monday 11 December 2017, and pending all relevant regulatory review periods, please be advised that CME will launch Bitcoin Futures," the company announced on its website. Commenting on the underlying details of the statement, "for the contracts, CME explained, minimum price fluctuations (or "ticks") are pegged at $5 per bitcoin, representing a total of $25 for each one. Additional materials posted on CME's website also indicates how it will handle potentially large swings in the price of bitcoin," CoinDesk author Stan Higgins noted.
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