Bitcoin, Ether extend gains; top 10 cryptos mixed

Bitcoin, Ether gained in Friday afternoon trading in Asia, while all other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies were mixed. Litecoin led the losers, followed by XRP. Tron gained the most, followed by Binance’s BNB. 

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Bitcoin still around US$29,000

Bitcoin gained 0.58% to US$29,184 in 24 hours to 4 p.m. in Hong Kong, bringing its weekly gains to 0.19%, according to CoinMarketCap data. The world’s largest cryptocurrency’s market capitalization rose 0.39% in the last 24 hours to US$566.96 billion.

“Trading is all about attractive risk-reward opportunities, and the calmness that keeps Bitcoin pinned at US$29,000 will not last long. Traders can exploit the collapse in implied and realized volatility and buy cheap upside calls,” Markus Thielen, head of research and strategy at digital asset service platform Matrixport, said in an emailed report on Thursday. 

“Our Greed & Fear index continues to trade lower, signaling that Bitcoin prices (and Ethereum) could continue to correct lower,” Thielen added.

Ether, the world’s second biggest cryptocurrency also gained 0.27% in the past 24 hours to US$1,835, although posted a loss of 1.22% on the week.

Most top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies traded mixed on Friday afternoon. Litecoin led losses, dropping 3.47% to US$82.88, bringing its weekly losses to 8.85%. Litecoin’s third halving event earlier this week failed to boost prices given continued difficulties in broader markets. Litecoin’s latest halving event cut the network’s mining rewards from 12.5 Litecoins per blockchain minted to 6.25 Litecoins, which will reduce the supply of new Litecoins from miners.

XRP was the day’s second biggest loser, dropping 1.73% to US$0.6587. The token has fallen 6.75% in the past seven days, as the dispute between Ripple Labs and the U.S. SEC continues. 

In a summary judgment in July, New York Southern District Court Judge Analisa Torres ruled that Ripple’s programmatic sales of the XRP token on public exchanges do not constitute securities, but the verdict also said that Ripple’s XRP sales to institutional investors violated securities laws.

Ripple’s chief executive Brad Garlinghouse took to Twitter on Wednesday to criticize the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for using XRP’s transparency reports against the company as part of the lawsuit. 

“We began these reports to voluntarily provide updates given our XRP holdings. Sadly, they were used against us in the SEC lawsuit – however, we remain steadfast in our commitment to transparency but I suspect they’re going to look a bit different moving forward,” Garlinghouse said. 

Among gainers, Tron rose the most, climbing 1.28% to US$0.07742, although it declined 6.9% on the week. BNB, the native token of world’s largest crypto exchange Binance, was the second-biggest gainer in the past 24 hours, rising 1.09% to US$241.88, and posted a 0.48% gain on the week. 

The total crypto market capitalization rose 0.16% to US$1.16 trillion, while market volume dropped 12.74% to US$29.02 billion in the past 24 hours.