Bitcoin Gold Leads Crypto Market Recovery With 40% Gain

Smaller cryptocurrencies surged Monday as bitcoin saw a relief rally, tracking signs of risk reset in traditional markets.

Leading the market higher at 9.38 am ET was bitcoin gold, a cryptocurrency created via a hard fork of bitcoin in mid-November 2017. The 4-1/2-year-old cryptocurrency changed hands at $27, representing a 40% gain on a 24-hour basis. Prices reached $32 during the early US hours, hitting the highest since May 11, Forbes data shows.

While the exact catalyst for the outsized gain is unknown, the move has come on the back of solid volumes. Chart analysts consider low volume rallies as bull traps powered by fumes and just a few traders.

The daily bitcoin gold-tether (BTG-USDT) volume bar on Binance, the dominant crypto exchange, is the highest since June 2021, according to the charting platform TradingView.

Other notable winners with double-digit gains are decentralized exchange SushiSwap’s SUSHI token, decentralized open-source network Neo’s NEO cryptocurrency, and Ethereum Classic’s native coin ETC. All three are still down 90% from their respective record highs and witnessing what looks like a classic oversold bounce.

Meanwhile, smart contract platform Zilliqa’s ZIL token topped the list of biggest losers with a 3.5% drop. The cryptocurrency surged nearly 390% in the seven days to April 1 on optimism stemming from the the-then impending launch of Metapolis, Zilliqa’s metaverse-as-a-Service (MaaS) platform. The optimism, however, fizzled out in the subsequent weeks, and the cryptocurrency crashed to $0.04 early this month, reversing the late March rally.

Alternative cryptocurrencies (altcoins) are typically seen as leveraged plays on bitcoin and ether. Therefore, if bitcoin extends its recovery in the coming weeks, smaller altcoins, which are relatively cheaper, could continue to top the gainers’ list.

Traders typically track the ether-bitcoin pair to understand the next possible move in altcoins, as historically, altcoins have done well during periods of a sustained uptick in the ratio.

At press time, the ratio is holding just above the trendline rising from June 2021 and October 2021 lows. A strong bounce from the trendline might mean a return of the bull to the ether and altcoin market. On the other hand, a breakdown of the support could be taken to represent risk-off, a period in which traders rotate money out of altcoins and into bitcoin and/or stablecoins.