Bitcoin: The cryptocurrency is on ice as rivals build momentum

After some erratic bleeps on its heart monitor last week gave some analysts cause to prepare hors d’oeuvres for BTC’s ‘welcome back’ party, the original cryptocurrency has shown little signs of coming out of its coma. No doubt we’ll see a repeat this weekend of the pattern that has formed much of the last month – a reasonable lift in price on Friday evening into Saturday, lots of encouragement on Sunday, all followed by a flop back down to a level slightly lower than the week before. All in all, this dull and repetitive cycle does little to break the state of what is, unquestionably, market apathy. 

Bitcoin just isn’t what it used to be. The excitement has been squeezed out of the market.

However, there is still a mounting interest in cryptocurrency which has to manifest itself somewhere.

Right now, that interest doesn’t lie with BTC. There’s simply little or no sport in trading bitcoin at present.

It will return. After all, being the first-to-market crypto with a decade of heritage under its belt, it’s hardly going to disappear.

Instead, the sensible traders will always be waiting in the wings in anticipation of bitcoin’s price hitting an attractively low level before buying in and sending the value skywards once again.

When that will happen is anyone’s guess but, given the current patterns and trajectory, it could well drag along its present path for many months to come.

Effectively, bitcoin has been put on ice.

But what of the investors still looking for a bit sport? Well, that scenario appears to playing out elsewhere. There’s no fun with BTC, but plenty of altcoins (alternative currencies to bitcoin) are enjoying something of a mini renaissance.

Take Stellar Lumens (XLM), for instance. Although small in stature, this tiny crypto has seen its price rocket by 35 percent lately.

With a unit value of around 11 cents, it looks – and indeed is – like small change next to the price of a bitcoin which stands at somewhere around $3,870.

Cardano too – albeit worth little more than $0.00001 – has spiked in price, as have the minnows Litecoin and EOS Token.

Ethereum – bitcoin’s nearest challenger at $133 – is also looking to make strong gains on its previous slump.

They may be small, but they are all gaining momentum. And while their values don’t yet match BTC, they are certainly attracting a great portion of interest.

It’s unlikely any of these coins will seriously challenge bitcoin’s right to the throne, but it does show how these crypto markets are played – investors are looking for excitement and profit, just as they do on traditional stock exchanges. Which all makes you think there’s little difference between trading commodities which you can touch and feel, and those which only exist in a digital form.

Coin Rivet is a website bringing news, information, analysis, opinion and insight from the fast-moving blockchain world.