Bitcoin Bounces Back From September Crash; Coders Tout Ethereum

NEW YORK (Capital Markets in Africa) – Bitcoin gained the most since before last month’s flash crash, while Ethereum rallied even more as developers gathered at the biggest conference for the community behind the second-largest cryptocurrency.

The rally is partly the result of an update on the development of next-generation Ethereum network and new financial apps at the Devcon conference in Japan that started yesterday, according to Josh Lim, head of the trading strategy at Galaxy Digital.

“Volumes have been a little bit lackluster since the sell-off,” Lim said. “But today, and starting over the last week, we’ve seen a resurgence of interest in alt-coins. The leaders in that regard have been Ethereum and Ripple.”

Bitcoin gained as much as 6.6% to $8,662, while Ether jumped as much as 9.7% to $191.81.

Lim said the rally could potentially have legs, with Bitcoin going into the low $9,000s.

Some technical measures followed by traders support the argument. Based on the GTI Vera Convergence Divergence Indicator, it appears Bitcoin is about to trigger a buy signal as the Vera line poised to cross the signal line, which could trigger a rally in the largest cryptocurrency. This would be the first buy signal in about a month, potentially ending the longest selling trend since August.

Tuesday’s rally follows a rut that started in June and deepened on Sept. 19, reducing the market value of cryptocurrencies by about 40% as the escalation of the trade conflict between the U.S. and China boosted risk aversion.

“We are starting to see more demand pick up in the market,” Lim said. “We’ve heard a lot of buyers coming out of emerging market economies. There is certainly some interest coming out of Latin America, there’s a lot of unrest in other parts of the world. “

Source: Bloomberg Business News