On July 26, 2020, the cryptocurrency market experienced a strong rally, with the total market capitalization of all digital assets steadily approaching the $300 billion mark. Bitcoin (BTC) touched a high of $10,135 during early morning trading sessions, but Ethereum (ETH) stole the spotlight with even more impressive gains.
Bitcoin and Ethereum: A Tale of Two Leaders
By late afternoon Eastern Time, Bitcoin was fluctuating between $9,900 and $9,950, up over 2.3% on the day. Its market cap stood at about $182.6 billion, but its dominance ratio dropped to 61%, the lowest since June 2019, indicating capital rotation toward altcoins like Ethereum.
Ethereum traded at $307, gaining 3.6% on the day and a massive 30% over the past week, compared to Bitcoin's mere 8% weekly gain. Over the last 30 days, ETH climbed 35%, and 58% over 90 days. Analysts attributed the rally to the booming DeFi and stablecoin ecosystem on Ethereum, pushing prices to new 2020 highs.
Altcoins and Market Structure
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) spiked to the $253 range on Sunday morning before retreating, ending the day down 0.84%. BCH's market cap stood at $4.5 billion, representing 1.53% of the total crypto market. Among BCH trading pairs, Tether (USDT) accounted for 61% of daily volume, followed by BTC (17.50%), USD (5.53%), KRW (5.16%), and TWD (3.40%). The BCH/ETH pair contributed only 1.56%.
Sunday's top gainers included Elysian (ELY +61.02%), Datawallet (DXT +40.79%), Egretia (EGT +31.50%), Elrond (ERD +25.12%), and Travala (AVA +25%). The biggest losers were Starbase (STAR -29.16%), Zap (ZAP -27.47%), Karatgoldcoin (KBC -23.09%), Boscoin (BOS -21.54%), and Yearn Finance (YFI -21.31%).
Ethereum Still Far from All-Time High
Despite the strong performance, Ethereum's price on Sunday was still 78% below its all-time high (ATH) set three years ago. In comparison, Bitcoin was only 50.5% down from its ATH. On the same day, gold surpassed $1,900 per ounce, but crypto assets outperformed the precious metal, reflecting broad bullish sentiment across the market.