“When AltSeason 2?” has been lingering in the minds of many crypto speculators and investors for the better part of this year. Apart from a few brief moments when bitcoin was rather stagnant, there haven’t been any concrete signs of reliving an altseason. In fact, the situation for a majority of the top altcoins has even gotten worse.
Earlier this week, as the crypto market was engulfed in an unexpected bloodbath, bitcoin plunged by around 8%. Ethereum and Ripple’s XRP, on the other hand, were both down by more than 14%. Again, as bitcoin recovered from $6,400 lows to above $7,100, ETH and XRP remained sluggish as they posted meagre gains. This trend has seen bitcoin’s dominance index soar from 66.7% to the current 68.1%. Currently, at a $130 billion market cap out of the aggregate market cap of $191 billion, the alt season seems like a pipe dream.
And one renowned trader expects bitcoin’s dominance to continue rising as altcoins slowly lose ground.
ETH, XRP To ‘Slow Bleed’ As Bitcoin Dominance Breaches 78%
Bitcoin’s dominance crossed the 70% mark in early September but was unable to hold above the level. Nonetheless, analyst going by the online alias Velvet believes bitcoin will achieve a long run above the 70% dominance mark. Precisely, he expects BTC dominance to hit 78% by March next year, representing a jump of around 10% from the present level.
As the flagship cryptocurrency hits 78% dominance, the prices of top altcoins like ethereum and XRP will slow bleed.
For XRP, other analysts concur. Despite having fallen to a level last seen 2 years ago, CEO of Hedge Fund BitBull, Joe DiPasquale said that XRP might drop further. DiPasquale noted that the recent revelation by MoneyGram could be a final nail in the coffin for XRP.
He told Forbes:
“XRP has been historically very sensitive to adoption-related news pertaining to banking and money services partners, since they represent the biggest clientele for Ripple’s services… Now, with Bitcoin’s price also experiencing downward pressure, we expect the cryptocurrency to slide further due to this news.”
The particular news that he was referring to was the revelation by MoneyGram CEO, Alex Holmes that neither he nor the company holds any XRP tokens.
For perspective, earlier this year, Ripple struck a strategic partnership with one of the largest money transfer companies in the world, MoneyGram. Through this collaboration, MoneyGram implemented Ripple’s On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) service which uses XRP to foster cross-border payments. Many XRP investors speculated that this would be a major shot in the arm for XRP adoption and XRP price in the long haul.
However, speaking to CNN’s Julia Chatterley, Holmes revealed that the company does not hold any XRP token due to regulatory issues. In short, the company sells XRP immediately it is received.
Bitcoin To Hit $20,000 By March 2020?
We are at that time of the year when market experts are making predictions for crypto next year. Most analysts, however, are split on how the bitcoin price will react before and after the halving next year. Can BTC price really hit $20,000 in early 2020?
Well according to Velvet, BTC could skyrocket to $20,000 by March next year. His rationale is premised on the fact that bitcoin has historically soared prior to a reward halving event.
Further, Velvet explained that this week’s close for bitcoin is super crucial and bitcoin will need to hold the trend line. Per Velvet, breaching this line has always led to BTC slipping to a bear market.
If Velvet’s analysis is right, bitcoin will experience a pre-halving rally as it has in the past two market cycles – possibly hitting the elusive $20,000 mark.
