Bitcoin Extends Price Anniversary Rally to Hit $3,800 as Altcoins Surge Higher

Wednesday, Dec. 19 — Cryptocurrency markets continue a fresh rally with Bitcoin (BTC) touching $3,800 and leading altcoins to claw back their latest losses.

Market visualization from Coin360

Data from Cointelegraph’s own price index, CoinMarketCap and Coin360 confirms the extended rebound, which began late Monday and continued through Tuesday.

After a slight correction, almost all of the top 20 assets by market cap began climbing higher again, with BTC/USD finding support at $3,750.

Last week, the pair had dipped as low as $3,130 amid warnings that a much larger fall could be imminent, potentially taking Bitcoin to $1,300 or lower.

At press time, the largest cryptocurrency was trading on major exchanges for around $3,830.

Bitcoin 7-day price chart. Source: CoinMarketCap

In altcoin markets, it was Bitcoin Cash (BCH) which led the resurgence, the asset having previously fallen more precipitously than most, to trade well below its August 2017 issuing price.

Having climbed two places higher in the market cap rankings since Tuesday, BCH traded around $117 at press time, capping 33 percent daily gains.

Bitcoin Cash 7-day price chart. Source: CoinMarketCap

Later, Waves (WAVES) exceeded BCH’s growth rate, climbing 59 percent on the day to reach $4.34 and reenter the top 20.

Other impressive performances were displayed by IOTA (MIOTA), at 20.5 percent, TRON, at 18.5 percent, and Ripple (XRP) at 13.9 percent.

Ethereum (ETH), formerly the largest altcoin by market cap before being overtaken by XRP, also managed to scrape into triple figures after falling to its lowest levels in 18 months.

ETH had shown itself to be highly susceptible to Bitcoin’s own volatility in recent weeks, at press time nonetheless gaining over 11 percent to hit $104.

Ethereum 7-day price chart. Source: CoinMarketCap

A year ago, BTC/USD had hit its record price of over $20,000 on some exchanges.