If you’ve stopped paying attention to the day-to-day movement of cryptocurrencies it might be time to start checking again. The volatile assets which have been in something of a bear market are soaring once again.
Indeed, nearly all the major digital coins staged impressive rallies in April, as investors returned to the market after the big falls suffered during the first quarter of 2018. Prices for the major coins including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Ripple and Litecoin enjoyed substantial gains for the month as market sentiment picked up, thanks to a less negative backdrop that included a few high profile investors and institutions announcing their plans to trade cryptocurrencies.
A Thomson Reuters survey last week found one in five financial institutions is considering trading cryptocurrencies in the next 12 months. Of those, 70% said they planned to start trading in the next three to six months.
Some in the market also attributed the move higher to reduced tax-selling pressure in the United States now that the April 17 tax-day deadline has passed. Additionally, on a technical basis, most digital currencies managed to break out of their downtrends and rise back above their respective 200-day moving averages, which usually signals that selling pressure has been exhausted.
Another encouraging sign: the smaller digital currencies, or altcoins, have led the charge higher in the past month, setting the tone for what could be a sustained rally in the overall crypto market.
Taking all these developments into consideration, the prices of nearly all the big-name, mainstream cryptocurrencies jumped this month. The value of the crypto market as a whole increasing by almost 40% from a month earlier, to $410 million.
Highlighting just how bullish the action in cryptos was in April, there are now 27 digital currencies with a market cap greater than $1 billion, compared to just 19 at the end of March. Of the 27, all closed the month in positive territory.
Below, we take a look at some of the biggest winners in April, among the 10 most valuable cryptocurrencies that logged the largest gains over the past month.
[Note: This post should not be considered an endorsement, nor be taken as investment advice. It’s merely our reporting of an observed phenomenon. Do your own due diligence before investing in any particular asset or asset class. Coin statistics were collected on April 30, 2018. Values might differ depending upon the date you’re reading on.]
4 Biggest Winners
1. EOS (EOS/USD): Month-to-Date Change +195%
EOS, similar to Ethereum in function, is a blockchain-based, decentralized system that enables the development, hosting, and execution of commercial-scale decentralized applications (dApps) on its platform.
The price of one EOS coin changed hands at $5.5960 on April 1, before soaring to an all-time high of $23.0000 on April 29. It ended the month at $17.4630, representing a monthly gain of 195%. Year-to-date, EOS is up 108% after starting the year at $7.6300.
At current prices, EOS ranks as the fifth biggest cryptocurrency in circulation, with a market cap of roughly $14.0 billion. The token’s market cap more than tripled last month, rising from roughly $4 billion at the start of April.
EOS is benefiting from several tailwinds, including an ongoing initial coin offering (ICO) and widespread faith in Dan Larimer, who currently serves as CTO of BlockOne and is leading the development of EOS.
Looking ahead, EOS is likely to enjoy more significant upside as long as momentum in the crypto market remains positive. Many in the crypto-community expect EOS to eventually become a true competitor to Ethereum. As such, some market players looking at the size of Ethereum's market cap are concluding that EOS is a bargain and has more room to run to catch up with Ethereum's value.
From a technical standpoint, price action remains constructive as long as it stays above the key 50-,100- and 200-day moving averages.
2. TRON (TRX/USD): Month-to-Date Change +175%
TRON is a decentralized open-source cryptocurrency that was founded by the TRON Foundation in March 2017. It aims to be a decentralized entertainment content sharing platform intended to allow content creators to cut down middlemen such as the Apple Store (NASDAQ:AAPL) or Google Play Store (NASDAQ:GOOGL) so providers can instantly receive funds directly from consumers.
The price of one TRX coin changed hands at $0.03194 on April 1, before surging 175% to end the month at $0.09300. It touched its best level since mid-January, $0.10030 on April 30.
At current levels, TRON has a market cap of approximately $5.9 billion, making it the ninth biggest cryptocoin in circulation. Year-to-date, TRX/USD is up 92%, making it the second biggest crypto gainer of the year, trailing only EOS.
TRX has recently been added to the Zebpay crypto exchange platform. That may be one of the reasons why the coin has been behaving so bullishly.
Underlying sentiment on the coin remains upbeat as users show faith in CEO Justin Sun, who appeared in the latest Forbes "30 Under 30 Asia" list. He founded Peiwo, an app aspiring to become China's Snapchat, and is considered the protégée of Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) founder Jack Ma.
Sun's close relationship with Ma and the fact that various developers of Alibaba.com have joined TRON has sparked speculation that a partnership between the cryptocurrency and the Chinese online shopping giant is in the works.
In light of these developments it's no wonder TRON has garnered major buzz on Twitter this month, as Sun has pointed out:
#TRON is the most mentioned #cryptocurrency - help us make it a #trendingtopic on Twitter! $TRX #TRONSR
3. Cardano (ADA/USD): Month-to-Date Change +127%
Cardano is a technology platform that runs the Ada cryptocurrency. Launched by blockchain development firm Input Output Hong Kong (IOHK) and led by Charles Hoskinson, former co-founder of Ethereum, the platform is capable of running financial applications, smart contracts, and decentralized applications.
Cardano's price on April 1 was $0.14800, before jumping approximately 127% to end the month at $0.33810. The digital currency reached its best level since February 18, hitting $0.38824 on April 29.
It is currently the sixth most valuable digital token in circulation with a market cap of around $8.5 billion. It ended March with a market value of $3.7 billion.
Cardano is still down 52% so far this year, making it—ironically—one of the worst performing cryptocurrencies of 2018 to this point.
Sentiment last month was boosted by the April 16 statement by Huobi, the second largest exchange in the world and China’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, announcing the listing of Cardano, with trading starting the day after the listing.
Cardano received another boost just a few days later, when Binance announced that it will be adding additional trading pairs for ADA. That has fueled speculation that Coinbase could be the next exchange to add Cardano to either its Coinbase exchange or to the GDAX platform.
From a technical standpoint, ADA/USD needs to stay above the 50DMA close to $0.30662 in the near-term to maintain its bullish price action.
4. Stellar (XLM/USD): Month-to-Date Change +106%
Stellar is an open-source protocol for exchanging money. It was founded in early 2014 as an offshoot of Ripple when Jed McCaleb, the co-founder, had philosophical differences with the rest of the Ripple board. While Ripple is focused on providing solutions to banks, Stellar aims to help facilitate payments between individuals.
Stellar ended April at $0.42376, for a gain of approximately 106% for the month. Its opening price on April 1 was $0.20490, before surging to $0.47090 on April 29, a level not seen in over two months.
At current levels, Stellar has a market cap of approximately $7.5 billion, making it the eighth biggest cryptocoin in circulation. Despite April's rally, however, Stellar is still about 10% off where it was at the start of 2018.
Like the rest of the crypto market, Stellar Lumens seems to be firmly on the path to recovery after a severe correction during the first quarter of the year. Much of Stellar’s gains this month came as a result of an announcement regarding its association with the Mobile Coin ICO, which raised $30 million on the Stellar network, highlighting its potential to become the next big ICO platform.
In terms of the technical chart, the action looks constructive as long as prices remain above their 100- and 200-day moving averages, which shows complete dominance by the bulls.
How The Rest Of The Top 10 Performed In April
In addition to the four digital coins mentioned above, here's a look at the gains recorded by the other six major coins that round out the Top 10 in terms of market capitalization:
Altcoins Mooning
Looking outside the Top 10, there were more than a few altcoins who's price went up astronomically this month—a phenomenon referred to among crypto aficionados as 'mooning'.
There appears no obvious reason why Aeternity has rocketed in value, though it could be that crypto traders are showing faith in founder Yanislav Malahov, the self-described ‘Godfather of Ethereum’.
OmiseGo's price rise is being attributed to the recent listing of OMG on Bithumb, one of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges in South Korea. The token was also listed on Zebpay, one of India's largest cryptocurrency exchanges.
According to the Bytecoin website, their Binance listing is currently in progress after months of community petitions and pleas to see the coin added to the world’s biggest digital currency exchange.
The sudden rise in the price of STEEM has taken traders by surprise, with some warning that this month's price spike is purely based on speculation.