Investing.com – Prices of both bitcoin and ethereum steadied on Friday, after a volatile week saw both cryptocurrencies set record highs before gains were pared amid profit taking and downbeat comments from analysts.
On the U.S.-based GDAX exchange, BTC/USD rose to $2,481.50, up 9.64%.
Despite hitting a record high of $3,000 on Monday, bitcoin remained on track to post a weekly loss for the first time in nine weeks in the wake of recent comments from analysts and traders alike, signalling a potential downturn for publicly traded cryptocurrencies.
Goldman Sachs chief technician Sheba Jafari, recently warned investors that bitcoin could be heading for bearish territory.
Meanwhile, Ethereum rose to $358.91, up 13.58%, as investors continue to expect that Ethereum would be the alternative cryptocurrency that usurps bitcoin as the largest and best capitalized blockchain – a phenomenon referred to as “the flippening”.
Since the start of the year, bitcoin has soared roughly 200% to a total value of around $41 billion while Ethereum, which was trading a notch under $8.00 at the start of the year, has surged more than 5,000% to a total value of around $34 billion.
Both cryptocurrencies have easily outperformed U.S. stock benchmarks such as S&P 500 index and Nasdaq in 2017, both are up about 15% and 8% year-to-date, respectively.