Surge in Big Cryptocurrencies Good for Smaller Players
The media has been awash in news coverage about the spiking, and sometimes plummeting, valuations in Bitcoin and a few other large cryptocurrencies over the past 6 – 12 months.
That is great PR for the entire cryptocurrency industry.
When Bitcoin launched in 2009 it was virtually worthless. Today, the price of one Bitcoin hovers around $2,600 and the total market value of Bitcoin is around $42 billion.
Coming in at second place in the crypto market is Ethereum, with a price around $260 per unit and a market capitalization of approximately $24 billion.
The run-up in Bitcoin and Ethereum is good for the overall industry because it gets more people around the world interested in cryptocurrencies. The total cryptocurrency market stands at around $100 billion today.
But all this sudden interest among people who may or may not understand what cryptos are really about, creates great volatility for the largest crytpos as investors large and small pile into the better known cryptos like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Six weeks ago, for example, Bitcoin ran up 12% to more than $2,700, only to plunge by $300 in a single day. On June 21, Ethereum suffered a historic “flash crash,” sinking to $13 per unit from $296 in a matter of minutes. It has since recovered most of its value.
Larger market capitalization cryptos like these two players have been subject to wide swings in valuation as investors move in and out of them, looking to lock in gains, ride a perceived rising tide, or cut loses on major sell-offs.
For investors looking for exposure to the cryptocurrency market but want to avoid the fluctuations in value of the top few cryptos, it may be wise to look at lesser known cryptocurrencies such as PotCoin, OneCoin, vSlice or Mysterium.
True, you may not have heard of any of these, but there once was a time when you hadn’t heard of Bitcoin or Ethereum either.
These lesser known cryptos have much smaller market caps, but may also provide for less volatility since they generally get less attention.
If Bitcoin and Ethereum lift all boats in the crypto market, the small cap cryptos will likely see much less volatility, with way more upside for the enterprising crypto investor.
