Ethereum Rises Above $1,140 as Market Cap Surpasses That of XRP

The past 24 hours have been rather eventful for all cryptocurrencies. With CoinMarketCap.com no longer taking South Korean prices into account, all currencies are slowly losing momentum. In the case of the Ethereum price, things are still going according to plan. Thanks to some solid gains against both USD and BTC, Ethereum has reclaimed the second spot on the list of cryptocurrencies ranked by market cap.

The Ethereum Market is Doing Just Fine

It is evident that the removal of Korean prices from the equation has made all cryptocurrencies look bad. While some coins are still rising in value, it is evident most of them will undergo a correction phase later today. It also has had an effect on the Ethereum price, especially after the bull run last night. While the Ethereum price soared to US$1,266, the momentum couldn’t be maintained for very long. That’s not entirely surprising, as everything is taking a hit right now.

To be sure, the Ethereum market is experiencing a correction. That’s not because it was artificially pumped, but mainly because Bithumb has always been an important trading platform for this currency. Unfortunately, South Korean exchanges currently value Ether at over US$1,700, whereas the rest of the world still has yet to surpass US$1,150. This discrepancy has now been rectified on CoinMarketCap, and its current price represents the actual value of ETH a lot better.

As a result, the Ethereum price chart shows a steep drop from US$1,266 all the way down to US$1,145. This drop is artificial, though, as the latter number represents the actual value per ETH on the market right now. Even so, CMC indicates that Ethereum managed a strong 10.48% gain over Bitcoin in the past 24 hours, which confirms that everything is just fine as far as the Ethereum market is concerned. By tomorrow, everyone will have forgotten about this adjustment.

Ethereum’s 24-hour trading volume of almost US$7 billion is something to behold as well. Although 5.5% of this volume came from Bithumb, that’s only a drop in the bucket. Binance is the clear market leader in this regard, with over US$605 million in 24-hour volume. OKEx is the surprising second-place market, although it is US$190 million behind Binance. There are only two fiat currency markets among the top five, with one of the two not being factored into the Ethereum price. It’s an interesting scenario well worth keeping an eye on.

One thing to keep in mind is that the ETH/BTC trading pair will take the spotlight for the remainder of the day. How that will shake up the markets remains to be determined, though. As Bitcoin is encountering another rough patch – mainly because of the CMC adjustment – it will drag everything down with it. No one should be surprised to see the Ethereum price dip below US$1,100 again today, but it will adjust in due time.

For the time being, traders need to exercise extreme caution. All markets are prone to more volatility now than ever before, by the look of things. The Ethereum price is still in a good place as we speak, but it will go through a bit of a rough patch until the world realizes where the initial decline came from. CoinMarketCap’s decision to better reflect the actual market value of all cryptocurrencies will pay off in spades in the future.