cryptovibes.com
Bitcoin has been on a roller coaster in the past few months. Many proponents thought that it would hit a new all-time high before the end of 2019. However, that may not happen if it continues to oscillate around the $10,000 level. As Bitcoin appears range-bound, another crypto has decided to take the lead in pushing the crypto markets higher: Stellar.
Stellar is a bitcoin rival and now sits at the 10th position by value. Since peaking in 2018, the price of XLM has dropped from the skies like a stone. But, on September 18, it seemed determined to get back on top of its levels. The token is currently volatile, rising and falling rapidly, which may favour the daily traders.
As the general crypto market keeps bleeding on September 19, only IOTA, Chainlink, and Stellar are surging. While Bitcoin remains relatively quiet and sometimes correcting slightly, Stellar continues to rise. In the past few hours, it has already gained over 20% in the Asian session awaiting the European market to determine its next price action.
In spite of giving up most of yesterday’s gains, the stellar price is still looking upwards. It has gained almost 50% in the past few days although there is no specific reason for these massive gains. Before starting this rapid surge, the stellar price hit a year-to-date low of $0.05 this month.
Notably, the stellar price has dropped almost 91% since it hit its all-time high. That is not strange since it is a similar case to many of the other mid-tier cryptos that rode on bitcoin’s coattails in the epic 2017 Bull Run.
The Underlying Scenario
Bitcoin and general crypto market watchers, experts and analysts on Twitter were quick to point to a so-called pump-and-dump moving the Stellar price in the past few days. They think that few traders are buying significant amounts of the asset to push the price higher before they sell the tokens at inflated prices.
That was a quick pump & dump #stellar $XLM
— The Original™ (@FadeFriend) September 18, 2019
Nonetheless, a Twitter bot that tracks huge trades and transactions in most major cryptos, has not recorded any large stellar transactions recently. Stellar was created in 2014 by Ripple co-founder Jed McCaleb.
However, it remained somewhat quiet until recently when the Stellar Development Foundation made an interesting announcement. It said that it will give away 2 billion of its tradable token XLM in the next 20 months. That giveaway is worth around $124 million at current prices.
The move may provoke a reaction from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission if not handled appropriately, according to reports. Earlier in the week, huge gains among other major altcoins like XRP, ethereum, and litecoin raised heated debates and speculations. Some of the commentators speculated that the long-suffering altcoin market could be making a comeback to challenge Bitcoin’s dominance.
According to a note written by Mati Greenspan, an eToro senior market analyst, dated September 18:
“Looking at the crypto markets right now, it’s plain to see that bitcoin has been extremely stable. It seems that while bitcoin’s performance is lagging, some of the altcoins have been zooming. To me, it seems like it’s still a bit early to be calling this an ‘altseason’ but it certainly has the potential to turn into one.”
Price Analysis
Currently, Stellar is transacting at around $0.086816 and all indicators point to an extended upside move. XLM could be leading the way for an altcoin season that will see the effects of the persistent 2018 bearish trends neutralized. At one point on September 18, the token had surged by a staggering 52% to reach highs of $0.088.
While it is still not clear what the cause of this abrupt surge is, it is worth mentioning that XLM has been in the accumulation phase for a long time.