Bitcoin and Beyond: Top Cryptocurrencies in 2020

As 2020 nears its end, it’s safe to say that this year has seen cryptocurrency markets climbing significantly in spite of global economic turmoil brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic. Overall, the crypto markets have been thriving while stock and currency markets experienced a considerable loss of value since the mid-March market crash. In this article, we take a look at the year’s biggest Crypto wins! 

Bitcoin – A Star Performer

A star-performer in the crypto category is the largest and most popular asset, Bitcoin. According to coinmarketcap.com, Bitcoin began the year trading around the $7,411 level per coin, gaining approximately 159% to date. Moreover, when taking into consideration the ‘Black Thursday’ market crash on March 12th, BTC’s price gained an impressive 433% from its low of $3,600. 

Indeed, Bitcoin’s current price levels have not been seen since December 2017, when the pioneering crypto reached its last all-time high. At the end of November 2020, Bitcoin finally reached a new all-time high falling just under $20,000! While the price has now fluctuated between around the $18,000 and $19,000 mark, it’s an impressive feat nonetheless. 

It may come as a surprise, but Bitcoin was not the top performing crypto of the year.

Although Bitcoin is the top cryptocurrency when it comes to market valuation, there were many other digital assets that displayed an even more impressive performance in 2020. Most of these, however, did not surpass their all-time highs as Bitcoin did. Take Ethereum, for example, which began the year at just $136 per coin. Ethereum’s price has recently been floating around the $595 mark, which is a 337% gain since January.

Ripple is another coin that has outperformed Bitcoin this year, jumping from $0.19 per coin to $0.61 a token giving XRP a 221% gain. Litecoin, Polkadot, Cardano and Stellar have also seen relatively large gains at the same time as Bitcoin’s price surge. 

Does this mean that traders should drop Bitcoin and focus their attention on less popular coins? Not at all. If history has taught us anything, it’s that altcoins tend to benefit from Bitcoin’s success, and suffer the consequences when Bitcoin’s price falls. Smaller coins can have larger percentage moves, but Bitcoin remains the largest coin by market value by far. 

Looking at the success of other cryptocurrencies helps shape a better understanding of the cryptosphere. 2021 is expected to bring increased accessibility and accelerated adoption of cryptocurrencies, with tech giants Paypal, Square and Facebook all working on major crypto projects. Experts believe that cryptocurrencies will continue to break new records in the year ahead, providing ample opportunities for traders to profit.

Looking for a place to trade? With LonghornFX, you can get access to Crypto, Forex and other CFDs with up to 1:500 leverage. Open a free account at www.longhornfx.com and start trading with just a $10 deposit.

Sign Up to LonghornFX