Bitcoin heading for monthly gain, Ethereum outperforms By Investing.com

By Samuel Indyk

Investing.com – The price of was steady above $47,000 on Tuesday and heading for its second consecutive monthly gain after the previous two months of losses.

For the month, Bitcoin is trading higher by around 15% having risen over 18% in July.

is outperforming on Tuesday, having risen around 7.5% in the last 24 hours. The jump in price may be a relief rally after a bug in the blockchain appears to have been weathered.

The bug had affected older versions of the Ethereum network client Geth which had resulted in nodes splitting from the main network. The bug had increased the risk of counterfeit Ethereum tokens.

Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin said there had been an attempt to exploit the bug but that it was being solved.

The price had dropped as low as $3,060 when the bug was first identified but has rallied to over $3,400 today.

For the month, Ethereum is also outperforming Bitcoin, having risen over 35% throughout August.

However, the rally pales into insignificance compared to some of its upcoming rivals in Decentralised Finance (DeFi) applications.

and have been the two best performing major cryptocurrencies during August, having risen 174% and 114%, respectively.

Both are benefitting from expectations that their own DeFi projects will provide greater competition to Ethereum.

The recent boom in non-fungible tokens (NFTs) is also providing a boon for the two cryptocurrencies.  

During August, the developers of Cardano announced that the Alonzo Purple upgrade would take place on 12^th September. The upgrade is set to integrate smart contracts on the network which paves the way for decentralised applications.

Bitcoin Future Price Action

Bitcoin has been trading in a relatively narrow range between $46,500 and $50,500 over the last two weeks and has failed to make a clean break either side of the range since 19^th August.

The world’s largest cryptocurrency remains above its 200-day moving average which currently resides around $46,070.

Some analysts have pointed to the fact that Bitcoin failed to firmly break $50,000 over the weekend as a sign that momentum is slowing and that a correction could be coming.

“There have been many signs recently that the cryptocurrency is preparing for a correction, with the technicals all seem to be pointing the same way,” said OANDA Senior Market Analyst Craig Erlam.

“Rallies fading quicker, momentum indicators displaying divergences, a failed new high being a few.

“None of this means its best days are behind it and that we’ve seen the top, but perhaps that a decent correction could follow.

“A move below $46,000 could see that accelerate with the key area then becoming $40,000-41,000.”