Bitcoin Cash Outpaces Crypto Consolidation with 20% Spike

The top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization look to be consolidating today, generally trading flat to positive below yesterday's highs.

Currently, the total market capitalization of all currencies is $380 billion – down just 5 percent from a high of $401.87 billion seen yesterday. The total value is also up 40 percent from the low of $276 billion seen on Feb. 6, according to CoinMarketCap data.

The notable exception to this sideways trading, however, is bitcoin cash (BCH).

At time of writing, the cryptocurrency had spiked more than 23 percent in 24 hours, a figure that was outpacing averages across the market.

Bitcoin cash (BCH), the world's fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, is clearly leading the pack. At the current price of $1,207, BCH is trading 18 percent above the previous day's high of $1,040 and almost 60 percent above Tuesday's low of $764.

Bitcoin

(BTC) is trading at $8,468, currently – down 0.48 percent from the previous day's high of $8,509.11. That said, on Coinbase's GDAX exchange, BTC is trading well above the 200-day moving average of $8,020. Further, the cryptocurrency breached the key trendline resistance earlier today, and could soon witness a sustained move above the previous day's high of $8,650 (as per CoinMarketCap).

Meanwhile, other names like ethereum's ether token, Ripple's XRP token, cardano, litecoin, NEO are all down at least 3 percent from yesterday's peaks.

Clearly, the broader markets are consolidating and a move above the highs seen yesterday would establish a higher high (bullish chart pattern) on the price charts, thus opening doors for further gains.

Disclosure: CoinDesk is a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which has an ownership stake in Coinbase and Ripple.

Kart race image via Shutterstock