Over the past 24 hours, Ripple (XRP) has overtaken Ethereum once again with a 7 percent surge in price, achieving a market valuation of $24.28 billion.

The market cap of Ethereum remains slightly below that of Ripple at $24.15 billion and based on the weak volume of XRP, it is likely that Ethereum will regain its position as the second most valuable cryptocurrency in the short-term.

Ripple has taken over Ethereum on three occasions in 2018, all of which occurred in the second half of September. Subsequent to recording a three-fold increase in price, many investors expected Ripple to retrace and XRP to demonstrate a minor correction due to oversold conditions displayed by the market.

Yet, XRP continues to increase rapidly in value, directly competing against Ethereum for the number two spot in the global cryptocurrency market.

Trend of the Market

On September 27, the cryptocurrency market seemed to be initiating a strong corrective rally as Bitcoin surpassed the $6,700 mark and moved closer to the $6,800 resistance level. However, on September 28, Bitcoin recorded a slight drop in value to $6,500.

In the past few hours, Bitcoin has demonstrated some momentum in the mid-$6,000 regions, after closing above the $6,550 mark on September 29. Prominent crypto trader Luke Martin wrote yesterday that the closure of Bitcoin at $6,550 will most likely lead to a positive short-term trend.

“Would be a bullish sign for BTC to get the daily close above $6,550 zone. Since they’re still highly correlated would be positive for alts too and could make a stronger case that the recent higher lows would hold,” Martin said.

On Saturday, Bitcoin closed above the $6,550 zone and rebounded to $6,630, which has led the majority of small market cap cryptocurrencies in the global market to recover.

“BTC daily was able to close above the $6,550 zone. Successful retest on the daily and as noted above. This gives alts a nice boost as well, lots of good movers early Sunday morning,” he added.

The positive short-term trend of Bitcoin could lead the market to record decent gains in the upcoming days, especially if the volume of BTC increases in the next 12 to 24 hours. In comparison to last week, the volume of the dominant cryptocurrency remains fairly low, and relative to the recovery in the volume of ETH and XRP, BTC has slightly lagged behind.

ETH and XRP Rally

XRP has already recorded a strong 7 percent gain in the past 12 hours. But, based on the volume and short-term price trend, ETH is primed for a corrective rally and in the upcoming days, ETH is expected to record decent gains to challenge XRP.

Tokens have not shown strong momentum despite the positive price movement of major cryptocurrencies including BTC, ETH, and XRP, which suggests that alternative cryptocurrencies may engage in a large rally in the weeks to come. In the short-term, however, tokens will likely fall behind major digital assets.

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