Saturday, Oct. 12 — following a minor price rally earlier this week, crypto markets are trading sideways as the top-20 coins by market cap report mixed signals.

At press time, 8 out of the top 20 cryptocurrencies are seeing gains, with Binance Coin (BNB) surging nearly 2.8%. Chainlink (LINK) is seeing the biggest losses among the top 20, down more than 6.1%.

Market visualization. Source: Coin360

Bitcoin hovers around $8,300 level

After hitting $8,800 on Oct. 11, Bitcoin (BTC) has been hovering around $8,300 threshold for the most part of the day. At press time, the biggest cryptocurrency by market cap is trading at $8,329, down around 0.3% over the past 24 hours at press time. Over a seven-day period, Bitcoin is up by around 2.8%. Bitcoin’s market share rate has been stable over the day, accounting for 66.9%.

While some Bitcoin bulls are predicting that the upcoming Bitcoin’s block reward halving in May 2020 will lead the major cryptocurrency to break the all-time highs, the CEO at Chinese mining giant Bitmain recently claimed that the halving may not lead to a bull market.

On Oct. 8, American asset manager VanEck published research providing a number of reasons why Bitcoin improves an investment portfolio upside, emphasizing the coin’s monetary value, scarcity and independence from traditional markets.

Bitcoin 24-hour price chart. Source: Coin360

Ether (ETH), the second cryptocurrency by market cap, is down 0.6% over the day to trade at $182 at press time. The top altcoin is seeing significant growth this week, up more than 4% over the past seven days at press time.

Earlier this week, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin declared that after the Ethereum blockchain adopts its proof-of-stake consensus algorithm, it will be more secure and expensive to attack than Bitcoin.

Ether seven-day price chart. Source: Coin360

Ripple (XRP), the third top cryptocurrency by market cap, is up around 0.2% and trading at $0.272. Over a seven-day period, the coin is up by more than 7%.

Ripple seven-day price chart. Source: Coin360

Total market capitalization amounts to $224 billion at press time, seeing no change over the past 24 hours at press time. Over the past 7 days, total market cap grew by $8 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.

U.S. regulators reject Grams and Bitwise ETF

The markets are reporting mixed signals after major American regulators rejected two significant crypto-related initiatives earlier this week. On Oct. 11, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed an emergency action and restraining order against Telegram and the Telegram Open Network (TON), claiming that the firm’s $1.7 billion Gram (GRM) token sale in 2018 was illegal.

On Oct. 9, the SEC rejected a proposal to list a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) by Bitwise Asset Management and NYSE Arca, claiming that the ETF filing did not comply with the necessary requirements.

Meanwhile, another major U.S. regulator, Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) expressed confidence that Ether is a commodity and that ETH futures trading is becoming a reality. On Oct. 10, CFTC chairman Heath Tarbert confirmed the authorities believe that Bitcoin is a commodity, adding that forked cryptocurrencies should be treated similarly.