The cryptocurrency markets continued their Christmas recovery on Wednesday. Led by strong performances from both the bitcoin price and ripple price, the cryptocurrency market cap recovered back above $600 billion for the first time since Dec. 23.

At one point this morning, the cryptocurrency market cap rose as high as $620 billion, although it has since ebbed to $608 billion, which constitutes a single-day increase of $30 billion and represents a 44 percent increase from the low it set during last week’s correction.

Bitcoin Price Tests $16,000

The bitcoin price continued to inch higher on Wednesday, enough so that it briefly rallied past $16,000 on Bitfinex. However, it was unable to sustain that mark for long, and it has since dipped slightly lower to $15,881. Despite this minor dip, the bitcoin price is still up six percent for the day, and the flagship cryptocurrency currently boasts a market cap of approximately $266 billion.

The rally enabled bitcoin to raise its market share to 45 percent, a 24-hour increase of about three-quarters of one percent.

Ethereum Price Continues to Tread Water

The ethereum price continued to tread water on Wednesday. After spending the day fluctuating between $733 and $766, ethereum is now trading at $751 on Bitfinex, which represents an increase of roughly one percent from yesterday. Ethereum’s market cap currently sits just below $73 billion.

Altcoin Markets Approach Record Highs

Despite sluggish performance from ethereum, the wider altcoin markets continued to approach their all-time highs. The combined value of all altcoin market caps increased by $12 billion, raising it to a four-day high of $334 billion. The total altcoin market cap is now just $30 billion below the all-time high it set last week.

Every top 10 altcoin posted a 24-hour increase, although several of those advances were muted compared to those experienced in recent weeks.

The bitcoin cash price increased by about one percent, bringing it to a present value of $2,830. It continues to retain the third position on the market cap charts, but its closest competitor now looms large in its rear-view mirror.

Ripple, ranked fourth, climbed nearly 15 percent to $1.14, increasing its seven-day return to 67 percent. This would be impressive even in a normal week, but it is particularly exceptional considering that no other top 10 cryptocurrencies has risen more than two percent against the dollar during the same period. Ripple now has a market cap of $43.7 billion, placing it just $4.1 billion below bitcoin cash.

Litecoin, like bitcoin cash, posted a single-day increase of just one percent, enabling both IOTA and EOS to make up some ground. IOTA rose 14 percent for the day, raising its market cap to $11.2 billion, while EOS — a token for a platform that has still not received a mainnet release — leaped 11 percent to bring its market cap to $9.2 billion.

With this advance, EOS edged past eighth-ranked dash, which rose four percent for the day and is currently trading at $1,182. NEM, ranked ninth, rose about a one-and-a-half percent but continues to trade below dollar parity. Monero rounded out the top tier with an increase of nearly 10 percent, raising its market cap to $5.9 billion.

Write to Josiah Wilmoth at josiah.wilmoth(at)CCN.com.

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