Key Takeaways
- Bitcoin hit a 3-month high over $82,200 on Sept 3, driving total crypto market cap to a peak of $2.82T.
- Zcash jumped nearly 40% past $1,200, displacing HYPE to enter the top 10 assets with 2.2% altcoin market growth.
- BNB, XMR, and ADA posted 7% gains, while ETH fell 0.5% heading into the second week of September.
A Volatile Week Ends in Green
The crypto market ended the first week of September on a high note despite a pullback that dragged its aggregate capitalization under $2.8 trillion. Market data shows the week opened just above $2.71 trillion before mid-week volatility left values largely flat. A subsequent marketwide rally propelled total capitalization to a weekly peak of $2.82 trillion. Despite a pullback following U.S. jobs data, the crypto market held onto a 2% weekly gain.
Bitcoin again led the crypto market with its Thursday surge to over $82,200, its highest level in more than three months, helping propel the aggregate market cap past $2.8 trillion. While the top cryptocurrency’s quick reversal ate into its gains, its late recovery allowed its price to close the week 1.2% higher with a $1.6 trillion market capitalization.
While bitcoin turned in another modest performance, altcoins diverged: several posted solid gains while a few slipped into the red. Zcash (ZEC) led the pack, surging nearly 40% after topping $1,200 for the first time since late 2016. As the only large-cap altcoin with double-digit weekly growth, ZEC reentered the top digital assets by market cap, displacing HYPE to secure the ninth spot.
There were also significant gains for BNB, which hit a multi-month high of $779 on Sept. 5, briefly pushing its market capitalization past the $100 billion mark. It later consolidated to just below $750, leaving BNB with a weekly gain of 7%. XMR, one of the top-performing altcoins in the previous period, also jumped by 7%, as did ADA. The rest logged gains ranging between 1.2% and 6% as altcoins again outperformed bitcoin.
Meanwhile, ethereum (ETH) was one high-profile altcoin in the red, falling by a marginal 0.5%. XRP, which closed 7% lower in the previous week, fell 0.4%, as did one of the previous week’s top performers, SOL. There were also losses for TRX (1.6%), RAIN (3.5%), and LEO (2.9%). Nevertheless, because more coins logged gains, the aggregate market for altcoins ended the week 2.2% higher, rising from $1.15 trillion to $1.17 trillion.
