As written on Friday, this year’s version of Nasdaq Black Friday penny stock speculation was in Cryptocurrencies . With prices in Bitcoin rising over $1000, it has triggered interest along the entire gamut of crypto currencies with many of the lesser known ones hitting all-time highs in prices.
Today we take a look at where the biggest moves occurred since Friday. (prices denominated in bitcoins, source Vircurex exchange)
Overall, after large gains last week, the last 15 hours have seen profit taking place. As prices in bitcoin dropped from $1150 to briefly trading below $1000 this morning, it has triggered an across the board decline in digital currencies.
Terracoin (TRC/BTC) : 0.00165BTC (130%) – prices tripled from around .00050 on Friday morning to a high of 0.00149 before retreating to a current 0.0015. The two day move of 130% occurs as prices are 25X higher than their November lows of November 19th.
Feathercoin (FTC/BTC): 0.0011BTC (26%) – prices have triples since last Sunday, with the rally continuing over the weekend, and FTC/BTC rising another 25% or so since Friday.
Namecoin and Litecoin (NMC/BTC & LTC/BTC) – After peaking on Thursday, prices of both litecoin and namecoin have been pulling back. As litecoin hit a billion dollar market cap, its price in bitcoins rose to a high of 0.051 from around 0.015 on Tuesday, but has dipped back below 0.04 today. It appears that early birds are taking their profits out as they jump to the next hi-flyer.
Peercoin (PPC/BTC): 0.061 (54%) – Among the alternatives, PPC has been holding its own. After rising from around 0.40 on Friday to a peak of 0.80 yesterday, prices remain firmly established in the 0.06 to .07 level as demand appears to be in place to support.
Watching Terracoin (TRC)
Among all the coins, the one to watch is terracoin. Last month, BTC-e, one of the few exchanges offering trading in digital currency announced to customers that they will suspend trading in TRC/BTC on December 1st due to low activity but retracted this decision a few days ago. Nonetheless, prices were still rising even as it looked like TRC would be delisted. A possible reason for the move in prices is that traders may be jumping in to buy the currency before it its removed from the exchange.
One of the knocks against terracoin is that it is very similar in its crypto-structure to bitcoins. Therefore, mining is more difficult in the currency compared to more expensive alternatives. As a result, from a mining opportunity cost perspective there is a convenience to just buy the currency outright than bother using resources to mine terracoins.
With the delisting not coming, and prices becoming more attractive for miners, terracoin is an interesting alternative to be watching no. It is vulnarable to a drop as traders that were buyers ahead of the delistment may dump in favor of other coins. However, if prices hold up around the 0.001 level, it could indicate that terracoin demand is sustainable which is a net long-term positive.
