Bitcoin, Litecoin Head Higher Into Labor Day Weekend – ThirtyK

In a departure from the price slumps or small gains of recent weeks, most major cryptocurrencies ended higher for the week as investors turned their attention from failed crypto ETF bids to market developments pointing to growth.

Investors were encouraged by news of a new index fund aimed at institutional investors looking to enter the digital currencies market. The Digital Asset Index Fund, run by Morgan Creek Digital and crypto index provider Bitwise, offers the 10 largest digital assets weighted by market capitalization, but the largest component by far is bitcoin (BTC).

Meantime, the Lightning Network, a “second layer” payment protocol, or software that makes the bitcoin network more efficient, surpassed 3,000 nodes in August, an encouraging sign the network’s capacity will continue to expand.

“The total crypto market was saved this week from dipping under $200 million in total market capitalization, following positive news for institutional and individual crypto investors,” Gautam Ivatury, co-founder and CEO of LendLedger, tells ThirtyK.

End of the Down Market?

At about 4 p.m. EDT Friday, bitcoin was trading at $7,037.85, according to ThirtyK data provided by CoinMarketCap, up 5.9 percent from a week before. The cryptocurrency breached the $7,000 level Tuesday and bounced around it for the rest of the week. Bitcoin reached a year-high of more than $17,000 in January.

Ether (ETH) has been hit with recent losses from continued selling by founders of companies that conducted initial coin offerings, but was up 1.55 percent to $283.53 at around 4 p.m. EDT Friday. Litecoin (LTC) was up 6.5 percent for the week at $62.03.

Tone Vays, a cryptocurrency analyst and trader, and former analyst on Wall Street, tells ThirtyK there’s a “small, but reasonable, probability” bitcoin can make it to $7,500 before the next drop. Only once the price starts trading above previous highs of $8,500, would he start considering bear market to be over, he said.