Bitcoin Extends Price Anniversary Rally to Hit $3,800 as Altcoins Surge Higher

Wednesday, Dec. 19 - Cryptocurrency markets continue a fresh rally with Bitcoin touching $3,800 and leading altcoins to claw back their latest losses.

Data from Cointelegraph's own price index, CoinMarketCap and Coin360 confirms the extended rebound, which began late Monday and continued through Tuesday.

After a slight correction, almost all of the top 20 assets by market cap began climbing higher again, with BTC/USD finding support at $3,750.

In altcoin markets, it was Bitcoin Cash which led the resurgence, the asset having previously fallen more precipitously than most, to trade well below its August 2017 issuing price.

Having climbed two places higher in the market cap rankings since Tuesday, BCH traded around $117 at press time, capping 33 percent daily gains.

Later, Waves exceeded BCH's growth rate, climbing 59 percent on the day to reach $4.34 and reenter the top 20.

Other impressive performances were displayed by IOTA, at 20.5 percent, TRON, at 18.5 percent, and Ripple at 13.9 percent.

Ethereum, formerly the largest altcoin by market cap before being overtaken by XRP, also managed to scrape into triple figures after falling to its lowest levels in 18 months.

ETH had shown itself to be highly susceptible to Bitcoin's own volatility in recent weeks, at press time nonetheless gaining over 11 percent to hit $104.Ethereum 7-day price chart.

A year ago, BTC/USD had hit its record price of over $20,000 on some exchanges.