Up 24%: Bytecoin Only Gainer In Bad Month for Big Cryptos

Bitcoin's failure to scale the $10,000 mark and the following 19 percent slump did not bode well for the cryptocurrency markets last month.

The total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies fell to $304 billion on May 29 - the lowest level since April 13 and a drop of 26 percent for the month, according to CoinMarketCap data.

The bitcoin dominance rate, an indicator that tracks the percent of the total cryptocurrency market cap contributed by bitcoin, rose from 35.86 percent to 40 percent, signaling a possible rotation of money out of alternative cryptocurrencies and into bitcoin.

The argument has merit, as BTC ranked 18th on the list of losers among top 25 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, meaning it outperformed most of the big names.

XRP and bitcoin cash both dropped 26 percent during May. EOS depreciated by 30 percent and litecoin shed 20 percent.

Among the major cryptocurrencies, only ethereum managed to outperform bitcoin with a 13.8 percent drop.

It wasn't all bad news, though - a cryptocurrency called bytecoin refused to follow the downtrend and clocked a 24 percent monthly gain to become the best top-25 performer in May. Monthly winner Bytecoin.

Bytecoin surged to a record high of $0.01862 in early May as Binance's decision to list the cryptocurrency revved up investor excitement.

All-time high: $106.88.Closing price on May 31: $13.35.Current market price: $13.74.Rank as per market capitalization: 20.

All-time high: $28.35.Closing price on May 31: $10.55.Current market price: $10.52.Rank as per market capitalization: 21.