Bitcoin prices are mostly unchanged Friday, continuing what’s been a quiet week for the world’s largest digital currency.
While altcoins, the group of smaller coins beyond the popular bitcoin, have bounced around in ranges of more than 30% this week, bitcoin has been oscillating either side of $6,500. In Friday trading the price of a single bitcoin BTCUSD, -0.91% was last at $6,652.22, down 0.7% since Thursday at 5 p.m. Eastern Time on the Kraken exchange.
As the third quarter draws to a close, buzz around seasonality data has crypto analysts hypothesizing that the market is on the precipice of a long-overdue rally. “September is coming to an end and a very interesting quarter is about to start. Does it remind you of anything? Oh yes, it reminds me of last year’s bull rally,” wrote Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at Think Markets U.K.
“It appears to me that a similar momentum could be building up again. This must be music to those who are suffering from heavy losses in the crypto market,” he said.
Read: Battered bitcoin bulls are latching on to this seasonality chart
Altcoins underperforming in Friday trading
Volatility among altcoins is continuing Friday with all underperforming bitcoin in early trading. Ether ETHUSD, -1.31% was down 1.7% at $224.55, Litecoin LTCUSD, -3.75% was off 3.7% at $61.62, Bitcoin Cash BCHUSD, -2.45% is trading down 4.4% at $638.00 and a single XRP, XRPUSD, -2.28% the coin that runs on the Ripple protocol, was last going for 52 cents, down 3.9%.
Bitcoin futures are tracking spot prices lower Friday. The Cboe Global Markets Group Inc.’s October contract XBTV8, -1.19% was down 1% at $6,635 and the CME Group Inc. September contract BTCU8, -0.30% was off 0.8% at $6,605.
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