Crypto Today: Bitcoin steadies in Asia, 11k still on sight

• Bitcoin consolidates near mid-10k
• Correction to extend?

Bitcoin (BTC/USD), the largest cryptocurrency, steadied in the Asian trades around the midpoint of 10k handle, after having witnessed a volatile session a day before. Bitcoin rallied hard yesterday and hit record highs at $ 11,472.20 before plunging nearly 18% to trade below the $ 10k mark in the overnight trades. According to social media, the price decline coincides with reports that GDAX, the exchange offering of cryptocurrency startup Coinbase, had seen a service outage, CoinDesk reports. 

But the bulls regained poise on the news of Bitcoin futures contract to be launched next year by Nasdaq Inc, sending the rates back above the last. The sentiment around Bitcoin remains underpinned as market experts believe that there is further upside in store. Meanwhile, Leigh Drogen, a former trader who now heads Estimize, a 6-year-old company that collects and publishes financial estimates for data such as earnings, noted: "There's no fundamental value to any of this stuff and it's all based on ... supply and demand at any point in time." 

Ethereum, the second most traded digital currency, tracked Bitcoin’s price-action, now trading +5% higher at $ 445 levels, having staged a sharp rebound from just ahead of the $ 400 mark. Ethereum is almost 14% off its all-time high hit yesterday at $ 517, according to CoinMarketCap. Bitcoin offshoot, bitcoin cash, traded around $1437, down 7.20% on the day, according to CoinMarketCap.

The total market capitalization of all digital coins on CoinMarketCap increased to $315.35 billion in the last 24 hours. Meanwhile, Bitcoin’s market capitalization alone stands at $ 177.71 billion, almost unchanged since yesterday.