VEN, BNB, NEM: Lesser-Known Cryptos Outperform Amid Bitcoin Slump

It's been another gloomy week for the cryptocurrency markets, but, even so, NEM's XEM token and a couple of lesser-known altcoins managed to finish up with overall gains.

The total value of all cryptocurrencies fell to $316 billion on Thursday – down 61.9 percent from the record high of $830 billion set in January, according to data source CoinMarketCap. As of writing, the total market cap stands at $327 billion.

The sell-off in bitcoin appears to have dragged the entire crypto universe down with it. The world's largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization neared the $10,000 mark on Monday before falling to a one-month low below $7,700 – a decline largely in line with the bearish technical setup, although Google's decision to ban cryptocurrency-related ads may have added fuel to the fire.

Week-on-week, BTC has registered an 11.9 percent drop. Meanwhile, other heavyweights like ether (ETH), Ripple's XRP and litecoin (LTC) also suffered double-digit losses.

Despite the broad-based risk aversion in the markets over the last seven days, Binance Coin rose 9.26 percent to become the biggest gainer among the top 25 cryptos as per market value.

Weekly performance: +9.26 percent

All-time high: $22.48

Closing price on March 9: $8.31

Current market price: $9.08

Rank as per market capitalization: 23

Binance coin (BNB) picked up a bid on after Binance Team disclosed its plans to launch "Binance Chain" – a public blockchain dedicated to the transfer and trading of blockchain assets, effectively a kind of decentralized exchange. The news garnered lots of attention from the investor community.

BNB clocked a seven-week high of BTC 0.001215 on Tuesday and was last seen changing hands at BTC 0.001097 on Binance. BNB's USD exchange rate rose to $11.00 on Wednesday, as per CoinMarketCap – the highest since Feb. 28. Notably, total trading volume more than doubled on a weekly basis.

The sharp rise in trading volume, increased investor interest, and positive news flow indicates the rally is here to stay. The daily chart of BNB/BTC shows falling wedge reversal (bullish pattern). So, in the near-term, BNB will likely make it to the winner's list more often.

Weekly performance: +3.23 percent

All-time high: $9.45

Closing price on March 9: $3.71

Current market price: $3.83

Rank as per market capitalization: 16

Of late, VeChain has been in the news for all the right reasons. In late February, the company signed a deal with BMW. Further, it launched an application called "my story," aimed to help the wine industry address the problem of counterfeit products. Meanwhile, on March 13, it also entered into a partnership with LogSafer – leading supply chain risk management and a major logistics insurance platform in China.

The positive news flow seems to have lifted the price ofVeChain's VEN token by 3 percent week-on-week. That said, the cryptocurrency is not out of the woods yet, as the VEN/BTC daily chart shows, prices are still stuck inside a falling channel (bearish pattern).

Weekly performance: +2.15 percent

All-time high: $2.09

Closing price on March 9: $0.33807

Current market price: $0.345335

Rank as per market capitalization: 12

NEM's XEM token has witnessed a much-needed relief rally, possibly due to oversold technical conditions. XEM showed signs of life on March 8 on reports that Japan's Coincheck exchange was starting to reimburse customers that lost money in its January hack.

The cryptocurrency witnessed a bullish technical reversal earlier this week and rose to a three-week high above $0.50 (50-day moving average) on March 14. As of writing, NEM is trading at $0.34, according to CoinMarketCap.

Weekly performance: -28.35 percent

All-time high: $495

Closing price on March 9: $288.09

Current market price: $206.39

Rank as per market capitalization: 11

Monero (XMR), which traded at $380 on March 5 (up 90 percent from February lows), crashed to a five-week low of $198 today. As discussed here, a decision to delay the "monerov" hard fork seems to have seems to have triggered the sell-off. As of writing, the cryptocurrency is trading around $200 – a bullish reversal point as per the cypher pattern. It remains to be seen whether XMR regains poise and moves to $250–$277 (50-day MA) as suggested by the technical pattern or extends the sell-off to $150 (February low).

Weekly performance: -27.47 percent

All-time high: $194.79

Closing price on March 9: $92.67

Current market price: $67.21

Rank as per market capitalization: 7

NEO has dropped more than 50 percent from the highs seen in late February. As of writing, the cryptocurrency is changing hands at $67.00 – the lowest since Feb. 6.

The oversold conditions, as shown by the daily relative strength index (RSI), have failed to put a floor under NEO. Meanwhile, a listing on Coinex, an India-based exchange did little to bring cheer to the battered bulls.

Weekly performance: -26.23 percent

All-time high: $28.5

Closing price on March 9: $15.02

Current market price: $11.08

Rank as per market capitalization: 20

The OmiseGo (OMG) token fell to $10.1 yesterday on Bitfinex – the lowest level since Feb. 6, and was last seen changing hands at $11.31.

Despite the 26.2 percent drop on a weekly basis, the daily relative strength index (RSI) is holding well above the oversold territory (below 30.00), suggesting scope for a further sell-off towards Feb. 6 low of $7.00.

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