Investing.com – Prices of both bitcoin and ethereum steadied on Friday, after a volatile week saw both cryptocurrencies set record highs before gains were pared amid profit taking and downbeat comments from analysts.
On the U.S.-based GDAX exchange, BTC/USD rose to $2,481.50, up 9.64%.
Despite hitting a record high of $3,000 on Monday, bitcoin remained on track to post a weekly loss for the first time in nine weeks in the wake of recent comments from analysts and traders alike, signalling a potential downturn for publicly traded cryptocurrencies.
Goldman Sachs chief technician Sheba Jafari, recently warned investors that the bitcoin could be heading for bearish territory.
Meanwhile, Ethereum rose to 358.91, up 13.58%, as investors continue to expect that Ethereum would be the alternative cryptocurrency that usurps bitcoin as the largest and best capitalized blockchain – a phenomenon referred to as “the flippening”.
Since the start of the year, bitcoin has soared roughly 200% to a total value of around $41 billion while Ethereum, which was trading a notch under $8.00 at the start of the year, has surged more than 5,000% to a total value of around 34 billion.
Both cryptocurrencies have easily outperformed U.S. stock benchmarks such as S&P 500 index and Nasdaq in 2017, both are up about 15% and 8% year-to-date, respectively.