Investing.com – Bitcoin continued its rebound as investors appeared to take advantage of popular digital currency’s recent slump to a nearly two-month low.
Bitcoin rose 6.95% to $7,400.4 on the Bitfinex exchange, adding to its gains following a rebound from a low of $6,432.40 seen Sunday.
The rise in bitcoin comes as ongoing broad-based selling of cryptocurrencies has eased somewhat after the total cryptocurrency market cap continued to tack on gains, pointing to an uptick in investor demand.
Data from coinmarketcap.com showed the total market cap of cryptocurrencies rose to $282 billion – at the time of writing – up nearly 8% from $262 billion on Monday.
Traders had anticipated last week that a plunge in bitcoin to price level around $7,200 would trigger technical support - price levels that encourage buying activity.
The rebound in bitcoin comes as it suffered its worst first-quarter performance, falling nearly 50% in the first quarter of the year, while Ethereum suffered a similar decline during the same period. Ripple, meanwhile, was one of the worst performing large-cap cryptocurrencies, tumbling nearly 80% during the first quarter.
The slump was not limited to large-cap cryptocurrencies as crypto-funds have fallen roughly 23% so far this year, according to Eurekahedge Crypto-Currency Hedge Fund Index.
Ripple XRP rose 8.85% to $0.53092 on the Poloniex exchange, while Ethereum rose 9.45% to $414.30.