Cryptocurrency markets are always evolving in interesting directions. While most people keep an eye on Bitcoin or Ethereum, the IOTA price is surging to record highs on a regular basis as well. Right now, one iOTA is valued at $2.40, which is a massive gain compared to a month ago. No one knows for sure how high the IOTA price can go, but there are plenty of concerns regarding this being a pump-and-dump.

IOTA Price Surge is Anything but Organic

In the world of Bitcoin and altcoins, we have seen many different pump-and-dump cycles. In fact, such “opportunities” arise pretty much every week, mainly affecting smaller altcoins. In recent weeks, however, we have seen some of the bigger altcoins go through these hype cycles as well. It appears the IOTA price is being pushed up by some speculators first and foremost, even though there is no real reason to warrant such an increase at this point.

That is not to say IOTA doesn’t have interesting technology under the hood. Its DAG, for example, may very well revolutionize cryptocurrency as we know it in the future. However, none of this should have such a massive impact on the IOTA price until actual developments become more apparent. All cryptocurrencies are thriving thanks to speculation first and foremost. In the case of IOTA, however, that speculation has massively inflated the IOTA price beyond what it should really be at this point. Then again, the rationale is hard to come by in this industry as well.

One month ago, the IOTA price was hovering around the $0.37 level. Anyone who bought in at that point and is still holding has a near 700% return on their investment. Profit taking will eventually set in for IOTA, which may send the price down again in quick succession. There has been very little market resistance over the past week, effectively culminating in this 50% price pump over the past 24 hours. How this will all play out, remains to be seen, though.

One thing working in favor of IOTA is the massive trading volume. With over $768m worth of IOTA changing hands in the past 24 hours, there is still room for future price growth. In fact, it is not unlikely we will see the IOTA price rise to $3 or even higher in the coming days, assuming this trend keeps up. Considering how there are over 2.77 billion tokens in circulation, such an IOTA price gain would push the market cap well above $10bn out of the blue.

The vast majority of IOTA trades originate from the Bitfinex exchange. All of these markets combined represent 60% of all trades, which is rather scary. Especially when considering how people are concerned over Bitfinex’s solvency and trading behavior. Then again, those people who make good money from this pump and are able to cash out will not care too much about said concerns. A lot of strange things are happening with Bitfinex right now, that much is rather evident.

No one knows whether or not the IOTA price can continue to soar or will eventually plummet to the ground. For now, all charts indicate there are more gains on the horizon, as long as people are willing to pay the price for it. At some point, the market will realize IOTA is well overpriced, and things can get very nasty from that point forward. Then again, the project has a lot of potential, and the developers may surprise us all in the end. An interesting market to keep an eye on, that much is evident.