What happened
The cryptocurrency market has seen volatile trading recently, but it's enjoying a day of positive momentum on Saturday. Shiba Inu (SHIB 1.98%) is benefiting from the trend, and its token was up roughly 3.8% over the previous 24-hour period as of 2:15 p.m. ET Saturday.
Most of the top-50 largest cryptocurrencies were in the green across this period. Market leaders Bitcoin and Ethereum had seen their token prices climb 2.4% and 5.3%, respectively. Shiba Inu is now up roughly 11% over the last week of trading, but it's also lapping some big sell-offs that took place last weekend and is still down roughly 35% in 2022.
Image source: Getty Images.
So what
There doesn't appear to be any new coin-specific factors powering SHIB's gains today. The token has mostly been trading in line with the cryptocurrency market lately, and investors actually shrugged off a positive catalyst earlier in the week that could have potentially had a more significant impact.
Shiba Inu holders have been hoping the coin will be added to Robinhood Markets' trading platform, spurring increased demand and adoption for the token. At the company's fourth-quarter conference call on Thursday, Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev was asked about the token being added to the platform and gave a cautious response.
Tenev said that the company was seeing demand for more cryptocurrencies from customers but that Robinhood was taking a deliberate approach, so as to avoid adding unregistered securities and "triggering SEC registration requirements for cryptocurrencies." The executive confirmed plans to add more coins but emphasized a desire to make additions prudently. At the very least, SHIB investors don't seem to have taken the comments as negative news.
Now what
Shiba Inu now ranks as the 15th largest cryptocurrency by valuation and has a market capitalization of roughly $11.9 billion.
The token is still up more than 15,700,000% over the last year, which is an absolutely staggering performance, but it has also quickly lost ground as bearish sentiment gripped the crypto space. SHIB's price is down roughly 75% from the high that it hit late in October, and the token remains a very high-risk investment even after big sell-offs.
