August proved challenging for Bitcoin, which ended the month with negative returns.

This downturn was exacerbated in the altcoin market, where most tokens experienced declines, except for a few standout projects: Helium, Tron, and Aave.

Bitcoin began August strong, trading at $66,365, but soon plummeted to a monthly low of $49,221.

Economic uncertainties in the United States and Europe heightened market fears.

The situation deteriorated further with the Bank of Japan’s unprecedented interest rate hike to 0.25%, leading to margin calls for carry traders who had borrowed Yen to invest in risk assets.

This contributed to a broad market sell-off in crypto.

Additional selling pressure came from major Bitcoin holders like Chicago-based trading firm Jump Trading and creditor repayments from the defunct crypto exchange Mt. Gox.

These factors culminated in Bitcoin’s 12.8% decline for August. However, there are signs of a potential reversal. Analysts have noted bullish indicators suggesting a possible upswing.

Trader Crypto-ROD identified a “Running Flat” consolidation pattern on Bitcoin’s chart.

This Elliott Wave corrective pattern often precedes a bullish continuation, indicating that BTC might soon experience an upward trend if the pattern holds.

Crypto analyst Butcher pointed out a high concentration of leveraged positions just below the $70,000 mark.

A rally toward this level could trigger a short squeeze, potentially driving prices higher and possibly reaching new all-time highs.

Despite Bitcoin’s struggles, three altcoins outperformed the market in the past week:

Helium jumps 41.3%

HNT, which allows purchasing data credits on the Helium Network, which lets low-powered wireless devices communicate with each other, recorded the highest gains among the top hundred cryptocurrencies, with a 41.3% price hike over the past month.

The profits came on the back of partnerships with two major US carriers offloading their mobile traffic on Helium’s network.

Further, the positive returns can also be attributed to the excitement around certain Helium Improvement Proposals (HIPs), particularly HIP 130 and HIP 131, which were recently passed and aims at enhancing network security and infrastructure.

Tron up 23%

TRX, the native token of the Tron network comes second in the list with its price up 23% over the past month.

The project saw a massive jump in on-chain activity following the launch of SunPump, founder Justin Sun’s answer to Solana’s Pump.fun.

The hype around meme coins like “Sundog” that launched on the Tron-based token deployer has played a key role in buoying the price of TRX, although the development came fairly late into the month.

Aave sees 12% rise

Decentralized lending platform Aave made the list with its native toke AAVE raking in 12% as of August 30.

Some of the key factors included the proposal of a “fee switch” mechanism that could make project economics more sustainable.

The introduction of the “Umbrella” proposal, aimed at enhancing the management of risky loans by burning tokens instead of selling them has also renewed interest in the project.

These positive drivers were backed by increased demand from whales and institutions showing interest in the project, evidenced by a surge in over-the-counter (OTC) trades.

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