Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) struggled to hold onto any of its short-term price gains in September.
Ether is the world's number 2 crypto in terms of total value. It's current market cap of US$421 million is surpassed only by Bitcoin's (CRYPTO: BTC) US$1.04 trillion total market valuation.
With the price gains so far in October, Ethereum now represents 18.3% of the total cryptocurrency sphere, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
But then the first 8 days of October have been good for Ether investors, with the price up 20% so far this month.
September was a different story.
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What happened with the Ethereum price is September?
Ethereum started last month trading for US$3,420. By the end of September, it was worth US$2,960, down some 13%. That compares to a 10% fall in the Bitcoin price over that same time.
While it wasn't a particularly volatile month as far as crypto price moves go, Ether investors would have experienced plenty of ups and downs.
By 3 September the price had climbed to US$3,962. But those gains wouldn't last.
Ethereum reached monthly lows on 22 September, trading for US$2,703. That's 32% below its 3 September price. Certainly no investment for the faint hearted.
How is Ether different from Bitcoin?
There are a number of significant differences between Ethereum and Bitcoin.
Bitcoin is largely seen and used as an alternative to government issued money. As a digital token that may be resistant to inflationary forces. You can increasingly use it to purchase items. And many crypto investors choose to hold onto Bitcoin in hopes the value will continue to march higher over time.
Ethereum, on the other hand, has more real-world applications. Via its own crypto – that's Ether – it serves as a platform for other cryptocurrencies and importantly can be used to execute decentralised contracts.
As CoinMarketCap explains, "Ethereum's own purported goal is to become a global platform for decentralized applications, allowing users from all over the world to write and run software that is resistant to censorship, downtime and fraud."
Ether is up 2% over the past 24 hours, currently trading for US$3,590.
