Despite the steady growth in the number of cryptocurrencies that can be traded on exchanges, Bitcoin (and its variants) continue to dominate trading activity. However, traders are looking elsewhere for gains.

Cryptocurrency trading service HiveEx.com reports in its Weekly Coin Analysis that 1609 cryptocurrencies were traded in markets during the week ending May 14, with US$167.6 billion traded.

The top five cryptocurrencies by volume were Bitcoin, with US$49.5 billion traded, Tether, Ethereum, EOS and Bitcoin Cash.

However, the coins that appreciated were much less well known. ZoZoCoin’s value increased by 226 per cent over the week, Hexx’s value was up 207 per cent, Nullex 188 per cent, GeyserCoin 165 per cent and imbrex 145 per cent.

Bitcoin fell 8.9 per cent during the week, By the end of last week, Bitcoin had fallen below US$8000 – down from its December peak of more than US$17,000.

HiveEx.com chief executive Fred Schebesta says: “It can be easy to overlook how huge the market really is. We’ve set up Weekly Coin Analysis to help traders see where the biggest moves are coming from each week.”

Schebesta says one guide to cryptocurrencies worth following is their market capitalisation rank. Coins that increased their ranking in recent trading include Holo, whose rank increased by 1235 places to 110. Others that have been moving up the rankings include DAEX, Neurotoken, Sharder and Hydrogen.