Monero reached about USD 140 while I was writing this post.
Not long ago, on 19th August, 1 Monero was barely above USD 50.
So, how come this rally happened?
Here is the graph:
Normally, just pay attention: 24H volume of an altcoin is more or less 1/1000 of its market cap. Not necessarily but generally it works this way. When it goes under this rate, it generally loses its value, and it increases when above.
In the first rally of Monero, when the price jumped up to USD 100+, XMR volume changed from 400-700 range to 3,000 - 5,000 range. In the second rally when the price was about USD 120 range, the XMR volume reached 14,930+. Now, in the current rally, it is about 3 to 5 k (reached 11k for a while but not domineering the trend).
Therefore, the main argument that the price of an altcoin is mostly based on its trade volume (pro rata as well) is true. However, not going to much detail, behaviors are at least equally important. The volume difference between the rallies show that the highest volume does not necessarily imply the highest value.
If we combine these both, we would see that the volume and behavior equally matter. When people believe a coin will gain value, it generally does. This forms the speculative part of cryptocurrencies.
Particular to Monero, we might also emphasize its highly anonymous structure that will keep it preferred among those who want to stay anonymous.
Would expect that Monero continues its price growth since the guys are kind of unique in what they are developing.
Happy mining & investing & weekend.
Cheers.