Crypto Today: XBT down 2% on the day, litecoin and ether at new record highs

• Bitcoin futures consolidate above $18K.
• Total market cap nears $500 billion mark.
• Litecoin and ether surge to fresh record highs.

Markets continued to cheer CBOE's bitcoin futures launch on Tuesday, lifting the XBT to $18560 in the early NA session. However, some profit taking in the last hours weighed on the XBT and pushed it lower towards the $18K handle. As of writing, the XBT was trading at $18120, losing nearly 2% on the day.

On the other hand, the BTC/USD pair is added nearly 4% and was last seen trading at $17250, according to the latest available data on coinmarketcap.com. The site also shows that the total market capitalization of all digital currencies rose to a new all-time high at $488 billion on Tuesday, with bitcoin staying as the most dominant cryptocurrency covering 60% of all the trading volume.

The second largest cryptocurrency in terms of trading volume, ether, gained nearly 20% on Tuesday and broke above the $600 threshold to refresh its record peak at $615. At the moment, the ETH/USD is at $610, up 19% on the day. Another relatively popular digital currency, litecoin, staged an impressive rally as it rose above the $400 mark, doubling its price in a single day. As of writing, the LTC/USD was trading at 366, adding nearly 70% on the day. 

The increased activity following CBOE's launch in bitcoin trading seems to be the primary catalyst behind this price surge as higher fees and longer transaction times force investors to look for alternatives.