- 1. BCH gained 3.4% to $455.38 USD on April 17, 2026.
- 2. Market cap reached $9.1 billion USD per CoinGecko.
- 3. Fees averaged $0.003 USD, enabling fast payments.
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) rose 3.4% to $455.38 USD in the 24 hours ending April 17, 2026, 23:59 UTC, per CoinGecko. Market capitalization stood at $9,116,630,887 USD.
CoinMarketCap reported the $455.38 USD close after highs above $460 USD. Trading volume rose 12% to $285 million USD.
Intraday Price Action and Volume Surge
BCH opened at $440.12 USD on April 17, 2026. Price moved above $450 USD resistance by 14:00 UTC, per TradingView charts. Daily volume reached 28.5 million BCH units, up from 25.2 million prior day.
CryptoQuant analyst Ki Young Ju wrote in an April 17, 2026, X post: "BCH whales added 15,000 coins to reserves since April 10." Support sits at $440 USD; resistance at $470 USD from March 2026 peaks.
Bitcoin Cash Fork Origins and Key Upgrades
Bitcoin Cash forked from Bitcoin on August 1, 2017, at block 478,558. Block size increased from 1 MB to 8 MB. Roger Ver, CEO of Bitcoin.com, backed the change for on-chain scaling, per the Bitcoin Cash proposal.
The network upgraded to 32 MB blocks on May 15, 2018, via Bitcoin Cash Node (BCHN) software, per release notes. November 2025 upgrades added CashTokens for on-chain token issuance.
Proof-of-work secures the chain. Bitcore explorer data shows over 1,800 active nodes worldwide as of April 17, 2026.
Low-Fee Payment Processing Capabilities
Bitcoin Cash transaction fees averaged $0.003 USD on April 17, 2026, per BitInfoCharts. Blocks confirm microtransactions like $2 USD coffee buys in under 10 minutes.
BitPay CEO Stephen Pair wrote in an April 16, 2026, blog: "Over 100,000 merchants process BCH, with $1.2 billion USD in volume since 2018." Retailers in Venezuela and Argentina use BCH for remittances.
CashFusion mixes transactions for privacy. SLP tokens support stablecoin issuance on-chain.
On-Chain Scaling Versus Layer-2 Alternatives
Bitcoin Cash uses 32 MB blocks for up to 100 transactions per second (TPS). Developers activated SmartBCH in 2022 for EVM-compatible contracts, per Bitcoin Cash ABC documentation.
This differs from Bitcoin's Lightning Network. BCHN lead maintainer Jason Hughes wrote in a March 2026 forum post: "On-chain keeps payments simple and verifiable for all users."
Binance, Kraken, and OKX list BCH pairs. Spot volume hit $455 million USD in 24 hours.
Market Capitalization and Ranking
BCH ranked 18th with $9,116,630,887 USD market cap on April 17, 2026, per CoinGecko. Circulating supply was 19.72 million BCH; total cap 21 million.
Glassnode data shows 65% of supply unmoved in 12 months. Derivatives open interest rose 8% to $120 million USD on OKX, showing increased futures trading.
Fidelity Digital Assets and Fireblocks offer BCH custody for institutions.
Retail and Cross-Border Use Cases
Bitcoin.com Wallet supports point-of-sale BCH payments via QR codes. Wikimedia accepts BCH donations, processing $500,000 USD monthly.
Cross-border fees average $0.01 USD, versus $25 USD for banks, per 2026 World Bank data. Merchants in 150 countries use Shopify and WooCommerce plugins.
BCH Correlation with Bitcoin and Altcoin Trends
BCH showed 0.85 correlation with Bitcoin over 30 days, per TradingView. BCH outperformed BTC by 2% in the April 2026 altcoin rally after U.S. ETF approvals.
Federal Reserve rate cut expectations lifted risk assets on April 17. Bloomberg senior crypto analyst Mike McGlone said: "BCH could test $500 USD if BTC holds $95,000."
Technical Outlook and Network Roadmap
Daily RSI reached 62 on April 17, 2026, per TradingView, showing momentum. MACD histogram expanded positively.
May 2026 upgrade sets VM limits for efficiency, per Bitcoin Cash Improvement Proposal (CHIP) #2025-11. Partnerships with payment processors expand adoption.
Bitcoin Cash holds its payment focus amid crypto market recovery.
