The cryptocurrency markets were mixed on Thursday, as the mid-week recovery slowed and many top-tier coins and tokens fell back into the red. Ethereum, Cardano, and Stellar, however, continued to post strong advances even against the backdrop of the sluggish market. Source: CoinMarketCapThese rallies, though isolated, were sufficient to enable the cryptocurrency market cap to post a minor advance for the day. At present, it is valued at $551 billion, which represents a 24-hour increase of about two percent. Bitcoin Price Holds Above $11,100The Bitcoin price traded sideways on Thursday. After briefly rising as high as $11,734 during the morning hours, the Bitcoin price ebbed back to a present value of $11,135, which is roughly where it was trading the day prior. Bitcoin now has a market cap of $189.4 billion. Bitcoin Price ChartEthereum Price Briefly Touches $1,100The Ethereum price, meanwhile, briefly rose as high as $1,100 but has since pulled back to $1,041. Even at this level, though, Ethereum is up three percent for the day, which outperformed the index and raised the second-largest cryptocurrency’s market cap to $102.4 billion. Ethereum Price ChartCardano, Stellar Post Strong Returns in a Mixed MarketThe majority of top-tier altcoins declined on Thursday, but Cardano, EOS, and Stellar each managed to outperform the index. Ripple’s XRP token declined six percent for the day, and it is currently priced at just $1.31. This decline — which was worst among top 10-cryptocurrencies — came even as two more payment providers announced that they would integrate XRP into their remittance systems. The Bitcoin Cash price, meanwhile, declined by two percent to $1,627, which reduced its market cap to $27.6 billion. The next three coins, on the other hand, managed to post relatively strong returns. Cardano, ranked fifth, rose four percent to $0.64, perhaps because it received a strong rating from the controversial “Weiss Report.” EOS, another token favored by the Weiss ratings, achieved a three percent increase to $13.78. Stellar posted the most impressive gain of any top-tier cryptocurrency, rising eight percent to about $0.63 despite receiving a poor rating from Weiss. The Stellar price’s climb is likely linked to payment processor Stripe’s recent suggestion that it may add support for XLM payments in the future. From here, though, the charts once again turn sour. The Litecoin price declined by three percent to $1.78, while NEM dropped four percent to $0.99. NEO, one of the other few coins to receive at least a B- rating from Weiss, rounded out the top 10 with a one percent decline to $136. Featured image from Shutterstock