21 December 2024

Altcoins Suffer Significant Losses as Bitcoin (BTC) Plummets by $4K in Just Hours

Bitcoin's recent decline has led to significant losses in altcoins, with DOGE and Ethereum among the hardest hit.

In a dramatic turn of events, Bitcoin (BTC) has experienced a significant decline over the past 24 hours, dropping from an intraday high of $57,000 to below $53,000 in a matter of hours. This sharp downturn has not only affected Bitcoin but has also led to a widespread sell-off in the altcoin market, resulting in the total cryptocurrency market capitalization falling to $2 trillion for the first time in over a month.

Last week, Bitcoin lost the critical $60,000 support level, setting the stage for further declines. Despite a brief attempt to reclaim this level on September 3, bearish sentiment has dominated the market, culminating in yesterday's price drop. Prior to this, Bitcoin faced multiple rejections at higher price levels, indicating a struggle to maintain upward momentum.

A temporary relief rally occurred on Friday following the release of the US job report for August, which indicated a slight decrease in unemployment rates. Bitcoin responded positively, rising from $55,500 to $57,000. However, this rally proved to be short-lived as the cryptocurrency quickly reversed course, plummeting to $54,000 before bears pushed it further down to a monthly low of $52,700 on Bitstamp.

Currently, Bitcoin has managed to recover slightly, trading just above $54,000. Nevertheless, it remains down 4% for the day and over 8% for the week. Its market capitalization has fallen to $1.070 trillion, with its dominance over altcoins decreasing to 53.5%.

The bearish trend has extended to altcoins, with Ethereum leading the decline, losing over 4% and struggling to maintain a price around $2,250. Other notable losses include BNB and XRP, both down by 3%, and SOL, which has decreased by 2.5%.

Among the larger-cap altcoins, DOGE has suffered the most, experiencing a 5% drop and falling below $0.1. Additional losses have been seen across various cryptocurrencies, including TON, BCH, SHIB, LTC, OKB, and XMR.

As a result of these developments, the total cryptocurrency market cap has seen a further decline of $50 billion, now resting at $2 trillion according to CoinGecko.