BTC fell by almost a quarter over the past week, leading to a sharp decline in the value of altcoins and the liquidation of positions worth more than $1 trillion overnight. The total market cap of the crypto market fell by $500 billion over the weekend.
Bitcoin quotes dropped by about 13% in the last 24 hours. According to CoinGecko data, BTC fell below the $50,000 mark and is now about $52,400 as of 13:00 a.m. (GMT+3) on August 5.
Altcoin prices also started to fall amid the decline in BTC quotes. ETH lost about 21% of its value over the last 24 hours, falling below $2,300. BNB and SOL fell by 16% and 17%, respectively. All altcoins from the top 100 were in the red zone.
The sharp drop in the value of BTC caused a wave of sell-offs in the crypto market. Over the last 24 hours, according to CoinGlass, positions worth more than $1 trillion were liquidated, with liquidations of long positions totaling about $902 million, including $301 million in BTC and $297 million in ETH. As a result, the total capitalization of the crypto market fell to $1.9 trillion, losing over $500 billion over the weekend. The Fear and Greed Index fell to 26, corresponding to the state of fear.
Massive sell-offs followed the fall of stock market quotations. Thus, the Japanese stock market showed the biggest fall — the Nikkei 225 index fell by 7.1%. The South Korean stock market suspended trading. The S&P 500 index dropped by 4.4% over the past two days.
The decline in crypto quotes was affected by the fall in the shares of tech companies. Over the weekend, major industry players released earnings reports for Q2 2024, showing a significant growth slowdown. According to CompaniesMarketCap, the shares of all tech companies from the 20 largest by market cap list dropped in price over the past 30 days. One of the leaders of this fall was Intel, whose shares lost more than 26% of value over the past 24 hours.
Experts also explain the current fall for other reasons, including macroeconomic factors, growing concern about recession, and new military conflicts. News of increased regulation in various jurisdictions also adds to crypto market uncertainty.
Despite the current decline, many analysts remain optimistic about the long-term prospects of cryptocurrencies. The current correction is expected to provide an opportunity to enter the market at more attractive prices and contribute to its further development. In particular, Bitcoin increased its market dominance to 59% amid the general panic. BTC remains the most sought-after crypto among investors despite the overall market decline.
The United States recently began to make sound calls to use Bitcoin to provide state reserves.
