December has started with a significant downturn in the cryptocurrency market, as bitcoin experienced a sharp decline of several thousand dollars within a few hours, without any immediately apparent catalyst.
The altcoins have mirrored bitcoin's downward trend. Ethereum (ETH) has fallen below the $3,000 and $2,900 support levels, while XRP has found some stability around the $2.00 mark.
BTC Drops Below $86K
The primary cryptocurrency initially found a bottom at $80,500 on November 21st. Over the subsequent ten days, it began a gradual recovery, bouncing to $84,000 during the weekend and surging to $88,000 by Wednesday. Despite facing initial resistance, bitcoin managed to break through this level and even reclaimed the $90,000 resistance as the trading week concluded.
The bullish momentum continued into the following Friday, propelling bitcoin to a weekly peak of over $93,000. This surge led many to anticipate another rally towards the $100,000 mark. However, this prospect has now become a distant possibility, at least for the immediate future.
Bitcoin faced immediate rejection at the $93,000 level and was pushed back down to approximately $91,000, where it remained for most of the weekend. During the early hours of the Asian trading session, BTC began a rapid nosedive, falling below $86,000 for the first time in several days.
While bitcoin has since recovered around a thousand dollars, it remains down 5% on the day. Its market capitalization has decreased to $1.730 trillion, and its dominance over altcoins is currently above 57%.
Alts With Big Declines
The altcoin market is also experiencing significant losses today. ETH has dropped by over 5% and is now trading below $2,850. XRP is down by almost 7%, currently priced beneath $2.05. Other cryptocurrencies such as BNB, SOL, DOGE, ADA, LINK, and HYPE have seen even steeper declines, some reaching up to 8%.
ZEC continues its recent correction, with an additional 19% drop bringing its price down to $365. This marks a substantial decrease from its recent trading price above $700. The only exception among the larger-cap altcoins is RAIN, which has seen a gain of over 12% and is trading above $0.008.
The total market capitalization of all crypto assets has shed nearly $200 billion in a single day, currently standing at approximately $3 trillion.
