The tensions of recent days are starting to turn into panic today, with a crash of Bitcoin and the entire cryptocurrency sector.
This morning shortly after 11:00 AM (CET), a slight correction began by the cryptocurrency markets that were already in the red, Bitcoin in particular.
A few seconds after 11:30 AM, a real panic started that in less than 15 minutes saw a decline of Bitcoin prices extending by more than 20%.
At exactly 11:48 AM, 18 minutes later, the price of Bitcoin indicated on most exchanges the lowest prices: $5,863 on Bitfinex, $5,713 on Bitstamp, levels that Bitcoin had abandoned last May.
Bitcoin has thus gone to score the lows of 2020 and the last 10 months. A decline that has seen a strong cover and a pullback in the following minutes with volatility that exploded. From $5,700, prices went back above $6,700 and then fell back below $6,000 again.
A bearish movement not only in the spot markets but also in the futures markets saw trading volumes explode. The BitMEX platform, which is known as the OTC futures trading platform, saw orders worth over $665 million passing through the futures market.
An explosion of volumes that were already buoyant in recent days and that have increased up to 90 billion traded yesterday, while today they are increasing by 30% and approaching 140 billion dollars.
As happens in these phases, Bitcoin is dragging behind the entire altcoin sector.
With today’s decline that follows that of Bitcoin in intensity, Ethereum totally cancels the increase that was consolidated between late January and mid-February.
A decline that extends over 35% in those 15 minutes and returns with prices close to $120, the lows recorded in mid-December.
Among the first 100 altcoins, none are in positive territory, with a few exceptions like Multi Collateral DAI, the only token above parity that manages to drain today’s strong falls.
Among the most evident declines stands out Chainlink (LINK) which was heavily attacked with a movement that with a time fraction of under 30 minutes lost about 40%.
If we take as reference the absolute highs recorded on March 4th, Chainlink lost about 60% of the value, returning to the prices at the beginning of January and cancelling all the increase in 2020, still maintaining a relatively positive performance since the beginning of the year, but the high volatility is changing scenarios continuously.
Bitcoin’s performance becomes negative, -15% since the beginning of 2020.
Ethereum manages to stay above parity, +6%.
Ripple with the strong bearish movement of the last few hours and a lunge of -23%, moves into negative territory, -16% since the beginning of the year. With today’s decline, XRP goes down to update the lows near 14 cents on the dollar, the lowest level that hadn’t even been recorded since July 2017. It seems to be another inauspicious year for Ripple, after closing 2019 with strong declines, 2020 does not seem the year of redemption.
Trading volumes explode in these minutes exceeding 140 billion dollars.
The market cap collapses below 165 billion dollars, with a total loss of market value of about 50% after the highs of 300 billion dollars recorded last February 15th.
Bitcoin, as is usually the case during bearish moments, gains market positions and returns to 66% of dominance, Ethereum returns under 10%, and Ripple breaks the threshold of 4% to 3.9%, the lowest levels since December 2017.
The crash of Bitcoin (BTC)
Bitcoin with today’s collapse totally cancels the bullish structure built in the last three months and returns with prices at the levels of May 2019.
The rise that led to the increase over 10,000 dollars in February is definitively put on the sidelines.
With this strong blow and the return of a bear that is proving to be very aggressive, everything will have to be done again.
In this context, the levels of resistance are very far apart, so it is good to understand where to build a base from which BTC prices can start again. After the current strong bearish movement, it is necessary to wait for developments in the next hours and days.
Ethereum (ETH)
For Ethereum, the bullish structure is now abandoned, with the rise that had brought it close to 300 dollars in mid-February. Ethereum returns to the minimum levels of December and early January.
It is not technically a good sign that the break of the dynamic trendline of 195 dollars occurred with so much violence, indicating how the strong sales have brought down the prices of Ethereum.
It will be necessary to wait for the developments of the next few hours and days to understand the intensity of the fall and whether the principles and indications that will arrive will still be valid to return to hope for a new bullish movement.
