Bitcoin Continues Bleeding, Now Trading at Its Lowest Since December 2020

The broader crypto market has slid further into the red on Monday, coming off a weekend that saw the price of many assets dump. Bitcoin lost support above $28,000 on Saturday after spending over four weeks hovering around $30,000. The flagship cryptocurrency coin is down 12.26% in the last 24 hours to $ 24,195, bringing the 7-day losses to 22% at the time of writing.

Overall, the total crypto market capital has shrunk by 10% in the last 24 hours, to $1.025 trillion at the time of writing, CoinGecko data shows. Almost $200 billion of the erased volume was wiped off in 48 hours over the weekend.

Bitcoin eyes support at $24,000

BTC/USD earlier fell sharply to $24,170 – its lowest level in over 17 months.

BTC/USD trading chart

The latest decline gives an edge to bears seeking to test $20,000 or lower, considering this group has control of the market. Notably, the price dump dismisses the narrative that Bitcoin makes a good asset against inflation. The asset’s correlation with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq earlier this year touched a new peak since 2020.

Altcoins take a beating as well

Altcoins haven’t been spared, with the majority among the top 20 coins (by market capital) registering double-digit losses on the day. Exchange data shows that many alts are changing hands at the lowest price in over a dozen months.

Ethereum, which has been charting a steep descent since Friday, has touched $1,209 today – its lowest price figure since January 2021. The premier altcoin was last observed trading at $1,215 – down 17.40% and 36.58% across 24-hr and 7-day timeframes.

Solana (SOL), which took a hit last week after suffering a fifth outage of the year, has printed a bigger red candle on both timeframes. SOL has dropped 20.75% in the last 24 hours and almost 40% since last Monday to $26.21 at writing. Meanwhile, Cardano (ADA), Polygon (MATIC), and Avalanche (AVAX) are down 15.60%, 18.20% and 21.25%, respectively.

Macro factors weigh heavily on the crypto market

The latest slump adds to the series of downturns that have crippled crypto assets since the start of May. The collapse of Terra and ailing tech stocks were responsible for the intensified bearish sentiment in the initial days.

Analysts have chalked up the overnight market decline to fears of system risk fueled by the recent consumer report reading of rising inflation. At the end of last week, the US Department of Labor released figures showing an unprecedented hike in inflation figures.

The CPI report indicated an 8.6% yearly increase since May 2021, which was against the market projection of a figure slightly less than April’s 8.3%.

Crypto lending firm Celsius pauses withdrawals

The harsh market conditions have pushed crypto lender Celsius to take measures “in the interest of the community.” The DeFi lending firm revealed in a memo that it was temporarily halting withdrawals but didn’t provide more information on what it intends to do next.

“Due to extreme market conditions, today we are announcing that Celsius is pausing all withdrawals, Swap, and transfers between accounts. We are taking this action today to put Celsius in a better position to honor, over time, its withdrawal obligations.”

The announcement sparked debate on social channels, with many on Twitter theorizing that the American-Israeli cryptocurrency lending firm barely has adequate liquidity to settle with depositors.

To learn more about Bitcoin visit our Investing in Bitcoin guide.