As the new week commences, Bitcoin is maintaining a steady pace, mirroring the stability of the preceding weekend, where its market price hovered around the $30,000 mark.
Altcoins Turn Red
Contrasting Bitcoin’s steady start, several altcoins have kicked off the week on a negative note. Leading altcoins such as Avalanche (AVAX), Litecoin (LTC), Lido (LDO), Solana (SOL), Tron (TRX), amongst others, have registered a decline of up to 6%.
- AVAX: Dropped by 6%
- LTC: Dropped by 6%
- LDO: Dropped by 5%
- SOL: Dropped by 5.5%
- TRX: Dropped by 5.8%
One of the most noticeable falls comes from the meme coin, PEPE, which has plunged over 7% within a day.
Is Bitcoin Set to Lose the $30K Mark?
Over the last week, Bitcoin demonstrated a relatively calm temperament. The flagship cryptocurrency made several attempts to overstep the $31,000 mark, resulting in increased volatility towards the end of last week. This was particularly evident on Friday, when the coin surged to register its 13-month peak of $31,500.
Despite this milestone, the upward momentum was short-lived as bear market forces swiftly came into effect. Bitcoin saw a drastic fall down to $29,700 on Bitstamp, merely hours following its peak advancement.
Thankfully, this dip did not last long. The leading digital asset found resilience, climbing back to the $30,000 mark following a quick recovery. However, as a common occurrence over the weekend, trading volumes dropped, keeping Bitcoin trapped just over the $30,000 level.
The start of the week sees Bitcoin adopt a similar pattern, trading just over $30,000. This places the Bitcoin market cap below the $590 billion mark, but its dominance over the altcoins has indeed made an impressive 50% recovery on CoinMarketCap.
Altcoin Performance: PEPE Plunges by 7% & ETH Dips By 1%
While Bitcoin attempts to overcome its struggle at the $30,000 mark, the altcoins have seen a variety of fluctuations over the past 24 hours. Ethereum (ETH), the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, has mirrored the performance of Bitcoin, with a slight dip of under 1%. This positions ETH in a struggle around the $1,850 zone. Ripple (XRP) has a similar story, with a 0.5% drop pushing the coin down to $0.47.
Other major altcoins have witnessed a steeper decline. Bearish forces have resulted in coins such as Binance Coin (BNB), Cardano (ADA), Dogecoin (DOGE), Polkadot (DOT), Polygon (MATIC), and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) losing between 1% and 2% over the last day.
Solana (SOL), Tron (TRX), Litecoin (LTC), and Avalanche (AVAX) had an even more serious downside move, dropping up to 5% in the last 24 hours. However, the most drastic plunge comes from the meme coin PEPE, which fell by over 7% amongst the top 100 altcoins.
Not all altcoins are in the red, though. Notable mention goes to COMP, earning the distinction of being among the very few altcoins to see gains today. The rise has been impressive, with a 10% surge bringing its value close to $60.
The overall effect on the market has been considerable, with the total crypto market cap down by $20 billion in the last day, standing at $1.170 trillion as per CoinMarketCap.