Crypto Market Continues To Fall
The crypto currency market continued to suffer in the past few days after a major correction occurred last week where prices fell by well over 30% with ripple leading the way and dropping at one point to below $1 with almost $50 billion wiped off the crypto currency's market cap. Bitcoin Cash, Dash and Litecoin also lost considerably in their value also dropping heavily from their previous all-time highs with the latter even coming perilously close to $100 at one point - a full 200% off its all-time high of $350.
Several reasons have been given for this major correction which has gone on to happen at least three times in the past few days with 10% corrections on Sunday 21st January and Monday 22nd January. Levels of crypto currency prices are now at levels not seen since early December with further falls expected until the market stabilizes although that doesn't look like changing anytime soon. The fracas in South Korea where there were rumours that the government could be banning crypto currency exchanges led the market to precipitous freefall whilst other bad news from investment markets also had a considerably negative effect on the Bitcoin price which is currently trading at just over the psychological barrier of $10,000 - a far cry from the $20,000 value reached in late December.
Crypto market treading water
Despite showing signs of recovery and registering gains over the weekend, the crypto market continues to remain relatively stagnant. Bitcoin climbed as high as $13,000 on Saturday, but failed to keep the momentum, and dropped to just above $11,000 later during the weekend. This morning, markets showed slight gains although these were short lived. Despite this moderate pullback, positive news coming out of South Korea should provide investors with confidence. As major news outlets reported, a major South Korean bank has said that it will process withdrawals for cryptocurrency traders, quelling fears - at least temporarily - that the cryptocurrency industry would be cut off from the mainstream financial sector. However there is still the issue that South Korea might also have foreign investors in its sights as it looks to ban them from crypto exchanges. Additionally, local media outlets reported that at least one high-ranking financial regulator has said that the government intends to allow exchanges to list bitcoin futures contracts, a move that would further solidify bitcoin's status as a financial instrument in the country.
Ethereum Price Slips Below $1,000
Bitcoin was not the only cryptocurrency to slip below an important barrier on Monday. The ethereum price dropped below $1,000 this afternoon, punctuating a precipitous six percent decline. At present, ethereum is trading at $973, which gives the second-largest cryptocurrency a $95.9 billion market cap. Just a few hours ago, Ethereum was trading at around $1,100 which represented a major gain from the lows experienced last week when the crypto currency dipped below the $800 mark at one point.
Other currencies post moderate increases bucking the trend
By far the worst performer from all crypto currencies over the past few days has been Ripple. The ripple price declined approximately 11 percent for the day, which constituted the worst performance among top 10-cryptocurrencies. The pullback reduced the third-largest cryptocurrency's market cap to $46.7 billion, afraction of the $12 million it reached just two weeks ago.
The bitcoin cash price, meanwhile, posted a daily decline 10 percent and is currently trading at $1,597 with a $27 billion market cap. Cardano, litecoin, NEM, and NEO each saw their prices drop by close to eight percent, highlighting the degree to which the correction permeated the wider markets.
Two top-tier altcoins, however, managed to defy the overall market trend and post positive returns. The most impressive rally came from stellar, which achieved a five percent price rally despite the overall correction. Stellar Lumens now has a market cap of $8.6 billion, which ranks it eighth on the market cap charts.
The day's second-best performance came from EOS, which climbed about four-and-a-half percent to bring its price to nearly $14 and raise its market cap to $13.6 billion.