Altcoins Plunge as Bitcoin Falters Near $76K

Bitcoin Faces Fifth Consecutive Weekly Loss Amidst Altcoin Sell-Off

Bitcoin is on the verge of closing in the red for the fifth consecutive week, a stark indicator of its current price weakness. The broader altcoin market is also experiencing significant downturns, with several major cryptocurrencies posting double-digit losses.

October’s Major Hack and Bitcoin’s Volatile Reaction

The month of October concluded with the most substantial cryptocurrency hack in terms of U.S. dollar losses, as cybercriminals siphoned $6.3 billion from Binance. Bitcoin’s immediate reaction saw its price plummet from approximately $81,000 to $76,000 within an hour. Subsequent attempts to rebound were largely unsuccessful, with BTC stalling at $79,000.

Mid-Term Elections and Market Swings

Entering U.S. mid-term election day on Tuesday, Bitcoin was trading weakly around $78,000. The anticipated “blue wave” did not materialize, and the cryptocurrency experienced a sharp decline to a seven-week low of $75,800. However, a significant shift occurred on Wednesday afternoon, as Bitcoin, mirroring a surge in Wall Street markets, skyrocketed to local peaks, touching $81,000.

Rapid Reversal Erases Gains

This substantial upward movement was swiftly followed by an equally dramatic downturn. Within 24 hours, Bitcoin had erased all its gains and, for the first time since its August rally, dipped below $75,000 on Friday. The cryptocurrency has since struggled to mount a significant recovery and is currently trading just below $76,000.

Market Capitalization and Dominance

Bitcoin’s market capitalization remains at $1.520 trillion according to CoinMarketCap, while its dominance over altcoins has once again reached 60%.

Altcoin Performance Shows Widespread Declines

The past 24 hours have seen minimal price action in the altcoin market, but the weekly performance paints a grim picture. While Ethereum (ETH), Binance Coin (BNB), and Monero (XMR) have seen more modest declines of 1%-3%, others such as XRP, Solana (SOL), Dogecoin (DOGE), Chainlink (LINK), and Cardano (ADA) have fallen by as much as 8.5%.

More severe losses are evident among larger-cap altcoins, with NEAR Protocol (NEAR) down 15%, Bitcoin Cash (BCH) down 13%, HYPE down 12%, and Stellar Lumens (XLM) down 11%. Ethena (ENA) has plummeted over 18%, Ondo Finance (ONDO) is down 12%, and Pump.fun (PUMP) has slumped more than 14%.

Tron (TRX) and BitTorrent (BTW) are among the few exceptions trading in positive territory. Zcash (ZEC) has also seen a weekly gain of 2%, though it faced resistance at $1,330 yesterday.

The total cryptocurrency market capitalization has decreased by approximately $100 billion over the past week, now standing at $2.550 trillion on CoinMarketCap.