Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana Swing Wildly as Market Reacts to Binance-FTX Bombshell

Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and most other cryptocurrencies are experiencing a brutal sell-off following wild price gyrations today as traders make up their minds about what to do with the news that Binance is acquiring FTX.

Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market cap, was already suffering this morning, trading below $20,000 after traders liquidated their futures positions and sold-off their holdings last night. 

Then news dropped that Binance, the world’s biggest digital asset exchange, was buying its primary competitor FTX, following a public feud between the two CEOs of the companies. 

Bitcoin has since swung up and down in price—at one point briefly closing in on $21,000.

But the asset’s price has since quickly plunged: it is now down 8.4% in 24 hours, priced in at $18,995, according to CoinGecko data. 

Ethereum is not doing well, either. The second biggest digital asset has now dropped below its crucial $1,500 mark—priced in at $1,413—an 11% 24-hour drop. 

The sell-off now means that both assets are down significantly in the past seven days: Bitcoin has lost 7.5% of its value while Ethereum is down 10.3%. 

Hit even harder than the two biggest cryptocurrencies by market cap is Solana—now the eleventh largest digital asset—which is down nearly 30% in the past day, valued at $23.97. 

FTX, which is one of the biggest spot and derivatives exchanges by volume, has deep connections to Solana, an Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain competitor. FTX last year launched a marketplace for Solana NFTs and has invested big money in several Solana-related crypto projects. 

Most of the biggest cryptocurrencies by market cap are also experiencing sell-offs. Binance’s native token, BNB, was up a fair bit just hours ago but is now quickly dropping in price, down 9% in the last hour.

Bitcoin, Ethereum and the wider crypto market have struggled since the weekend, ahead of two major events: the U.S. midterm elections happening today and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics consumer price index (CPI) releasing data Thursday that will provide the latest figures on inflation in the U.S. economy.

Since the weekend, Bitcoin and Ethereum have not been closely following U.S. equities as they typically do: The U.S. equities market is currently experiencing a market rebound, with the Dow up 200 points on the day so far.