Last night, practically the entire cryptocurrency market witnessed a sudden sell-off which saw most cryptocurrencies crash by more than five percent over a two-hour time span. Now, less than 12 hours on, 18 out of the top 20 cryptocurrencies are still experiencing heavy losses.
As it stands, Bitcoin (BTC) is performing better than most, after losing just 2.3% to fall back to $6,935, whereas Litecoin (LTC), EOS and Binance Coin (BNB) are down more than seven percent apiece. Ethereum (ETH), on the other hand, was one of the first cryptocurrencies hit by the sudden market downturn and fell to as low as $132 earlier today, before recovering to its current value of $133—equivalent to a six percent loss over the last 24 hours.
The cause behind the dump currently remains uncertain, though it is clear that a large ETH sell order may have triggered a cascade across the board.
$ETH with the two minute headstart.
Bless you vitalik. pic.twitter.com/sJ3Q9hVn4A— Hsaka (@HsakaTrades) December 16, 2019
Although the vast majority of cryptocurrencies slipped into the red in the last day, a handful are struggling against the grain to capture small gains. Among these, Tezos (XTZ) is one of the top performers after gaining more than 3.5% to reach $1.71—further solidifying its position as the tenth-largest cryptocurrency. Likewise, Crypto.com Coin (CRO) is currently defying the market with 24-hour gains sitting at 4.6%, while several other small-cap cryptocurrencies have witnessed similar growth.
Nonetheless, the erratic market movements that kickstarted this recent bearish momentum appear to be dying down, as most cryptocurrencies are now either trading roughly sideways, or recovering somewhat since reaching a low in the early hours of today.