One of the Worst Weeks for Cryptocurrencies in 2024: Bitcoin Drops to $61,000, Affecting Ethereum and Solana
Cryptocurrencies are facing significant losses as the digital asset market suffers its second-worst weekly decline of 2024. This downturn is attributed to a slowdown in demand for Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and uncertainties surrounding monetary policies.
Overview
Details
An index tracking the top 100 digital assets fell by approximately 5% over the seven days leading up to Sunday.
According to Bloomberg data, this marks the steepest drop since April.
Bitcoin (the largest cryptocurrency by market value) saw its price plummet to $61,000 on Monday,
reaching its lowest level in over a month.
This decline follows a six-day streak of outflows from U.S. Bitcoin ETFs.
Why Bitcoin’s Price Dropped
The recent declines in cryptocurrencies come amidst uncertainties about how quickly and to what extent the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates, which are currently at their highest level in two decades.
Some analysts view the decline in digital assets as a sign of a broader reduction in investor risk appetite. The current dynamics of the cryptocurrency market are characterized by “low volatility, declining trading volumes, and order book imbalances as prices approach the upper limits of their range.”
Other Declining Cryptocurrencies
Other cryptocurrencies are also experiencing notable declines.
Ethereum and Solana, in particular, have faced consecutive weekly losses,
the longest streak for Ethereum since last year and for Solana since 2022.
This downturn comes despite preparations by some firms to launch the first U.S.
-based ETFs that invest directly in Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency globally.
Additionally, Solana has recently been favored by various digital asset hedge funds.
It’s worth noting that Bitcoin reached an all-time high of $73,798 in March.
However, its performance has lagged behind traditional assets like stocks,
bonds, and gold during the current quarter.