After failing to break above $43,000 on a few occasions since yesterday, bitcoin continues to battle for its January 2021 ATH at $42,000. Altcoins are also in the red today, with some more notable price drops from Ripple, Avalanche, and MATIC.
Bitcoin dropped to $42K again
On February 10, bitcoin kicked off an impressive rally resulting in a new five-week high of just under $46,000. This came after heightened volatility caused by news of the US inflation rate hitting a new 40-year high of 7.5%.
However, as the bulls prepared for another offensive, the bears came into play and turned the tide. In a matter of hours, BTC fell by around $3,000.
The cryptocurrency bounced back and reached $44,000, but it turned out to be a false breakout. BTC went straight south again and dipped below $42,000 for the first time in a week.
As of now, the asset sits just above that line, which is where the 50-MA sits. As a result, its market capitalization stands at around $800 billion.
Altcoins see red
Altcoins posted significant gains last week, but most are in the red today. Ethereum was trading above $3,200 on Thursday, but is now below $2,900, after another 2% drop since yesterday.
Binance Coin has lost a similar percentage and is struggling below $400. Ripple, which was the most significant gainer yesterday, has lost more than 5% and is now below $0.8.
Cardano, Solana, Terra, Polkadot, Avalanche, CRO and MATIC have also seen some losses on a daily basis. Other price drops come from Helio (-12%), Oasis Network (-11%), Quant (-9%), Flow (-8%), among others.
The cryptocurrency market cap has shrunk by around $40 billion in one day and over $100 billion since Friday to less than $1.9 trillion.