Bitcoin, Ethereum Prices Fall as Increase in Selling Pressure Causes Drop in Values of Most Cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin price in India and international markets dropped on Friday, after days of seeing its value rise. Industry experts say that at present, the selling pressure on investors has increased, triggering a period of volatility for crypto assets. On Friday, the world's most popular cryptocurrency opened with a loss of 2.22 percent to trade at $28,245 (roughly Rs. 23.2 lakh). While it remains the most expensive cryptocurrency, BTC is currently trading at a similar price on both national as well as international exchanges. In the last 24 hours, the value of Bitcoin has dropped by $613 (roughly Rs. 50,370).

“Bitcoin dropped for the second consecutive session due to an increased selling pressure,” Edul Patel, CEO of crypto investment platform Mudrex told Gadgets 360. Selling pressure garners heat when majority of the traders begin selling, indicating that the majority is betting on the market price to decrease. “This resulted in the loss of the rally and wiped out the weekly gains of Bitcoin. Despite this, there is still substantial support down to the late-March lows of $26,500 (roughly Rs. 21 lakh) and Bitcoin has seen a 40 percent increase over the past six weeks.”

Ethereum followed Bitcoin in a conventional market movement and reflected a loss of 0.10 percent at the time of publishing. The value of Ether is hovering around the mark of $1,940 (roughly Rs. 1.60 lakh) after having fallen by $157 (roughly Rs. 12,899) in the last three days.

On Friday, most cryptocurrencies saw their prices fall alongside Bitcoin and Ether. These included altcoins like Tether, Binance Coin, USD Coin, Ripple, and Cardano as well as Dogecoin, Polygon, Solana, and Polkadot.

Shiba Inu, Avalanche, and Tron also saw their values drop on Friday.

“Market performance has been sideways with a downward bias in the last 24 hours. The two-day continuous drop could be triggered by a $400 million (roughly Rs. 3,268 crore) sell order on Binance. On the regulatory front, the US seems to be lagging as market liquidity seems to be moving away from the country. Greed seems to be on a decline, as the crypto fear and greed index stands at 50, down two points in the last 24 hours and lowest since March 15,” Parth Chaturvedi, Crypto Ecosystem Lead, CoinSwitch told Gadgets 360.

The overall crypto market valuation dipped by 1.45 percent over the last 24 hours. As of Friday, the crypto market cap stood at $1.20 trillion (roughly Rs. 98,26,980 crore), showed the data by CoinMarketCap. In the otherwise top-to-bottom loss-ridden price chart, LEO and Bitcoin SV managed to record miniscule price hikes.

While there are several factors that could have led to the crypto market hitting a speed breaker after rallying for days, it could also be due to the possibility of stricter oversight that could make it risky for miscreants to engage with the sector. The European Parliament on Thursday overwhelmingly backed the European Union's (EU) first set of rules to regulate the cryptoasset markets.

Called MiCA — or Markets in Crypto Assets — these rules largely revolve around consumer protection and prevention of market manipulation and financial crimes in the crypto sector. The MiCA bill is aimed at preventing insider dealing, unlawful disclosure of inside information, and market manipulation of crypto-assets.

“The crypto market faces headwinds, but long-term tailwinds for Bitcoin are highlighted in 3iQ's 2023 Outlook. Key market indicators showed a ‘Sell' sentiment amidst prices of BTC and ETH decreasing after a good run in the past few days. Investors must proceed with caution,” Rajagopal Menon, Vice President, WazirX told Gadgets 360.

Cryptocurrency is an unregulated digital currency, not a legal tender and subject to market risks. The information provided in the article is not intended to be and does not constitute financial advice, trading advice or any other advice or recommendation of any sort offered or endorsed by NDTV. NDTV shall not be responsible for any loss arising from any investment based on any perceived recommendation, forecast or any other information contained in the article.