The cryptocurrency market went on a free fall Sunday as recession fears and soaring geopolitical tensions caused the worst intraday decline for the risk-on sector in 2024.
| Cryptocurrency | Gains +/- | Price (Recorded 9:00 p.m. EDT) |
| Bitcoin BTC/USD | -10.12% | $54,402.59 |
| Ethereum ETH/USD | -19.49% | $2,334.32 |
| Dogecoin DOGE/USD | -7.76% | $0.09985 |
What Happened: Market bellwether Bitcoin hit an intraday low of $52,559 Sunday night, a level not seen since late February. The world's largest cryptocurrency rebounded to $54,000 during the volatile trading session but was still down 10% in the last 24 hours.
Ethereum hit an intraday bottom of $2,152, recording its steepest drop since December 2022. The second-largest cryptocurrency was among the market's biggest losers, tumbling 20% over the last 24 hours.
The market witnessed liquidations of $775.89 million in the last 24 hours, with $665 million in bullish bets getting wiped out.
The Cryptocurrency Fear & Greed Index flashed "Fear" as of this writing, implying potential for further sell-offs and price dumps.
Top Losers (24-Hours)
| Cryptocurrency | Losses +/- | Price (Recorded at 9 p.m. EDT) |
| Kucoin Token (KCS) | -24.34% | $6.66 |
| Bittensor (TAO) | -21.41% | $188.56 |
| Mantle (MNT) | -23.34% | $0.494 |
The global cryptocurrency market plunged below $2 trillion for the first time since February 25, following a slump of 11.50% in the last 24 hours.
The cryptocurrency sell-offs came alongside Japan's stock market slump, with the blue-chip Nikkei 225 sinking over 5% after Monday's market open.
U.S. stock futures also bled Sunday night. The Dow Jones Industrial Average Futures sank 300 points, or 0.75%, as of 9 p.m. EDT. Futures tied to the S&P 500 tumbled 1.39%, while Nasdaq 100 Futures dipped 2.33%.
The blue-chip indices were coming from another loss-making week after a report revealing high unemployment on Friday fuelled investors' fears of a recession.
Coupled with this, the rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and the potential of a full-blown war spooked investors.
See More: Best Cryptocurrency Scanners
Analyst Notes: Widely-followed cryptocurrency analyst and trader Ali Martinex noted that August and September have historically been the worst months for Bitcoin, with average losses of -7.82% and -5.58%, respectively.
However, October has invariably brought hope, with average gains of 22.90%.
Meanwhile, whale investors were accumulating Bitcoins in hordes. Popular X account CryptoRus revealed that more than 64,000 BTC, worth $3.5 billion at the time of writing, was moved out of exchanges over the last month, the biggest such move since 2015.
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