This week’s crypto downturn forced the cryptocurrency market cap past an uncomfortable milestone on Wednesday, with the cryptocurrency market cap dropping below the $200 billion mark a day ahead of the contentious Bitcoin Cash hard fork.
The crypto market had traded as high as $220 billion on Nov. 7, about the time many bulls were anticipating that the bitcoin price could break above its 200-day moving average (DMA) and begin the long grind back to the all-time high it set last December.
That breakout failed to materialize, and the crypto market began a gradual decline that steepened on Wednesday morning as the bitcoin cash price erased the gains it had made in advance of tomorrow’s hard fork.
Crypto market cap
Source: CoinMarketCap
While bitcoin cash has been the large-cap index’s worst performer today, it was far from the only coin affected by today’s sell-off. Excluding stablecoins, only three top 100-cryptocurrencies managed to tread water against the US dollar, and seven of the 10 largest cryptoassets posted declines of at least 10 percent.
Altogether, the crypto market cap dropped by more than $19 billion over the preceding 24 hours and was valued at just $192 billion at the time of writing. The sell-off not only brought the combined value of all cryptocurrencies below $200 billion for the first time since Oct. 14 but also brought it to its lowest mark since mid-September.
Notably, the recent decline has seen investor capital begin to consolidate back into bitcoin from the altcoin markets, with bitcoin’s share of the overall crypto market cap rising to 54.2 percent at present versus 51.8 percent on Nov. 7.
