The cryptocurrency market faced significant sell pressure, causing a downturn in market value as investor sentiment shifted. Over the past couple of hours, a wave of profit-taking has fueled a bearish trend in the crypto space.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin has dropped to the $94,000 level, while Ethereum trades below $3,600. This marks a stark reversal from the gains recorded over the weekend.
Retail investors appear to be liquidating holdings ahead of the December holiday season. Analysts have projected that the market rally may slow down until 2025, citing extensive retail ownership compared to corporate holdings as a key factor.
As of midday, the global cryptocurrency market cap declined to $3.38 trillion, down 1.23% from the previous day’s $3.34 trillion. Meanwhile, only Dogecoin and Cardano are trading in positive territory, posting gains of 0.82% and 0.73%, respectively, according to data from CoinMarketCap.com.
Despite the downturn, total crypto market trading volume surged by 61.53% in the past 24 hours, reaching $227.93 billion. The decentralized finance (DeFi) segment accounted for $17.3 billion, or 7.59%, of this volume, while stablecoins dominated with $203.3 billion, representing 89.19% of the total.