It certainly has been a disappointing week for cryptocurrency traders.
In afternoon trade the cryptocurrency market is sinking lower again and is now worth a total of US$425 billion according to Coin Market Cap. This means it has lost close to US$100 billion in value since the weekend.
One of the worst performers during the last few days has been the Litecoin (LTC) price.
At the time of writing Litecoin is down over 14% since this time yesterday to US$188.17 per coin, which means it has lost 26% of its value since peaking at US$253.90 on Tuesday.
What happened?
With no major industry news this week, it seems likely that profit-taking has hit the market following a recent rally higher.
I believe Litecoin has been hit more than most because it has been on a tear of late following the announcement of its LitePay payment technology launch and the hard fork which created Litecoin Cash (LCC).
When it peaked at US$253.90 on Tuesday, Litecoin had gained an incredible 132% in the space of just two weeks.
What about the rest?
It is by no means alone in sinking lower today. As things stand, the bitcoin (BTC) price is down over 9% to US$9,854,85. This reduces its market capitalisation to US$166.4 billion.
Elsewhere, Ethereum (ETH) is lower by 5% to US$821.17, giving it a market capitalisation of US$80.3 billion.
The world's third-largest cryptocurrency, Ripple (XRP), is off over 11% to 91.9 U.S. cents. Ripple's market capitalisation is down to just under US$36 billion.
Finally, Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is lower by 11.5% to US$1,178.79, leaving it with a market capitalisation of US$20 billion.
What's next?
Unfortunately, with sentiment becoming increasingly negative I suspect there could be more declines on the way for the cryptocurrency market. And considering Litecoin is still up significantly over the last couple of weeks, I think it could fall more than most as profit-taking gathers pace. Strap yourselves in for a wild ride this weekend!
