It may be Good Friday but the crypto market doesn't take holidays. Though crypto traders would probably wish it would.
The crypto market has taken a sharp tumble over the last 24 hours with declines being seen across the board.
This has reduced the value of the entire market to US$269 billion according to Coin Market Cap.
The main catalyst for this decline has been the fall of the bitcoin (BTC) price. It is down 9% over the last 24 hours to US$7,258 per coin. This reduces the world's largest cryptocurrency's market capitalisation to US$123 billion.
Bitcoin came under significant pressure after its price neared the so-called "death cross". This is a technical analysis term for when an asset's 50-day moving average crosses through its 200-day moving average.
It is an overwhelmingly bearish indicator and some experts believe it could soon send the bitcoin price below US$1,000 per coin if it crosses it.
Considering that bitcoin is impossible to value, technical analysis does tend to have a big impact on the direction it takes.
Unfortunately this weakness has also weighed heavily on the rest of the crypto market. Here is the state of play for the rest of the industry this morning:
The Ethereum (ETH) price has plunged 12.5% since this time yesterday to US$392.40, leaving it with a market capitalisation of US$38.6 billion.
The Ripple (XRP) price has fallen over 8% during the period to 53 U.S. cents, reducing its market capitalisation to US$20.7 billion.
The Bitcoin Cash (BCH) price has been the worst performer among the majors, falling almost 17% during the last 24 hours to US$715.45. This gives the bitcoin spin-off a market capitalisation of US$12.2 billion.
The Litecoin (LTC) price has tumbled 12.5% since this time yesterday to US$115.88 per coin. LTC now has a market capitalisation of under US$6.5 billion.
Outside the top five the EOS (EOS), Cardano (ADA), and Stellar (XLM) prices have fallen notably lower. These altcoins are down 3%, 7%, and 12%, respectively, over the last 24 hours.
