Unfortunately for crypto traders there wasn't much to smile about this weekend. The entire value of the market has continued to slide and since Friday is down over 3.5% to US$324 billion according to Coin Market Cap.
Here is the state of play on Monday morning:
The Bitcoin (BTC) price has fallen 2.6% since this time yesterday to US$7,340.94 per coin, reducing its market capitalisation to US$125.25 billion. News of potential price manipulation of cryptocurrencies in the U.S. has weighed heavily on trader sentiment over the past few days. As did news of similar developments in South Africa over the weekend.
The Ethereum (ETH) price has plunged 6% over the last 24 hours to US$565.10 per token. This has cut Ethereum's market capitalisation down to US$56.3 billion. This latest decline means ETH has lost around 22% of its value in the space of a week.
The Ripple (XRP) price has dropped 2.5% over the period to 60.7 U.S. cents, leaving the popular alt coin with a market capitalisation of US$23.8 billion.
The Bitcoin Cash (BCH) price has fallen 4.5% since this time yesterday to US$985.43. The Bitcoin spin-off has been left with a reduced market capitalisation of US$16.9 billion.
The EOS (EOS) price is off 2.3% over the last 24 hours to US$12.39 per token, giving it a market capitalisation of US$10.9 billion.
Outside the top five it was much of the same with the top 25 cryptocurrencies all in the red.
The Litecoin (LTC) price is down 3.1%, the Stellar (XLM) price is off 5%, the Cardano (ADA) price is 4.6% lower, the TRON (TRX) price is down 6.8%, and the IOTA (MIOTA) price is 4.7% lower.
What's next?
As it is nearly impossible to place a fair value on Bitcoin and its peers, technical analysis and sentiment play a big role in their performances. Unfortunately, with both looking very bearish at the moment, it seems inevitable that Bitcoin will sink through the US$7,000 level in the coming days and drag the rest of the market down with it. I would suggest readers resist the temptation to invest and just watch on from the safety of the sidelines.
