In the past seven days, the valuation of the crypto market has dropped from $117 billion to $102 billion, by just over $15 billion.
Major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Ripple (XRP) performed poorly against the U.S. dollar, experiencing losses above the 10 percent mark.
Out of the three most valuable crypto assets in the space, the Ethereum price suffered the worst drop as ETH declined by more than 13 percent from $98 to $84.
Bitcoin at Risk of Dropping to $2,700?
The Bitcoin price has performed relatively well in comparison to other major crypto assets and small market cap tokens in the past seven days.
But, the lack of volume in most Bitcoin markets has put the dominant cryptocurrency at risk of dipping below key support levels below the $3,000 mark.
DonAlt, a cryptocurrency trader and technical analyst, wrote:
“As BTC is approaching the target of the 2014 fractal the targets of most people change from 3k to 1k and even lower. I still think $2,700 is an excellent place to buy if we should go there. ‘History doesn’t repeat itself but it often rhymes.’”
The analyst added that while a drop below $3,000 is always a possibility, shorting the asset can be highly risky in a period of uncertainty and extreme volatility.
“If you exclude the wick that ended the last bear market, we’re already there. Excluding it might be reasonable because even though this drop is very similar, the market is more liquid & sophisticated than back then. Not the place to add new shorts, in my opinion,” he added.
Major markets like South Korea and Japan have also started to demonstrate a noticeable decline in volume and overall demand for the asset class.
According to CryptoCompare, a crypto market data provider, Japan and South Korea, which consistently ranked above the U.S. throughout the 2017 bull market, only account for around five percent of global Bitcoin volume.
In contrast, the U.S. now accounts for 17.6 percent of international Bitcoin volume, excluding the volume of Tether (USDT).
Bad State
For the first time since Aug 2017, the crypto market is set to drop below the $100 billion mark, mostly fueled by the underwhelming performance of low volume cryptocurrencies.
A handful of tokens in the likes of ICON (ICX), VeChain (VET), and Zcash (ZEC) have seen a 95 percent to 99 percent decline from their all-time highs. At its peak, ICX was valued at $44 billion. As of December, the market cap of ICX remains below the $100 million mark.
If cryptocurrencies remain in a bear market throughout the first several months of 2019, tokens and low liquidity tokens will continue to drop in value against both the U.S. dollar and Bitcoin.
As of current, there exists significant risk in shorting and longing Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies in the market, and many investors are observing the short-term trend of the crypto market by holding out on trades.
Click here for a real-time bitcoin price chart or here to review our latest crypto market coverage.
Featured Image from Shutterstock. Charts from TradingView.
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