Late Friday afternoon witnessed the cryptocurrency market experiencing a cool-down, following a significant upsurge the previous day, triggered by what looked like a legal triumph for Ripple Labs and its cryptocurrency, XRP.
Bitcoin (BTC), the titan of cryptocurrencies when it comes to market value, plummeted below the $30,000 line. It was a more than 5% fall from a previous high of roughly $31,800 at one point on Thursday.
Ether (ETH), another major player in the crypto market, also felt the downward pull. From a lively performance the previous day, it slipped to trade at $1,900, which marks a 4% dip. This comes right after the crypto giant broke through the $2,000 barrier to achieve a three-month peak.
XRP, the focus of the court case, settled around $0.69, marking a substantial 25% fall from the high of $0.93 experienced the previous day. This token enjoyed a fleeting reign as the fourth largest crypto by market capitalization, overtaking Binance’s BNB, but with today’s drop, it had to relinquish its position, slipping back to the fifth place.
Not faring much better, other leading altcoins also took a hit, including ADA and MATIC – the tokens powering the smart contract platforms Cardano and Polygon, respectively. Each fell by over 5% as of Friday afternoon, albeit their value is still higher compared to two days ago. CoinDesk Market Index, a yardstick for measuring crypto market performance, had descended by nearly 4% over the preceding 24 hours.
Craig Erlam, a senior market analyst at the foreign exchange market maker Oanda, wrote in an email to CoinDesk, “Bitcoin is still behaving like a tool in the process of stabilization.” He noted that the breakthrough above $31,000 doesn’t seem to hold much promise at this stage.
The abrupt descent in prices came as a shock for traders who were banking on a rise, resulting in liquidation of $155 million worth of long positions, as per data from CoinGlass. This marked the heaviest long liquidation in a month.
