The cryptocurrency ecosystem recently lost over $7 billion, going from over $220 billion to about $213 billion at press time, after bitcoin failed to breach the $6,600 resistance it attempted to breach earlier this month, on August 15.
According to CryptoCompare data the flagship cryptocurrency is seemingly stuck between the $6,000 support and the $6,600 resistance. At press time, it’s trading at $6,422 after falling about 1.5% in the last 24-hour period.
Bitcoin’s failed bull run seemly led to the decline of most other top cryptocurrencies, with data showing most cryptos fell between 1% and 6% in the last 24-hour period. Ripple’s XRP and Brave’s BAT being among the few in the green, rising 1.8% and 7.18% respectively.
Some analysts believe bitcoin failing to breach $6,600 was part of the reason the crypto market declined, as the cryptocurrency has bounced from its support numerous times this year, but is seemingly still enduring a bearish trend.
Behind the crypto’s price movements may be various factors. As CryptoGlobe covered, Lou Kerner, a cryptocurrency market analyst, has recently argued it is a “much, much better,” store of value than gold. Curiously, BTC is on pace to clear more than twice the transaction volume of gold this year.
Notably, bitcoin shorts have risen over 78% this month, according to data from a leading cryptocurrency exchange. As covered, outstanding short interest on August 1 was of little over 17,000 BTC, while at press time it has risen to over 31,600 BTC.
The cryptocurrency community has been anxiously awaiting a bitcoin ETF, so much so that when the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rejected the Winklevoss twins’ ETF application, bitcoin dropped 3.5% late last month. The regulator set September 30 as the deadline for a decision on the VanEck-SolidX ETF application.
Recently, bitcoin activist Andreas Antonopoulos, author of “Mastering Bitcoin: Unlocking Digital Cryptocurrencies,” argued that bitcoin ETFs are a “terrible idea” as they’ll give institutional investors a chance to manipulate spot BTC markets. Per his words, they’ll also help a class of “second-tier” bitcoin investors who don’t control their private keys grow.
Despite the market’s downturn, eccentric cybersecurity expert John McAfee has recently revealed he’s still standing by his $1 million bitcoin price prediction.
Ethereum, the second-biggest cryptocurrency by market cap, is currently down by 2.5% in the last 24-hour period. ETH has been plummeting this month, and fell to an over 52-week low of about $250. At press time, it’s trading at about $300.
Per the cryptocurrency’s co-founder Joseph Lubin, price swings in it are being caused by “trader types” seeing their fortunes change in the charts. Ethereum’s fundamentals, according to Messari co-founder Dan McArdle, haven’t changed, as what’s needed for ETH’s adoption didn’t change because of the bearish trend.
