Bitcoin, ether in the red as altcoins experience sharp sell-off, crypto stocks open lower

Quick Take

  • Bitcoin slipped 3%, trading below $21,000, and ether dropped 4.4%.
  • Altcoins and memecoins plunged as shiba inu dropped 10% in the past 24 hours.
  • Crypto stocks traded lower at the open.

Crypto prices were in the red, snapping a recent rally. Coinbase and MicroStrategy opened lower. 

Bitcoin dropped 3% in the past 24 hours to trade below $20,800 by 9:30 a.m. EST, although it was trending upwards again, according to TradingView data. 

Ether slipped 4.4% to $1,525, and Binance's BNB dropped 4.2%. Dog-themed memecoins had rallied over the past few days. However, dogecoin and shiba inu both pared recent gains, down 7.6% and 10%, respectively.

Crypto stocks

Crypto-related stocks traded lower at the open. Coinbase dipped below $50, down 2.4% by 9:35 a.m. EST, according to Nasdaq data. 

Silvergate slipped 2.6% to below $12, Block dropped 1.7% to about $70, and MicroStrategy traded at $217, down 1.2%. 

Markets contracted as hopes of a soft landing began to wane on the back of hawkish Fed comments, despite December retail figures being weaker than expected — reflecting a reduction in inflationary pressure. As Noelle Acheson, former head of market insights at Genesis, noted, it appears bad news is no longer good news. 

BNY Mellon's Head of Equities and Capital Markets, Alicia Levine, told Bloomberg TV the market hasn't priced in a soft landing and “the reaction is not going to be a pleasant one in equities."


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