Bitcoin (BTC) is facing another day of sharp downside following a bearish trading session on Tuesday.
The benchmark cryptocurrency was skirting the $27,000 support line in early Wednesday trades, suggesting a third straight day of sizeable losses could be on the cards.
Bitcoin’s underwhelming first half of the week stemmed from a clear rejection at the 200-day trend line, where the bulls were unable to break above this stern resistance point.
In contrast to the poor performance on the bitcoin spot markets, US equities are having a solid week, with the Nasdaq 100 reacting positively to falling bond yields, dovish Federal Reserve comments and hopes for a China stimulus package.
Theoretically, these should also provide tailwinds for bitcoin’s risk-on profile, though the crypto markets are also suffering from a long-term liquidity drought and stagnant fundamental catalysts.
Nonetheless, bitcoin still remains the favoured play in the cryptocurrency markets, with traders increasingly shunning altcoins for the relative safety of the world’s largest cryptocurrency.
To that end, bitcoin dominance remains solid at more than 51%.
Bitcoin is now 11% lower over six months – Source: tradingview.com
The second-largest cryptocurrency Ethereum (ETH) is on its fifth straight day of losses, with nine of the last 10 trading sessions chalking up red candlesticks.
The ETH/USD pair’s poor performance is causing misery on the futures markets, where another $9 million in long positions has been wiped out following Monday’s $30 million rout.
Week on week, ether is more than 5% lower, while bitcoin is down 1.3%.
In the broader altcoin space, Ripple (XRP) bulls have failed to capitalise on recent court wins. Despite a brief rally earlier this month, XRP has shot down significantly, clocking 8.5% in losses over the past seven days.
Binance’s BNB token, Cardano (ADA), Dogecoin (DOGE) and Solana (SOL) are also in the red.
Global cryptocurrency market capitalisation currently stands at $1.06 trillion following a 1.8% overnight decline.
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