Cryptocurrency Market Loses $42 Billion in 3 Days as Tokens Struggle
The cryptocurrency market has dropped by more than $42 billion in the last three days, from $412 billion to $370 billion. The daily trading volume of the market also declined by around $3 billion, from $22 billion to $19 billion.
Poor Conditions
Earlier today, on May 18, the bitcoin price dipped below the $8,000 mark, entering the $7,000 region for the first time since mid-April. Traders that expected the Blockchain Week in New York and the Consensus 2018 event, the largest cryptocurrency conference in the world, to push the cryptocurrency markets upwards throughout May. However, the downtrend of bitcoin after falling below a key resistance level at $8,200 was too strong for bitcoin to regain any sort of momentum and immediately bounce back.
Throughout this week, CCN reported that the $8,200 resistance level and $8,800 support level of bitcoin are two important thresholds traders have to keep a close eye on because breaking either one of the two levels would result in the bitcoin price re-entering the $9,000 region or the $7,000 region.
On May 18, the bitcoin price reached a daily bottom at $7,925 and both simple and exponential moving averages demonstrated strong sell signals even at the $7,925 mark. However, the Relative Strength Index (RSI) of bitcoin signified oversold conditions for bitcoin, allowing the dominant cryptocurrency to rebound to $8,100 temporarily.
Currently, at the time of reporting, the price of bitcoin remains above $8,100. If bitcoin fails to recover beyond the $8,200 mark throughout the day, it could result in bitcoin testing the $7,800 resistance level, which could potentially lead bitcoin to the lower end of the $7,000 region.
What Caused the Market to Slump?
As Brian Kelly, the founder of BKCM and regular contributor to CNBC’s Fast Trader, previously said, the cryptocurrency market’s recent performance has failed to reflect significant progress that has been made in the cryptocurrency sector over the past week.