Ethereum Leads Weekly Altcoin Losses as Wider Market Sell-Off Continues

The crypto market remains in the red zone with altcoins and pack leader Ethereum (ETH) posting losses two weeks after the approval of spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETF by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

On-chain data shows the price of several crypto assets trading at monthly lows. This comes in contrast to the uptick in prices towards the end of last year.

The recent sell-off can be seen across Bitcoin and a slew of altcoins as daily trading volumes of cryptocurrency plunge.

In the last 24 hours, daily trading volumes stood at $46.27 billion, a 6.61% decline from the previous day. This brings the total crypto market capitalization to $1.56 trillion.

With asset prices down, decentralized finance (DeFi) volumes have also plummeted and remain at $3.6 billion. At 7% of the entire crypto market, this shows reduced activity and sell-offs.

Ethereum Leads The Pack

Ethereum has recorded the biggest loss among altcoins in the top 20 ranked assets across the last seven days with its decline entering double figures.

ETH is down by 10.7% in a week at the time of writing and exchanges hands at $2,212, a 0.4% slight slump in the past 24 hours.

Like most assets, Ethereum gained momentum in Q4 2023 after a slow start to the year coming off the 2022 bear market. The altcoin giant recorded 90% profits throughout the year notching institutional inflows and impressive DeFi numbers.

However, gains posted in December have been wiped off amid the recent market correction. Bears are currently predicting a slightly lower price in the upcoming weeks. Solana (SOL) and Ripple (XRP) had 6.69% and 6.4% losses in the past week to trade at $87.83 and $0.51 respectively.

Like ETH, massive December gains recorded by SOL have been wiped out as the asset posts a monthly decline of 23.22%. XRP’s monthly losses are at 17.63%. Cardano (ADA) and Avalanche (AVAX) have plunged 5.54% and 7.5% respectively in the past week with a larger 22% and 15.29% in the last 30 days.

Bitcoin Is Still in The Sell-off Mix

As the altcoin market remains in the red zone, Bitcoin’s correction after the approval of spot ETFs has drawn opinions from several commentators with some stating that this was simply a sell-the-news event.

The months leading up to the approval were marked with an improved institutional investor appetite as the asset’s price surged to levels not seen in months.

This was followed by predictions from analysts of a massive price gain after the approval as it became a new window for investors to increase their exposure to the top assets.

Matrixport projected a $50,000 price for the asset in December and with the recent price correction, a new report has been released on a potential price decline to $36,739 before a rebound.

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