Bitcoin’s price volatility returned over the past 12 hours or so as the tension in the Middle East continued to increase following the weekend developments.
Several of the larger-cap alts have posted notable losses over the past day, led by HYPE’s 5% decline to just over $40.
BTC Dropped Below $74K
Bitcoin’s resurgence began last Monday after that weekend’s peace talk failures, as the asset rocketed from under $70,500 to $75,000. It climbed further to just over $76,000 the next day, where it was stopped and spent the next few days trading sideways between $73,500 and $75,600.
The most impressive breakout attempt came on Friday after Iran’s foreign minister announced that the Strait of Hormuz was reopened. BTC jumped to $78,400 for the first time in 10 weeks, especially after Trump made more promising statements about peace talks during the weekend.
However, Iran denied those claims, and BTC started to lose value, dipping to $76,400 on Saturday and Sunday. As the tension between the two nations built up on Sunday evening, which included strikes against each other, BTC dipped further to $73,700 earlier this morning.
It has recovered about a grand since then and now sits close to $75,000. Its market cap has slipped to just under $1.5 trillion on CG, while its dominance over the alts stands at 57.4%.
BTCUSD April 20. Source: TradingView
XRP to Make a Big Move?
Although most altcoins remained volatile throughout the day (and night), their current market values have remained relatively the same compared to their positions 24 hours ago. Ethereum stands at $2,300, BNB is above $620, and SOL is close to $85. XRP also trades at essentially the same spot as yesterday, but analysts believe the cross-border token is preparing for a major move that can push it north or south by 35%.
HYPE and ZEC have lost the most value from the larger-cap alts, while CC is up by roughly 3% to $0.15. SKY has pumped by more than 4%, while MNT has dropped by 7% daily.
The total crypto market cap remains sideways at around $2.6 trillion on CG, down by over $100 billion since the Friday high.
Cryptocurrency Market Overview April 20. Source: QuantifyCrypto
