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One of the most concerning and substantial pieces of news early in 2020 came from China. The country saw the outbreak of a new coronavirus in mid-January in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
Supposedly originating in a local food market in the city, the virus now spreads over a broader territory while the number of diseased has grown to upwards of 3,000. In a bid to contain the deadly virus, Chinese authorities moved to lock down three cities with a combined population of more than 18 million people.
Naturally, this took a toll on the country’s economy and, consequently, on global financial and stock markets.
Global Markets Tumble Amid Growing Coronavirus Concerns
On Monday, January 10th, the Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index (FTSE100), composed by the 100 largest companies in the London Stock Exchange, charts losses upwards of 2.25%, down more than 175 basis points.
Even though the FTSE100 is highly internationalized and, hence, exposed more than most other indexes, analysts expect other markets to take a hit as well. Speaking on the matter was Joshua Mahony, senior market analyst at IG Trading Group, who outlined:
We are also seeing commodity stocks slump, with the prospect of a decline in Chinese growth hurting expectations of demand in the sector.
In general, industries across the board are marking losses as traditional markets are currently painted in red. This probably doesn’t come as a surprise, as China is one of the world’s largest economies, which, if distressed, will surely resonate in other countries as well.
Bitcoin And Altcoins Surge In Response
On the other hand, the cryptocurrency market sees the exact opposite reaction. Bitcoin charts an increase of more than 3.5% at the time of this writing, trading at about $8,765.
The cryptocurrency managed to overcome the resistance at around $8,450 and is now facing its next target between $8,800 and $8,900. This level contains the 200-days moving average. As Cryptopotato reported, the next resistance to look out for, should it successfully breach the 200MA, would be the $9,000 zone.
Altcoins are also on the rise. All of the top 20 cryptocurrencies are trading in the green. A lot of them are even recording double-digit gains, which is nothing short of impressive.
Bitcoin Cash is up 12.5%, Bitcoin SV is up 12.9%, while EOS gained more than 11% in the past 24 hours. During this time, Bitcoin’s dominance decreased to 65.5%, which is a definitive indicator that altcoins are stepping up. It’s also worth noting that in less than a day, the entire cryptocurrency market gained about $10 billion in terms of market capitalization.
While there is no established correlation between the performance of traditional markets and Bitcoin, this particular reaction has been seen before. Its price surged after the recent Iran-US Clash, and it did the same back when President Trump Imposed new tariffs on Chinese goods, sending traditional markets in the red.