Bitcoin Dips Below $22K as Altcoins Take a Beating (Market Watch)

The past 24 hours saw the entirety of the cryptocurrency market trade in the red with very few exceptions. Bitcoin’s price even plunged below $22K following the speech of the US Federal Reserve Chairman yesterday.

That said, altcoins are having it way worse than BTC, with a lot of them charting substantial declines.

Bitcoin Slips Below $22K

Bitcoin’s price has slipped below $22,000 on multiple occasions since yesterday, and it’s currently trading right around that level (on Binance).

The price started trending downwards a few days ago, but the move was further exacerbated following yesterday’s speech by Jerome Powell in front of Congress. He testified before the Senate Banking Committee and suggested that the Federal Reserve is likely to increase the key interest rates more than previously expected.

The latest economic data have come in stronger than expected, which suggests that the ultimate level of interest rates is likely to be higher than previously anticipated. – Powell said.

This sent the market on a rollercoaster ride as the price tumbled below $22K, only to recover moments later. From there, however, BTC continued declining and is currently trading around that important level.

Altcoins Having it Worse

As seen in the following heatmap, many altcoins are trading well in the red, with some charting considerable declines.

For example, OKB is down a whopping 12% in the last 24 hours, followed by Solana, which is down by about 6%. These are the worst performers from the top cryptocurrencies by means of total market cap, but things are getting even scarier amidst the smaller-cap coins like AGIX, STX, and Optimism’s OP token, which are all down almost 10% on the day.

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There are some exceptions to the above, of course. CFX is up 4.5%, while XRP is also charting a small increase of around 3.5%.

The sentiment across the broader cryptocurrency market remains neutral, according to the Fear and Greed Index. In fact, it even improved ever so slightly from yesterday, which is kind of interesting, given the current decline.