New Delhi, 13 November (H.S.): The cryptocurrency market witnessed a sharp downturn and widespread selling pressure on Friday amid higher-than-expected US inflation figures and growing concerns over further interest rate hikes. Panic selling dominated the market, with most of the leading digital assets among the top 15 by market capitalisation trading deep in the red. Persistent capital outflows from US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), coupled with large-scale liquidations of leveraged positions, further weakened investor sentiment. Amid these mounting pressures, Bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency, slipped below the $70,000 mark.
According to data provided by CoinMarketCap, a leading platform for tracking cryptocurrency prices and market information, Bitcoin had registered a steep decline of up to 6.48 per cent over the preceding 24 hours as of 5:45 pm Indian Standard Time on Friday. Following this sharp fall, Bitcoin was trading at $69,278.70 in the international market. Ethereum, the world's second-largest cryptocurrency, was also under significant selling pressure, declining 4.59 per cent to trade at $1,949.52.
The bearish sentiment extended beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum, affecting other major altcoins among the top 15 digital assets by market capitalisation. According to the latest data, BNB declined 4.86 per cent to $638.56, while Zcash fell 4.08 per cent to $947.17. Monero slipped 3.91 per cent to $534.37, Solana declined 3.10 per cent to $80.35, and Dogecoin lost 2.86 per cent to trade at $0.06511. All these cryptocurrencies remained in negative territory.
Among other major digital currencies, XRP also weakened by 2.68 per cent to $1.02. Hyperliquid declined 1.67 per cent to $72.76, TRON fell 1.36 per cent to $0.3120, Chainlink slipped 0.97 per cent to $9.95, while UNUS SED LEO edged down 0.77 per cent to $9.26. In contrast, stablecoins continued to trade within a narrow range, with Tether holding at $0.9991 and USD Coin at $0.9998.
In terms of market capitalisation, the global cryptocurrency market recorded a sharp decline of approximately 6.98 per cent over the preceding 24 hours. Consequently, the total global crypto market capitalisation fell to around $2.40 trillion.
Market experts said that a strengthening US Dollar Index and rising Treasury yields had intensified pressure on risk-sensitive digital assets. According to analysts, the $67,900-$68,000 range remains an important support zone for Bitcoin in the short term.
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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar
