Bitcoin remains below $30k as crypto has another losing week

Major cryptocurrencies look set for another losing week with bitcoin stubbornly trading below the $30,000 mark.

Bitcoin, ethereum and Binance Coin – the largest cryptocurrencies by market cap – are down by roughly 6 per cent, 15 per cent and 7 per cent, respectively, for the week in late afternoon trading on Friday.

Cryptocurrencies have spiralled lower for the past several weeks, falling more quickly than equity markets, as a bearish market environment is exacerbated by so-called stablecoins de-pegging from the US dollar.

Under pressure: Bitcoin was hovering around $29K on Friday, having fallen 6% in the last week

Bitcoin was down just 2 per cent at around $29,000 in afternoon trading on Friday, which is less than half its all-time high of more than $68,000 in November 2021. 

It has lost around 28 per cent of its value in the last month alone.

Ethereum and Binance Coin were more markedly in the red today, with the former down by 5 per cent in the last 24 hours to around $1,800, and the latter also 4 per cent lower at around $300. 

The two cryptos have lost around 40 per cent and 25 per cent of their value respectively over the past month. 

Bitcoin dominance, a measure of the ratio between its market cap to the rest of cryptocurrency markets, has jumped to fresh highs even as its price has decreased. 

Marcus Sotiriou, an analyst at UK-based digital asset broker GlobalBlock, thinks bitcoin is seen as a little safer than other cryptos by institutional investors due to its wider adoption.

‘I think investors preferring Bitcoin in this environment is not a surprise, as they deem it as a safe haven during this time of uncertainty with macro headwinds,’ he says. 

‘Even though bitcoin is also falling, it is still draining liquidity from other altcoin pairs, as there is a lack of buyers in altcoins in this current market.

‘This lack of appetite for altcoins, which are further on in the digital asset risk curve, has been exacerbated by the collapse of UST stablecoin.’

Bitcoin has lost around 28 per cent of its value over the past month

TerraUSD, a prominent stablecoin, broke its peg with the dollar last week and is now trading at near zero which has precipitated a wider crash.

Stablecoins were developed partly in response to the volatility seen in other cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, but as the past week has shown they are not risk-free. 

Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at Ava Trade, said: ‘In the crypto world, bulls are nowhere to be seen as the bitcoin price continues to fall. 

‘The fact that bitcoin price is struggling to stay above the 30K price level indicates that the path of the least resistance is skewed to the downside.

‘We saw a severe sell-off yesterday in the altcoin market, and cryptocurrencies like Ethereum, Solana, Polkadot, XRP and Cardano took a serious beating. If the BTC price continues to fall, altcoins will likely fall even further.

‘Overall, it seems that the last night of the crypto winter is still far away.’

‘Crypto winters’ are generally defined as periods of prolonged bearishness lasting a month or more.

There have been five since 2017 and three since 2021, according to Reuters. 

Last year’s two crashes lasted 14 and 10 weeks and caused bitcoin to lose 45 per cent to 47 per cent. 

Bitcoin has lost around 36 per cent in eight weeks, so it could drop further if it followed a similar pattern.