The price of Ethereum has fallen below $300 as the cryptocurrency market enters a more intense bearish pullback. Except for Tether, all other top ten coins have experienced significant negative price movements within the last 24-hour trading period.
Ethereum Tumbles 17 Percent
Ethereum, the second-ranked cryptocurrency according to market capitalization sunk to its lowest 2018 valuation on Monday afternoon UTC. ETH has not traded below $300 since the start of November 2017. At press time, ETH has dipped more than 17 percent to take its 2018 decline to 60 percent.
The decline in the price of ETH is being attributed to the disillusionment of ICO investors. The sheer number of ICO exit scams and the amounts being siphoned by these pump and dump schemes has created negative sentiments in the ETH market.
Ethereum, the preferred platform for most ICO projects benefited from this fact reaching above $1,000 in February 2018. At the time, BTC was declining below $6,000. However, the tide seems to have turned as many of the ICO projects that generated interest in ETH, driving up its price have begun to cash out to cover expenses. Thus, the ETH is is starting to slide. Commenting on the issue, BloomWater Capital chief, Biswas Das said:
These startups are raising a lot of funds, but they don’t have treasury management or enough cash management experience, so they’re selling too early and causing a lot of pressure in the market. It was fine last year, but right now, the market is so fragile that it causes a lot of pressure.
The general bearishness perhaps exacerbates the ETH decline in the market occasioned by stricter regulations and the slow pace of institutional adoption. Experts believe that projects aren’t done cashing out and thus predict even more pain for ETH investors as prices sink even lower.
Bitcoin Dips More than 20 Percent in August as Altcoins Continue to Bleed
Bitcoin briefly slipped below the $6,000 mark in the early morning on Tuesday (August 14, 2018). The top-ranked cryptocurrency is now back above $6,000 at the time of writing this article. BTC has dropped more than 20 percent in August eroding most of the gains accrued in July. Bitcoin’s year-to-date decline now stands at 57 percent.
Positive sentiments leading up to the SEC’s decision on numerous ETFs drove prices up to $8,400 in late July. However, the Commission has either rejected or delayed approving the various filings brought before it. The consensus is that an SEC-approved Bitcoin ETF in 2018 is highly unlikely.
The altcoin market, in general, appears bleak as well with prices depreciating significantly. Cardano leads the decline in the top ten, falling more almost 20 percent within the last 24 hours. Outside the top ten, Ethereum Classic has been unable to maintain its upward price trajectory after a raft of platform adoptions. The 13th-ranked cryptocurrency is currently down by more than 19 percent in the last 24 hours.
How low do you expect the price of Ethereum to reach in this current decline? Keep the conversation going in the comment section below.
Image courtesy of Coinmarketcap.
