Bitcoin and Ethereum Rises and Falls as US Election Looms

What a difference a birthday makes. On Friday, the crypto markets were, for the most part, all up. Bitcoin had been marching towards $14,000 and other projects were riding a similar wave. 

On Saturday, while Bitcoin’s whitepaper was blowing out the candles on its 12th birthday, Bitcoin did reach the $14,000 mark, topping $14,028, pushing the total market cap of all cryptocurrencies north of $400 billion.  

But come Sunday, things changed. Bitcoin dropped 2.6% in 10 minutes, according to data provided by AAX, the world’s first digital asset exchange powered by the London Stock Exchange. And this morning, Ethereum followed with a 4.3% drop of its own. 

Other projects went red too. XRP, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash and EOS all took a sub 2% hit, while Monero continues its weekly slide (down 10% over seven days) with a 3.11% loss. 

Within 24 hours, $7 billion had been wiped from the total market cap. While Bitcoin’s price is still up over the last 7 days – 3.27% up if you’re interested – it was a significant come down after the birthday celebrations. 

Speaking of comedowns, DeFi had a rough October. 

As the month came to a close, the amount of cryptocurrency locked in decentralized finance smart contracts at the end of October was less than when the month started. That’s the first time this happened since this summer’s DeFi craze began. 

While the amount is relatively small – $11.28 billion on October 1 versus $11 billion on October 31 – the sentiment among many is that the blistering growth rates experienced by projects this summer are past us, and we’re now moving into a consolidation phase.

Election uncertainty 

It’s a similar story in the stock markets. Investors are preparing for short-term turmoil as the US election is less than 48 hours away. 

The S&P, Dow and Nasdaq Futures have been up and down over the weekend, but are starting the week in the green. 

Market watchers are expecting a decisive Democrat win, with Biden taking both houses. They’re also holding out for the long-discussed stimulus package that would give stocks a boost going into what is expected to be a tough Q4.

But some are more cautious. In 2016, Hillary Clinton was expected to take the election, but Trump won. The surprise result led to huge asset-price swings as the market corrected. 

There’s also the possibility that the election result will be contested, based on Trump’s rhetoric leading up to the election.

Whatever the side of the fence you sit on, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.