Bitcoin Struggles Below $40K as Sentiment Returns to Extreme Fear (Market Watch)

After dropping below $40,000 earlier this weekend, bitcoin has been unable to reclaim that level despite a few attempts. The rest of the market is also relatively calm today, with ETH sitting beneath $3,000.

Bitcoin Stalls Below $40K

After the Monday crash, bitcoin went on the offensive and added several thousand dollars in about a few days. As a result, it broke above the January 2021 all-time high of $42,000 and kept climbing.

This culminated in a price increase towards $43,000, which became a ten-day high. However, this is where the bears stepped up and didn’t allow any further price jumps. Just the opposite, BTC reversed its trajectory and started retracing.

In fact, the price drop was quite sudden, and the asset found itself trading below $40,000 hours later, as reported yesterday. It declined to just over $39,000.

It tried recovering a lot of ground but was stopped in its tracks at $40,000. This is where it sits now as well, and its market capitalization stands at $750 billion.

These adverse developments led to a change in the overall market sentiment. The popular Bitcoin fear and greed index now stands in “extreme fear” territory.

Altcoins Calmed

The alternative coins went through enhanced volatility during the week, with most mimicking BTC’s performance.

Ethereum, for example, went from a ten-day high of its own at $3,200 to below $3,000 in a few days. As of now, it still trades below the latter.

Binance Coin, Solana, Polkadot, and Shiba Inu are slightly in the green, while Ripple, Terra, Cardano, Avalanche, and Dogecoin are with minor price decreases.

As most lower- and mid-cap altcoins are quite calm now, the cumulative market cap of all crypto assets has remained in a similar position as yesterday at $1.850 trillion.