The BTC Battle For $20K Continues While Altcoins Mostly Red (Market Watch)

The past 24 hours saw the wide majority of cryptocurrencies chart mild declines as the total market capitalization, once again, approaches the coveted $1 trillion mark. Bitcoin continues to flirt with $20K, whereas Ethereum and most of the altcoins are trading mostly in red.

The Battle for $20K Continues

$20,000 is an important psychological and technical level for Bitcoin. It’s the high of the iconic 2017-2018 bull market, and it’s critical for the cryptocurrency to maintain a price above it to prevent further declines.

Over the past 24 hours, the battle between the bulls and the bears continues. At the time of this writing, the cryptocurrency is down 1.5% on the day, trading at slightly below $20K. It’s down 7% for the week.

As seen in the chart above, the volatility has also declined substantially over the past 24 hours, unlike the day before that when it dropped towards the lows at $19,500 only to bounce back above $20K shortly after.

Altcoins Painted Red

With certain slight exceptions, the broader cryptocurrency market is largely painted in red today.

Ethereum is down about 1.4% in the past 24 hours, and most of the altcoins produced similar results. Helium’s HNT lost the most – about 11%, followed by Maker’s MKR, which is down 6%.

On the other end of the spectrum, there’s NEXO, up 2.8% in the past 24 hours. All in all, it has been a relatively uneventful day, at least in terms of pricing.

The sentiment also declined, dropping once again into a state of extreme fear.