BTC and ETH down 50% from highs as selling continues
By John Shepard
11:23, 24 May 2021
Bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) have lost 50% of their value from the recent all-time highs as market selling resumed last week.
Sunday selling saw many altcoins lose 20-30% of their value. On Monday, BTC dropped below $37,000.
The crypto market fell on news that the Huobi exchange was scaling back some of its services after a crackdown by China. The move by China is the latest in a series of regulatory pressures. It adds to the negativity surrounding Elon Musk’s flip-flopping over environmental concerns.
Bitcoin trades at $36,000 ETH at $2,000
Bitcoin slumped to $36,000 this week after experiencing a small bounce around the $40,000 level. Ether has outperformed the world's largest coin in recent weeks, trading around $2,000 on the week.
Huobi’s efforts to pull back are the first real moves by a crypto company following China's recent crackdown. Fears of regulation in the US have also battered the market in recent weeks, while Tesla (TSLA) changing its tune on crypto payments also negatively affected prices.
Huobi will suspend some crypto products and services, including the sale of crypto mining machines and hosting in mainland China.
In response, Bitcoin’s market capitalisation has slumped to $687bn, while Ether is at $266bn.
Further losses for COIN, NVDA earnings up
Coinbase (COIN) shares have been hit on the sell-off in cryptocurrencies, with the price at $224.32 on Friday and the potential for further selling. The stock is almost 50% off from the opening day highs above $425.
In US earnings season, eyes will be on Nvidia (NVDA), and recent semiconductor supply chain issues could be the headline. The company has announced plans for the biggest stock split in its history on Friday, proposing to give investors three new shares for every one they own. This would be the first split for Nvidia since 2007.
Snowflake (SNOW) and Pinduoduo (PDD) will also release their latest numbers, alongside Salesforce (CRM).
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