Bitcoin (BTC) and the broader crypto market are bad this week. But some of the biggest losers near the top of the market have been the stars of the show lately, including Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), and Avalanche (AVAX).
In recent weeks, all three of the top 20 cryptocurrencies have been making big gains, attracting interest from institutional investors. Now, each of the past seven days has slipped by at least 14%, and has posted significant losses on the day.
Ethereum fell sharply this morning, according to data from CoinGecko, falling 7% over the past 24 hours to its current price of $2,200 and pushing its seven-day high to 14%.
Solana is down 16% in the last seven days at a current price of $82.50. It has rebounded slightly since early morning, but is down about 5% on the day.
Meanwhile, AVAX, the 11th largest cryptocurrency, is down 19% on the week and is currently under $29. Like Solana, it has pared some of its losses since the morning, now down 5% over the past 24 hours.
A week ago, Ethereum was just shy of hitting $2,700, its highest price since April 2022. Excitement over Ethereum increased with the launch of Bitcoin ETFs, with investors anticipating the next wave of institutional adoption, especially those like BlackRock CEO Larry. Fink spoke of the Ethereum Spot ETF's prospects.
SOL has been on a big run since late October. Disgraced crypto mogul Sam Bankman-Fried, who invested heavily in the assets of the now-collapsed crypto empire FTX, is expected to take a big hit at trial.
But big companies like Visa and Shopify have sung the praises of the project and said they will use blockchain. A growing developer base means the value of SOL has increased. It rose to $123 in December 2023, reaching a two-year high after falling to $8 in December 2022.
AVAX attracted interest when investment banking giant GP Morgan said in November it was using the Avalanche blockchain to simulate portfolios.
Although long-term holders have reason to be optimistic, despite recent price increases, both coins are doing well in a year: SOL increased by 239%, AVAX jumped by 64%. Even Ethereum is up 35% from last year.
The broader crypto market took a nosedive, following the price action of the largest digital asset by market capitalization, Bitcoin.
After crypto fund Greyscale converted its original BTC fund into an exchange-traded fund (ETF) and began trading on the stock market, investors were eager to redeem shares previously locked in the product.
This has put pressure on the value of the largest and oldest digital coin in recent days.
Edited by Andrew Hayward.
Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed by the author are for informational purposes only and are not financial, investment or other advice.
Stay on top of crypto news, get daily updates in your inbox.
