TL;DR
- Bitcoin (BTC) dropped 14% in three days, influenced by the Federal Reserve’s inflation concerns.
- The meme coin market saw a sharp 20% drop, with assets like DOGE and SHIB facing double-digit losses and analysts predicting further losses for the former.
- XRP hit a multi-day low of under $2, but industry participants remain optimistic, highlighting key potential triggers for a future rally, including a Ripple ETF and regulatory resolutions.
BTC Loses $13K in Three Days
At the start of the business week, Bitcoin (BTC) soared to a new all-time high of over $108,000. Its market capitalization crossed the $2 trillion mark, making the cryptocurrency bigger than Saudi Aramco and other well-known corporations.
However, the peak was short-lived, and the bulls took a major blow in the following days. BTC tumbled to approximately $101,000 on December 18 and under $93,000 in the last several hours. Currently, the asset is worth around $93,200 (per CoinGecko’s data), representing a 14% decline on a three-day scale.
The market started retracing shortly after the US Federal Reserve announced its latest rate cut. It reduced the benchmark by 0.25%, but Chairman Jerome Powell hinted that the policy might be paused next year due to rising inflation concerns. He also said the central bank is not permitted to buy BTC, despite Donald Trump’s promises.
While the 13-grand crash in just three days might sound quite dramatic, some factors hint that the bulls could be back in charge soon. Crypto analytics platform Santiment recently estimated that BTC’s collapse has increased discussions about buying the dip to early August levels. Back then, the asset’s price tumbled below $50,000, but a few days later, it climbed beyond $62,000. It will be interesting to see whether history will repeat itself this time.
Heavy Bleeding in the Meme Coin Niche
The meme coin sector has been even more affected than BTC. Its market capitalization is down a whopping 20% on a daily scale, plunging below $100 billion.
All of the leading assets, including Dogecoin (DOGE), Shiba Inu (SHIB), Pepe (PEPE), Bonk Inu (BONK), dogwifhat (WIF), and many more, have charted double-digit losses. It is quite challenging to find a meme coin positioned in the green today, with Zerebro (ZEREBRO) being among the few exceptions.
Some analysts expect further losses in the sector, more specifically touching upon DOGE. Jake Wujastyk envisioned a potential drop to $0.27, while Rose Premium Signals predicted a crash to $0.22. However, the latter thinks DOGE could then rebound and resume its bull run.
How’s XRP Doing?
Lastly, we will focus on Ripple’s native token, which is also deep in the red today (December 20). Currently, it trades at around $2, which is the lowest mark observed in the past ten days.
Many industry participants, though, foresee good days ahead for the XRP army. One analyst recently advised investors to cash out only when seven important things happen.
Those include the introduction of Ripple’s stablecoin, Donald Trump’s inauguration, a potential resolution of the Ripple v. SEC case, Gary Gensler’s departure from the regulator, the beginning of the altseason, a partnership between the company and a large banking institution, and the possible launch of an XRP ETF.
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