Altcoins bleed as sell-off wipes $26bn from cryptocurrency market cap

A number of top cryptocurrencies suffered a gruelling weekend of downside price action with the likes of Bitcoin Cash falling by 21% while Ethereum succumbed to a 12.75% pullback.

Tough weekend for cryptocurrency

The market-wide sell-off saw more than $26 billion wiped from the combined market cap of cryptocurrencies, which now stands at $282 billion after dwindling from $308 billion.

Bitcoin was also left reeling after a sufficient move to the downside following a rejection from the $10,500 level of resistance.

At the time of writing it was trading back below the psychological $10,000 level at around $9,800, which is in confluence with the daily 22 exponential moving average (EMA).

Ethereum stutters

Despite the recent sell-off, Ethereum continues to trade above the $250 level of support, which will be key if it begins to rally again during the typically higher-volume start of the week.

However, if it breaks below the $250 level in the coming days it will likely cause a micro bearish trend, with price targets emerging at $238 and $221.

Another bearish indicator for Ethereum is that it has formed another lower high from a macro perspective, with consistent lower highs following January 2018’s all-time high of $1,420.

Since then it has slumped to consecutive lows of $836, $373 and $290, with the long-term bearish cycle seemingly struggling to break.

It’s also worth noting that since the turn of the year Ethereum has rallied by more than 131%, so a correction is to be expected if continuation to the upside is to come into fruition.

Holding support above $250 and moving back towards the $269 level will be key for ETH this week. A break above $269 would see it re-emerge as one of the more bullish cryptocurrencies in spite of a gruelling weekend.

Bitcoin Cash

Much to Roger Ver’s dismay, Bitcoin Cash was one of the biggest losers over the weekend as it slumped all the way to $370 before finding a bounce.

The cataclysmic fall from grace occurred minutes after it tested the crucial $500 level of resistance which, incidentally, was the yearly high from 2019.

A rejection of this magnitude, which saw the $418 level of support fall by the wayside with consummate ease, is a very ugly sign for the world’s fourth largest cryptocurrency. It has been left in dire need of a relief rally to prevent further downside price action.

If the price continues to fall throughout this week Bitcoin Cash is expected to slump towards downside price targets of $357 and $328, which would also cause a re-test of the daily 200 exponential moving average.

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