The cryptocurrency market experienced a cooling period following a strong rally that drove Bitcoin past $81,000 for the first time in 15 weeks. The primary cryptocurrency gained over $15,000 in less than 48 hours late last week before encountering a correction over the weekend and a subsequent rejection after its recent local peak.
Bitcoin's upward momentum began last Wednesday when prices broke out from a range below $65,000. After surging toward $80,000 on Friday and pulling back to $75,000 over the weekend, a fresh leg up pushed BTC past $81,000 on Tuesday. Despite dropping by roughly $3,000 from that peak, Bitcoin remains up by more than 22% on a weekly scale, maintaining a market dominance just under 58% and a market capitalization of $1.575 trillion.
Major alternative cryptocurrencies followed a similar downward trajectory as the broader market pulled back. Ethereum slipped 1.3% over a 24-hour period to trade at $2,450 after failing to hold above $2,500. Binance Coin (BNB) fell below $700, while Ripple's XRP was rejected at $1.50, dropping 4.5% to $1.42. Solana (SOL) retreated below the $100 mark it touched previously.
Other large-cap altcoins saw even steeper declines over the same 24-hour window. Dogecoin (DOGE), Cardano (ADA), and Stellar (XLM) each dropped by about 5%. Zcash (ZEC) fell by more than 7% to trade below $790 following the debut of Grayscale's ETF. Conversely, RAIN stood out with a double-digit gain, skyrocketing by more than 20% to trade above $0.0175.
Overall, the total cryptocurrency market capitalization declined by approximately $60 billion in a single day, settling at $2.740 trillion.
