Bitcoin Slips Under $17,000 Again as Ether, Most Altcoins Record Losses

Most cryptocurrencies struggled to overcome price drops as December entered its third week, days ahead of Christmas . Bitcoin on Monday opened trading with a loss of nearly one percent. Over the weekend, the most valuable crypto asset fell substantially and is currently trading at $16,720 (roughly Rs. 13.8 lakh). BTS, the world's most popular cryptocurrency, had taken weeks to finally breach the mark of $17,000 (roughly Rs. 14.06 lakh) last week — before it slipped again. On international exchanges like Binance and Coinbase, BTC did not see any gains and traded lower than its last week's prices.

Ether joined Bitcoin and most other altcoins also saw losses today. With a minor drop of 0.71 percent, ETH opened trading at $1,177 (roughly Rs. 97,405), as per Gadgets 360's crypto price tracker.

Last week, ETH's week-closing value stood at $1,270 (roughly Rs. 1.05 lakh), higher by $93 (roughly Rs. 7,963).

“BTC could not hold on to the gains following the Federal Reserve's interest rate hike. ETH is also experiencing significant outflows due to increased selling pressure. It is unlikely that we will see a quick reversal at this time. To regain the initiative, bulls must push BTC price above the $16,800 (roughly Rs. 1.38 lakh) level," Edul Patel, CEO and Co-Founder of Mudrex told Gadgets 360.

Stablecoins such as Tether, USD Coin, and Binance USD saw gains on Monday.

Cardano, Polygon, Polkadot, Litecoin, Solana, Uniswap, and Chainlink — all opened with minor price dips today.

Dogecoin and Shiba Inu also failed to record profits.

The overall crypto market cap that stood at $850 billion (roughly Rs. 70,337 crore) two days ago on December 16, now stands at $807 billion (roughly Rs. 66,778 crore), having lost a whopping $43 billion (roughly Rs. 3,558 crore) over the weekend.

Meanwhile, only a few altcoins reeled-in profits on Monday. These include Binance Coin, Leo, Avalanche, Cosmos, Stellar, Elrond.

Cryptocurrency is an unregulated digital currency, not a legal tender and subject to market risks. The information provided in the article is not intended to be and does not constitute financial advice, trading advice or any other advice or recommendation of any sort offered or endorsed by NDTV. NDTV shall not be responsible for any loss arising from any investment based on any perceived recommendation, forecast or any other information contained in the article. 

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.