Crypto News

Crypto Market Crash: Here’s Why Bitcoin, ETH, SOL, ZEC, & Other Altcoins Are Falling

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The crypto market crash continues in November, with the global market cap dropping from $4.28 trillion to a 6-month low of $3.27 trillion in a month. Bitcoin and Ethereum prices have now tumbled 23% and 36% from their ATH. Traders are anticipating a deeper fall in altcoins as JPMorgan sees BTC support at $94,000.

The Crypto Market Fear & Greed Index has further slipped to extreme fear at 15 today. This indicates bearish sentiment among investors and potential for further drop in crypto prices.

Top and trending altcoins XRP, Binance Coin (BNB), Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA), Zcash (ZEC), and AI coins tumbled 5-12% over the past 24 hours. Meme coins including Dogecoin (DOGE), Shiba Inu (SHIB), and Pepe Coin (PEPE) further erased their earlier gains, with PEPE now down 80% year-to-date (YTD).

Crypto Market Crash on Macro Jitters

US President Donald Trump signed a bill to end the longest government shutdown after 43 days. However, the White House confirmed no release of CPI and jobs data for October.

Moreover, Fed officials, such as Neel Kashkari, warned of rising inflation amid the government shutdown. This raised economic concerns and markets trimmed bets on a Fed rate cut in December.

CME FedWatch tool now shows odds of another 25 bps Fed rate cut dip from 62.9% to 52.1%. This is in line with Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s hawkish stance that fueled crypto market crash concerns last month.

The US dollar index (DXY) dipped to 99 on Friday, a second consecutive weekly decline. Also, the 10-year Treasury yield stays near 4.1% after a sharp decline in prior sessions.

$4.7 Billion BTC and ETH Options Expiry

The $4.7 billion crypto options expiry today further worsened trading volumes and led to a deeper crypto market crash. More than 41K BTC options worth $4 billion in notional value will expire today on Deribit. The put-call ratio is 0.7 and the max pain price is at $105K.

In the latest 24 hours, put volume has exceeded call volume, with a put/call ratio of 1.10. This signals traders are hedging to offset losses, expecting BTC to fall below $95K.

Bitcoin Open Interest by Strike Price. Source: Deribit

Also, over 233K ETH options with a notional value of almost $738 million are set to expire today, with a put-call ratio of 0.68. The put volume has doubled in the last 24 hours, but is still low against more than 99K call volume. The put-call ratio is 0.91, confirming options trader sentiment leaning bearish.

Also, the max pain point is at $3,500, way above the current market price of $3,175. Traders are even opening puts targeting ETH price below $3,000 in the coming days.

Ethereum Open Interest by Strike Price. Source: Deribit

Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs Outflow

Spot Bitcoin ETFs and Ethereum ETFs continue to record outflows. Institutions are likely rotating to Solana and XRP. Canary XRP ETF (XRPC) saw a record $59 million and $245 million in inflows on debut.

As per Farside Investors data, Bitcoin ETFs recorded a net outflow of $866.7 million. BlackRock’s IBIT and Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust ETF saw $256.6 million and $318.2 million in outflows amid bearish sentiment.

Meanwhile, others such as Fidelity, Bitwise, Invesco, Ark 21Shares, and GBTC also saw massive outflows. It indicates a massive decline in interest among institutional investors.

Spot BTC ETFs Outflows. Source: Farside Investors

Meanwhile, spot Ethereum ETFs saw $259.6 million in net outflows, the 3rd consecutive day of outflows. BlackRock’s ETHA led with $137.3 million. Shorting Ethereum remained a smart move as long as the broader crypto trend remains firmly downward. And, it looks like there is no urgency to step in. 

Crypto Market Crash as LTH and Whales Kept Profit Booking

As CoinGape reported, long-term holders (LTH) and whales were certain about BTC peak in October. Historically, BTC topped 12-18 months after a halving and the bull market peaked around 1,060-1,070 days, and the pattern held this year.

Coinglass data revealed over $1.1 billion in crypto liquidations, with 237K traders liquidated in the last 24 hours. The largest single liquidation order happened on crypto exchange HTX again. BTCUSDT valued at $44.29 million was sold in a single trade.

Notably, over $900 million long and $200 million short positions were liquidated. ETH, SOL, XRP, ZEC, DOGE, XPL, HYPE, BNB, PUMP, and ADA are among the altcoins witnessing the most liquidation.

The hourly crypto liquidations chart revealed $300 million in longs were liquidated a few hours ago, causing the crypto market crash.

Crypto Market Liquidations in 1-Hour Timeframe. Source: Coinglass

BTC price today fell more than 5% to 96,840 intraday low. Whereas ETH price tumbles 10% to a low of $3,112 and XRP corrects 8% to $2.28. The crypto market crash sees no signs of slowing as experts predict a further drop in crypto prices.

ZEC price dropped 4% to $485.20, correcting 40% from ATH after a massive 1000% parabolic run. Arthur Hayes claimed he will buy more at dips to target another leg up to $1,000.

10x Research says BTC latest drop left traders scrambling for explanations, yet the clues were visible weeks ago. Buyers who once supported every dip have suddenly vanished. “Since October 10, both our Ethereum and Bitcoin trend models have been firmly bearish, and that signal remains intact,” it added.

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Varinder Singh

Varinder is a seasoned leader in the fintech and crypto media with over 12 years of experience, including over 6 years dedicated to blockchain, crypto, and Web3 developments. He is known for covering high-impact and quality news stories for publishers such as CoinGape, The Coin Republic, and The Crypto Times, while perfecting and training multiple journalists during his tenure. Being a Master of Technology degree holder, analytics thinker, and tech enthusiast, he has shared his knowledge of disruptive technologies in over 6000 news articles and papers.

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