Crypto Market Selloff: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, XRP Slips, Here’s Why

In a turbulent turn of events, major cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and XRP faced a substantial decline in prices on Monday, February 12. This downturn, despite recent market optimism stemming from the anticipation of Bitcoin ETFs and other advancements, has sparked concerns among investors.

So, let’s delve into the market indicators and potential factors behind this crypto market selloff.

Crypto Market Dynamics & Potential Factors Driving the Downturn

The cryptocurrency market experienced a significant selloff on Monday, February 12, witnessing a downturn in prices across major assets like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and XRP. According to data from The Block, both Bitcoin and Ethereum Options volumes plummeted in February.

Bitcoin Options volume dropped from $43.34 billion in January to $11.42 billion as of writing, while Ethereum Options volume fell from $20.14 billion to $4.16 billion. However, Bitcoin Futures Open Interest (OI) remained stable, indicating a 0.39% surge over 24 hours to 456.17K BTC, CoinGlass data showed.

However, the CME Exchange reported a 0.91% decrease in Bitcoin OI to 122.37K BTC. Despite this, exchanges like Binance and Bybit saw slight increases in Bitcoin Futures OI, offsetting the losses in the CME Exchange.

Meanwhile, Ethereum Open Interest dropped by 1.51% to $8.58 billion. Binance saw a 3.47% decrease in ETH OI, followed by Bybit and OKX with declines of 1.46% and 11.27%, respectively.

Simultaneously, XRP Open Interest fell by 3.20%, while Solana Futures Open Interest dropped by 8.21% to $1.58 billion. In addition, CryptoQuant data revealed a decrease in the Bitcoin Coinbase Premium Gap, which stood at 16.31 on February 11, down from 27.64 on February 9.

Analysts attribute the recent market decline to investors adopting a cautious stance ahead of the release of key inflation data by the U.S. Federal Reserve. Scheduled for this week, the U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Producer Price Index (PPI) data could heavily influence the Fed’s future monetary policy decisions.

Consequently, investors are awaiting a clearer outlook before making significant market moves. In addition, the substantial gains observed in the past week have prompted profit-taking activities, contributing to the current selloff.

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How’s Is The Market Performing?

The global crypto market cap retreated 1.61% to $1.79 billion during writing, while the overall trading volume surged 5.15% to $46.41 billion. Notably, the fear and greed index in the crypto market stood at 68, suggesting a greed sentiment in the market.

Meanwhile, as of writing, the Bitcoin price was down 0.96% to $47,918.49 over the last 24 hours, after adding over 11% in the last seven days. The Ethereum price was down 1.57% to $2,486.52, with its trading volume declining 2.59% to $7.05 billion.

Simultaneously, the Solana price witnessed a slump of 5.44% over the last 24 hours to $104.27, after rallying nearly 7% in the prior week. The XRP price declined 2.68% to $0.5182, while the Cardano price plunged 3.03% to $0.5357.

However, amid this uncertainty, a recent report from CoinShares’ weekly digital asset inflow offers a bullish perspective on the crypto space. The report indicates significant inflows totaling US$1.1bn into digital asset investment products, bringing year-to-date inflows to US$2.7bn.

This surge in inflows, coupled with recent price increases, has propelled total assets under management (AuM) to the highest level since early 2022, standing at US$59bn. Notably, the spotlight remains on newly issued spot-based Bitcoin ETFs in the U.S., which witnessed net inflows of US$1.1bn last week, totaling US$2.8bn since their January 11th launch. Notably, the report suggests that Bitcoin dominated almost 98% of the inflows, with Ethereum and Cardano also experiencing positive sentiment.

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