Crypto Market Tanks 6%, Bitcoin Slips Under $17,000

The broader cryptocurrency market has come under strong selling pressure correcting by 6% in the last 24 hours and losing $50 billion. Bitcoin (BTC) has also tanked by 4.5% and has slipped under its crucial support of $17,000. With the recent BTC price drop, it has given up all weekly gains and is now in negative territory.

On the other hand, the altcoins have posted even steeper declines as concerns grow that the digital market is still to face more pain ahead. The developments around Binance have kept crypto investors on the edge of their seats. On Friday, December 16, the Binance auditor for Proof-of-Reserves, the Mazars Group, suspended ties with the exchange.

This has also cast a negative sentiment in investors’ minds. Also, the recent crypto market drop follows the sharp correction on Wall Street. Dow Jones (INDEXDJX: .DJI) ended in another 1% negative on Friday. This price drop comes as the economy weathers the aggressive tightening by the Federal Reserve.

Fairlead Strategies Senior Analyst Will Tamplin believes that Bitcoin now holds the risk of sipping to its November lows of $15,700 once again.

Altcoins See Greater Fall Than Bitcoin

Altcoins have seen an even greater fall as compared to Bitcoin. The world’s second-largest crypto Ethereum (ETH) has dropped more than 7.5% moving under the $1,200 level.

Many other top-ten altcoins are facing double-digit percentage losses. Altcoins like Binance Coin (BNB), Dogecoin (DOGE), Polygon (MATIC), Cardano (ADA), and others have tanked by a staggering 10-15%.

The collapse contagion has already spread across other crypto firms with crypto lenders like Genesis coming into trouble again. Many experts believe that the contagion can spread further into the market going ahead. Noelle Acheson, author of the of the “Crypto is Macro Now” newsletter, wrote: “There may be some ugly contagion news yet to drop. But most investors who were going to sell have done so.”