The cryptocurrency market faced a major sell-off on Wednesday as Bitcoin (BTC) dropped below $97,000, marking a sharp decline from $102,000. This drop is attributed to rising U.S. Treasury yields, along with the Institute for Supply Management's (ISM) Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) report, showing private sector growth of 54.1 in December, up from 52.1 in November. Volatility spread across the market, with top altcoins like Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), and other altcoins suffering significant losses.

Major cryptocurrencies see significant decline

  • Bitcoin (BTC): Down 5% in 24 hours, trading at $96,633. The 24-hour range for BTC is $96,121 to $102,017, with outflows from the ETF reaching $543 million.

  • Ethereum (ETH): Down 8%, trading at $3,383, with outflows from the ETH ETF at $86 million. Fidelity alone sold $67 million.

  • Solana (SOL): Down 8%, closing at $199, with a low and high in 24 hours of $198 and $217 respectively. Toronto's Sol Strategies announced a CAD 25 million investment in the Solana ecosystem.

  • XRP: Down 3%, trading at $2.27, with a market cap of $134 billion.

Meanwhile, meme coins like Dogecoin (DOGE) and Shiba Inu (SHIB) saw sharp declines of 10% and 9% respectively. This strong sell-off is in line with Bitcoin's bearish trend, highlighting the fragility of the market overall.

Top performer and laggard

Amid widespread losses, Bitget Token (BGB) emerged as the only cryptocurrency in the top 100 that is in the green, rising 6% and trading at $6.52. Its 24-hour range is $6.21 to $6.64. In contrast, HYPE is the worst-performing cryptocurrency, plummeting 15% to $21.95.

Notable losers include:

  • DYDX: Down 13%, trading at $1.40.

  • Fantom (FTM): Down 12%, along with Gala and Beam.

  • Meme coins like PENGU, BONK, and PEPE have dropped between 10% to 12% in the last 24 hours.


Liquidation and market impact

According to Coinglass, total liquidations reached $606 million in the past 24 hours. This includes $547 million from long positions and $59 million from short positions. Over 192,418 traders were liquidated, with the largest single liquidation being $17.74 million in ETHUSDT executed on Binance.

Promising meeting of Ripple CEO

In a rare positive turn of events, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse met with former U.S. President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago. This interaction hints at potential future discussions regarding regulatory clarity for cryptocurrencies, providing a glimmer of hope for market recovery.