Crypto Market Update

The crypto market experienced additional selling pressure at the start of Monday’s trading session, as traders reflected on recent events from the weekend. Bitcoin and most crypto assets were in the red, continuing Sunday’s sell-off. XRP, Solana (SOL), and Cardano (ADA) were not spared from the bearish sentiment and recorded losses at this time.

The decline resulted in $249 million in liquidations across various crypto assets within the last 24 hours, according to CoinGlass data. The majority of this was due to bullish bets from traders anticipating a rebound after Saturday’s sell-off, which saw $556 million in crypto liquidations, amounting to $200 million. Short liquidations accounted for $48.67 million in the last 24 hours.

Bitcoin dropped 0.6% in the last 24 hours, trading above $95,000, while alternative cryptocurrencies, known as altcoins, faced steeper losses, some dropping as much as 12%. Solana-based Raydium fell over 31% in the last 24 hours, with XRP also experiencing a decline.

At the time of writing, XRP was down 4.1% in the last 24 hours to $2.49, slipping to fourth place in the crypto rankings with a market capitalization of $142.8 billion.

Solana (SOL), which has been struggling lately, led the losses among the top 10 cryptos, down 8.11% in the last 24 hours to $157. Cardano (ADA) was trading at $0.733, down 5.89% for the day.

Recent Events Contributing to Market Sell-Off

The initial gains in cryptocurrencies and crypto-related stocks were affected by the $1.5 billion Bybit hack on Friday. This hack targeted one of Bybit’s offline “cold” wallets, typically considered secure due to their lack of internet connectivity, which resulted in the theft of $1.4 billion in Ethereum.

Hackers accessed the wallet by exploiting a sophisticated method involving a manipulated user interface (UI) and URL, which enabled them to alter the smart contract logic and redirect funds to an unknown address. The stolen assets were subsequently distributed among multiple wallets and traded on decentralized exchanges.

On Friday, the Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index unexpectedly dropped to 64.7, below the estimated 67.8, causing equities to decline. Meanwhile, inflation forecasts within the same survey rose to 3.5%, up from 3.3% previously.

The ongoing profit-taking behavior indicates that traders might be selling on rallies as bearish sentiment lingers.