Major cryptocurrencies started the week in the red as investors remain wary of large Bitcoin sales that will likely reduce their exposure to the broader market in anticipation of lower prices.
CoinDesk 20, a liquid index of the most traded tokens, has plunged 2.86% in the last 24 hours.
Solana's SOL and Cardano's ADA fell 5% in the last 24 hours, resulting in the largest losses among the majors. The BNB chain value has barely changed due to demand for launchpads requiring the token on the Binance crypto exchange. Dogecoin (DOGE) initially defied the general market weakness due to speculation about its launch in an upcoming feature of the social application X, but fell in the last 6 hours.
Bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency by market value, lost the $41,000 support level early Monday. Traders expect prices to fall as low as $38,000 in the coming weeks, which could lead to further losses for other cryptocurrencies.
According to some analysts, including Bloomberg's Eric Balchunas, the recent downward pressure on Bitcoin has been attributed to sales by Grayscale's GBTC Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF).
Verified Grayscale wallets tracked and tagged by analytics firm Arkham show the fund transferred over $400 million worth of Bitcoin to custodian Coinbase Prime on Thursday – potentially a step toward a potential sale, according to reports .
However, other newly approved Bitcoin ETFs are seeing net inflows. BlackRock's IBIT and Fidelity's FBTC ETF surpassed $1 billion last week, data tracked by CoinGlass shows, indicating buying pressure.