Ethereum Slumps below $4k on Aggressive Trades Pull Out
The altcoin leader Ethereum experienced a share fluctuation that plunged its market price down below $4,000 for the first time since early August during Thursday morning trading hours.
The altcoin has seen significant price depreciation, losing more than 12% in the last seven days.The asset was hovering around $4,000 at the time of writing, after shedding another 3.77% on the day.
ETH is currently down 20% from its all-time high, and most of those losses have come over the past week. The price slump comes amid aggressive post-Fed rate cut portfolio rebalancing, with gold taking the lead in the alternative investment market.
Ethereum market capitalisation is down below $500 billion at the press time, circling around $484 billion with $42.051 billion trading volume in 24 hours.
Crypto markets have recently faced renewed challenges, despite a brief resurgence following the US Federal Reserve’s (Fed) rate cut that initially propelled Bitcoin (BTC) above the $120,000 mark.
This week, however, Bitcoin has dropped to the lower end of its established consolidation range, fluctuating between $110,000 and $115,000.
Also, Solana has been under pressure, with its price sliding to $204.45, down 1.79% in the last 24 hours and nearly 17% over the past seven days. Its market cap now stands at $110.91 billion, with $7.81 billion in trading volume over the last day.
Several factors have contributed to Solana’s price drop. First, the technical breakdown below critical support accelerated selling pressure.
Second, hype around ETF approvals has cooled, leading to profit-taking after initial optimism. Finally, broader market conditions worsened as $1.7 billion worth of derivative positions were liquidated, amplifying the downside momentum across altcoins.
“Ethereum recent dip below the psychological $4K mark was triggered by a mix of technical breakdowns, macroeconomic jitters, and cascading liquidations,” said Rachael Lucas, crypto analyst at BTC Markets.
“A failure to hold the $4,200 support zone led to over US$1.7 billion in altcoin liquidations, with ETH alone accounting for US$212.9 million.”
While the U.S. Federal Reserve lowered interest rates in September, the 25 basis point rate cut failed to ignite a sustained bull rally as once expected. One of the factors was Chair Jerome Powell’s comment, saying that he is in no hurry to further lower rates. Huawei Unveils New AI Chip to Rival Industry Leaders
